VE Day: the euphoria of victory
Seventy-five years ago, on VE Day – 8 May 1945 – millions of people rejoiced across the world
How was victory announced?
By the end of April, Berlin was encircled by the Red Army and Germany’s situation was hopeless. Hitler killed himself on 30 April, and the Soviet flag was hoisted above the Reichstag on 2 May. German commanders surrendered to their British and US counterparts on 4 and 5 May, hoping they would be more benevolent conquerors than the Soviets. At 2.41am on 7 May, in Reims, France, Supreme Allied Commander General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of all German forces on all fronts. But Stalin refused to accept this, so a second ceremony took place on 8 May in Berlin. The Allies had planned to announce the victory after that, on 9 May, but news of the surrender broke, and the Ministry of Information interrupted radio broadcasts at 7.40pm on 7 May to declare a holiday marking “Victory in Europe Day” the following day.
What preparations were made?
Ahead of the event, officials had issued austere notices offering guidance on how victory could be celebrated. “Bonfires will be allowed,” said the Home Office, “but the government trusts that only material with no salvage value will be used.” The Board of Trade announced that people could purchase red, white and blue bunting without using ration coupons. PM Winston Churchill, meanwhile, sought assurances from the Ministry of Food that there would be enough beer supplies in London to see the capital through the celebrations. Restaurants announced special VE Day menus, and commemorative mugs were rushed out.
How did the day begin?
For much of the morning, the mood was curiously subdued. It rained steadily in the north of England until lunchtime, and queues at food shops were even longer than usual as people stocked up on supplies. Snippets reported by Mass-Observation – whose volunteers aimed to record everyday life in Britain – revealed that many were “browned off” with the government over the delay to celebrations. At a newsagent in central London, one man was recorded as saying: “It’s not the same. It should of been yesterday. When you think of it – peace signed at 2.40 in the morning, and then people wait and wait all day, and then nothing but it would be VE Day tomorrow. No bells, no ‘All Clear’; nothing to start people off.” A woman replied: “That’s just what they were afraid of, I reckon.” In the House of Lords, the peers began a debate on the Pontypool Gas Bill.
Did this mood persist?
No – it quickly became more festive. By early afternoon, huge crowds had started gathering in cities across the country. Gladys Langford, a teacher who had travelled from Islington, described the scene in Piccadilly Circus: “People were everywhere – on shop-fronts, up lamp-standards, singing and shouting.” A shortage of Union Jacks was reported as streets and houses were bedecked in flags and bunting. Churchill was cheered as he arrived at Buckingham Palace for lunch with the King and Queen, before heading back to Downing Street to address the nation on the radio. Just before 3pm, celebrations were put on hold. “Flags stopped waving, the bells stopped ringing,” writes David Kynaston in his book as the PM’s statement was broadcast through speakers across central London.
Austerity Britain,
What did Churchill say?
Churchill officially declared that “the German war” was “at an end”. “We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing,” he said, “but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead.” (Japan still had to be defeated.) He thanked Britain’s allies, and ended with the words: “Advance, Britannia! Long live the cause of freedom! God save the King!” Later, he addressed MPs, and appeared on the balcony of the Ministry of Health in central London, giving the victory sign to the crowd below. “This is your hour,” he told them. “This is not victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole.”
How long did the celebrations continue?
It was a warm evening, and by midnight, there were some 50,000 people in Piccadilly Circus alone. “There was wild excitement in Trafalgar Square,” wrote the diarist Joan Wyndham. “Half London seemed to be floodlit – so much unexpected light was quite unreal. There were people dancing like crazy, jumping in the fountains and climbing lamp-posts.” The Royal Family joined in too, appearing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace eight times during the day. Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret were even allowed to slip into the crowd below incognito. “I think it was one of the most memorable nights of my life,” the Queen later said. But according to Mass-Observation, London was not typical: “On VE Night most people were either at home, at small private parties, at indoor dances or in public houses, or collected in small groups around the bonfires,” it reported. Many counted the War’s great cost. “There is no general feeling of rejoicing,” said Cecil Beaton. “Victory does not bring with it a sense of triumph – rather a dull numbness of relief that the blood-letting is over.”
What happened next?
With the conflict not over in the Far East and Pacific, thousands of British servicemen were still fighting – with many others being held as prisoners of war in terrible conditions. The War there did not end until 15 August, after atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Churchill himself said the aftermath of VE Day was “all anti-climax”. He’d been hailed for his inspirational leadership and rhetoric during the War but – just two months after VE Day – he lost the July 1945 general election and was succeeded by Clement Attlee, after a landslide Labour victory. In the years of postwar austerity that followed, clothes remained rationed until 1949 and food until 1954.