Germany surrenders, joy abounds
The Sun, like other papers across Canada, revelled in jubilant celebration of VE-DAY
At 2:41 a.m. France time on Monday, May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allied forces, ending the Second World War in Europe.
That was 5:41 p.m. Sunday in Vancouver. But the official news flash from The Associated Press wasn’t sent out for almost 13 hours. Finally, at 6:35 a.m. Vancouver time on May 7, the news came in. The Sun had already prepared an extra edition, and within minutes it was on the street.
“EXTRA,” read the giant headline at the top of the page, “GERMANY SURRENDERS.”
The art for the page was an image of a mother and son, waiting at home for their husband and father, who was superimposed over them like a dream, saying goodbye to his family as he departed for war. The caption/headline under the photo was “THANK GOD!”
The Extra edition was pre-written, so readers had to wait for the afternoon edition to get the details.
“The surrender took place at a schoolhouse in Reims, France, which is the headquarters of General Eisenhower (who was head of Allied forces),” a Canadian Press story said. “The surrender, which brought the war in Europe to a formal end after five years, eight months and six days of bloodshed and destruction, was signed by
Germany by Col.-gen. Gustav Jodl, who is the new chief of staff for the German army.”
The Canadian Press story said the war in Europe had been the “greatest, bloodiest and costliest in human history — it has claimed at least 40,000,000 casualties on both sides in killed, wounded and captured.”
That was an underestimation — few people could guess at the time that six million Jews had been murdered by the Nazis, or that Russian military and civilian deaths were 24 million.
The U.S. National World War Two Museum in New Orleans estimates that there were 85 million casualties in the Second World War: 15 million battle deaths, 25 million battle wounded, and 45 million civilian deaths (this would include the Pacific war, as well as the war in Europe).
In Vancouver, air raid sirens signalling the end of the war in Europe went off at 7:04 a.m., as people were getting ready to go to work. VE-DAY (for Victory in Europe) was officially declared for May 8, but people didn’t wait to start celebrating.
“At the Bond Shell, along Hastings, Granville, Georgia, Main, (and) throughout the business sections, a mood of riotous thanksgiving was born,” The Sun reported in the afternoon edition. “Official holiday or not, it made little difference. There was little drinking, (but) men and women (were) intoxicated with release from years of tension.
“They formed conga lines. They sang with linked arms. They threw streamers, and flags were sold by the armful and waved incessantly.”
Basically the streets turned into a giant party.
“(Streetcars) drove along the streets with shouting, singing passengers,” The Sun said. “The crowd numbered many thousands at Hastings and Granville . ... The bobby sox brigade jitterbugged with strangers and friends alike and formed snake parades to march from the street and through office buildings.”
In addition to the Extra, The Sun put together a 12-page “Peace Edition” that was included with the regular paper. It was a photo history of the war to that point, from Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 through D-day in 1944 and the Allied bombing of Berlin in 1945. The cover featured the Allied political and military leaders, with a Yousuf Karsh photo of King George VI as the centrepiece.
“It is hoped that this souvenir edition will serve as a historical record of the triumph of Christian democracy against the evil forces of Nazi paganism,” an intro on the front said, “and as a tribute to the valour of all forms of the Allied forces.”
Sadly, on May 8, The Sun noted that 33,266 Canadians had died in the Second World War. The paper reported that the first British Columbian killed in the war was pilot officer Barry Morgan-dean of the Royal Air Force, whose plane was shot down over France on May 12, 1940. He was 23 when he died.
The Second World War would go for another three months, until Japan surrendered on Aug. 14, 1945. All told, 45,400 Canadians were killed during the war.
They formed conga lines. They sang with linked arms. They threw streamers, and flags were sold by the armful.