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KF5JRV > TODAY 08.05.24 09:24l 31 Lines 1767 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 20694_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - May 08
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<DB0ERF<DK0WUE<DK0WUE<N2NOV<K5DAT<KF5JRV
Sent: 240508/0820Z 20694@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.23
On May 8, 1945, Great Britain, the United States and other Allied countries celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in the U.S.
, U.K., and Western Europe, along with in the Soviet Union, Canada and Australia put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the de
feat of the Nazi war machine during World War II.
The eighth of May marked the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms: In Prague, Germans surrende
red to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more; in Cope
nhagen and Oslo; at Karlshorst, near Berlin; in northern Latvia; on the Channel Island of Sark—the German surrender was realize
d in a final cease-fire. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany.
The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 mi
llion Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended, but were stopped by the Russians a
nd taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender.
Meanwhile, more than 13,000 British POWs were released and sent back to Great Britain.
Pockets of German-Soviet confrontation would continue into the next day. On May 9, the Soviets would lose 600 more soldiers in
Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered. Consequently, V-E Day was not celebrated until the ninth in Moscow, with a radi
o broadcast salute from Stalin himself: “The age-long struggle of the Slav nations… has ended in victory. Your courage has defe
ated the Nazis. The war is over.ö
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
Email KF5JRV@gmail.com
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