D-day ve-day
D-day was a special military operation. It also was also the most important day because it helped us win the war. It commenced on 6th June 1944. This was when the ally troops secretly entered Normandy beach,in northern France, to fight for victory.
A total 75,215 British and Canadian troops and 57,500 US troops were landed by sea on D-Day. Another 23,400 were landed by air. By the end of 11 June, 326,547 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies had been landed on the beaches. Britain knew that Germany was expecting them and that they had to take them by surprise. When the Battle of Normandy was over, 425,000 Allied and German troops had been killed. |
VE Day marks a very important event in World War 2 - the end of the War with Germany on Tuesday 8 May 1945. For almost six years from 1939 to 1945 Britain fought the toughest war it had ever experienced. Six years of bloodshed that had killed approximately 382,700 members of the British Armed forces and 67,100 civilians were over.For days people had been anticipating the news of the German surrender. They knew it was on the cards and had begun decorating their gardens with red, white and blue bunting and Union Jack flags.
Finally, in a school house in Rhins, Germany's unconditional surrender was signed at 2:41pm on 7 May. (Active operations by the German forces would cease by 11.01pm 8 May.) Church bells across the country pealed. A sea of red, white and blue erupted At 3pm on 8 May, Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, made a radio broadcast announcing that war in Europe was finally at an end. He made the broadcast from the War Cabinet Office, the same room that in 1939 Neville Chamberlain had made a speech announcing that the country was at war. |