This May marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe and later in the year, in August, the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in the Far East. Events are planned across the country with beacon lighting, cathedral bell ringing, military processions, the return of the ceramic poppies to the Tower of London and many local street parties and other community celebrations.
Victory in Europe (VE) Day
Celebrations for VE day in 1945 were also planned in advance, as people waited for news of the end of the war. An announcement by the Mayor of Guildford as early as 3 May laid down the details of the days to be taken as holidays and the hours of opening for shops, dance halls and public houses. In the shops, red, white, and blue bunting was available, without coupons, until the end of May.
Finally the radio announcement came on Monday 7 May that hostilities would officially end on 8 May and both VE Day and Wednesday were to be observed as public holidays.
That morning streets were soon festooned with bunting and flags. Schools and businesses were closed. Shops too were closed except for a few hours in the morning when shops selling food were particularly busy as street tea parties were quickly organised. Many of the photographs of the day held at the ÄûÃʵ¼°¹ History Centre show these tea parties, held across the county. Church bells rang out for the first time in years and in the early evening many special services of thanksgiving took place with packed congregations.
When darkness fell, lights shone out, again for the first time in years. Shops lit up their windows and the ‘long unused porchlights of some of the larger houses’ shone out. In Woking, for example, ‘the powerful red and blue lighting of the Ritz cinema was a brilliant reminder of the pre-war years, and so were the lights at the Astoria and the Plaza. There was some floodlighting too…and to crown it all there were searchlights sweeping the skies until a very late hour’. In Guildford the new Cathedral on Stag hill, ‘floodlit by 40 lamps…was visible for miles around.'
Hastily assembled bonfires, many with effigies of Hitler, were lit, often accompanied by the letting off of ‘fireworks and thunder flashes which had apparently been saved for such an occasion’. The day’s celebrations ended around these bonfires and outside pubs and in streets where music was relayed by radio and loud speakers, with crowds of people singing and dancing until the early hours.
Victory in Japan (VJ) Day
Less organised in many places were the celebrations for VJ Day marking the surrender of Japan and the final end of the War, though it had long been agreed that the two working days after any announcement of cessation of hostilities should be regarded as days of paid holiday. Although half expected, after ‘almost a week of rumour and speculation’, when the announcement came, at midnight on Tuesday 14 August, it took some by surprise. Local newspapers are one of the best sources for details of the Victory celebrations and one response to the announcement was described in the 'ÄûÃʵ¼°¹ Mirror':
"To many people probably who missed hearing the BBC intimation at nine o’clock that ‘an important announcement’ was expected to be made at midnight, the first indication that the war was over came from the shrill continuous note of Southern Railway engine whistles. This seems to have been an unofficial and spontaneous form of broadcast which, started by the driver of an engine in duty in the Redhill Station goods yard, was taken up by others up and down the line, one locomotive answering another and still others joining in until the air vibrated with a chorus of high-pitched sostenuto which was appropriately reminiscent of the sirenic ‘All Clear’ of many a war-time night. One or two late-watching enthusiasts added their small contributions to the clamour by letting off fireworks or explosives of some kind, but soon all was quiet once more."
Derrick Clewley of Woking was serving with the Royal Air Force in India in August 1945 and, in a letter to his sweetheart Mary Blythe, he describes the elation when the war in the Far East was declared to be over:
"Darling, our ‘V’ day is officially here and is this camp going mad! After this last 4 tense days of waiting for news, and sitting up till 12.30 this morning hoping to catch the news, well it’s more of a relief to get the war over.
The gen came through at 7.30 this morning…When the announcer said it was all over; great cheers went up…cartridges fired off, revolvers, rifles, oh there was a terrific noise…Nobody is attempting to do any work, there’s small groups of chaps gathered about talking and laughing…"
This joy was echoed at home. A 'Woking News and Mail' report, giving staff impressions of the day, noted, 'A little boy hanging over a gate keeps singing "The war is over, the war is over"’. Once again the bunting came out, church bells were rung and although the day was mostly quiet, in the evening crowds gathered for singing and dancing in the streets. Huge bonfires, often built and added to over a number of days, again formed a centre for celebrations. At West Byfleet the bonfire was lit by two returned Prisoners of War and a 20 foot high bonfire on the Hogs Back in Guildford was partly made of wood from the town’s anti-invasion defences.
The third VE Day
VJ Day was not the end of the Victory celebrations. There was in fact a third VE Day holiday, though this seems little remembered today. In July 1945, even before the end of the war in the Far East, the government recommended that in addition to the leave given to workers on VE day and the following day, there should be another one-day local holiday to be arranged later by the districts. Local newspapers reported on the various Victory parties, mostly in late August/early September and, with time to make proper plans, they included various events such as military parades and baby shows, fancy dress parades and sports events, such as egg and spoon and wheelbarrow races, for all ages. After six long years, the war was finally over.
Images
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- Lower Sunbury Road near the junction with The Avenue, Sunbury on Thames, festooned with celebration flags, 1945 (reference 8875/2)
- Announcement of planned VE day celebrations by the Mayor of Guildford, 1945 (reference 1736/RB/374/48)
- Street party at Caterham Hill Infants School, 1945 (reference PH/29/72/1)
- Announcement of VJ celebrations in the 'ÄûÃʵ¼°¹ Advertiser' (18 August 1945)
- Borough of Guildford Third VE day poster, 1945 (reference 1736/RB/374/48)