Happy VE Day! - Don't Let Them Forget!
Today marks the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s surrender
to the allies: the British Empire, the Soviet Union, the United States of America,
and others. After around 6 years of war (1939-1945) the struggle in Europe was
over, the allies now turned almost complete attention to the Imperial Japanese Empire,
which would fall around 99 days later. It took 6 years and a horrifying tens of
millions of troops, but the evils of the Third Reich were over, finished, never
to be seen again.
It all started on June 28, 1919 when...wait, 1919?! Yes, that’s not a type-o. The Treaty of Versailles’ terms for Germany were so harsh that the economic
situation in the Fatherland was horrific. People needed wheelbarrows full of
German Marks just to buy a loaf of bread. Children use them as kites and they
were also used to replace firewood they were so worthless. In fact, by 1923,
250 million Marks equaled only 1 US dollar! With everyone wanting to end the
hardships, it was no trouble at all for Adolf Hitler to gain power, promising
to return glory to Germany.
Fast forward to 1939, on September 1 of that year, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and thus WWII began. The German war machine tore throughout Europe,
using the extremely effective blitzkrieg tactic, and within months all of
mainland Europe (except neutral Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland) were flying the
swastika. The only country left was England, and lucky for them, Winston
Churchill had recently been elected Prime Minister. Under his leadership, Britain defied
the overwhelming German force, first with Dunkirk, then the Battle of Britain,
and finally the Blitz (heavy German bombing of British cities, mainly London).
But they couldn’t last forever, they needed help, a BIG help. Thankfully, one
was coming, though in a tragic way.
What was it you ask, well...this happened.
Two years passed, mainly with fierce fighting in the pacific theater, but we’re focusing on Europe today, in which Germany and the Soviet Union were fighting in Russia, the British and their commonwealth forces along with US troops were fighting in North Africa. Joseph Stalin grew impatient, he wanted the other allies to launch an assault into mainland Europe, so as to distract the Germans from him and also so they could close in on Germany from 2 sides. The US, Britain, and the FFI (the French Forces of the Interior or French Resistance) began planning two operations, Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily and later Italy), and the more famous Operation Overlord also known as Operation Neptune (D-Day).
June 6, 1944, The allies landed on 5 different beaches along the Normandy coast. The US landed on Utah and Omaha, the British on Sword and Gold, and the Canadians, who were still a commonwealth of Britain, landed on Juno. After those landings, the allies pushed farther and farther into Europe, with the Soviets coming from Mother Russia, and the US, Brits, and French, from France. The following months included some of the most well-known battles in history, such as the Battle of Normandy, the Battle of Arracourt, the Liberation of Paris, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge or the Ardennes Offensive, along with many more famous battles and forgotten skirmishes on the road to Berlin.
Today, we celebrate German high command's surrender shortly after Hitler’s death 75 years ago. I will never forget the things our ancestors did to protect our freedom and defeat a truly evil empire.
Lest we forget. God bless America!
