VE Day – we need to remember ALL who died and suffered
For those who lived through the Second World War, when it started and when it ended depended on where you lived. For Europeans, we date the commencement of the war as 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland and we date the conclusion of the war as 8 May 1945 with the surrender of the Germans.
So today we celebrate Victory in Europe (VE) Day. Victory in Japan (VJ) Day will not be until 15 August. But, for the Chinese, the war began much earlier with the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and, for the Americans, it started later with the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines at the end of 1941.
Also the scale of the suffering depended vastly on where you lived. Today rightly we will commemorate the experience of the British and may remember that of other European nations, but we are unlikely to recall the enormous sacrifice of the then Soviet Union.
In one history of the Second World War in Europe, the author opines: “the Soviet role was enormous and the Western role was respectable but modest”. He adds: “All in all, the open-minded observer will be tempted to view the war effort of the Western powers as something of a sideshow.”
Unfair? Look at the figures in my review of the book. And remember ALL who died and suffered for the peace and freedom we enjoy today even in a time of global pandemic.