Victory in Europe Day

8th May 1945: A day of mixed emotions in Britain, while in Berlin, the Russians have yet to get their version of the surrender signed

View of the crowd in front of the Ministry of Health building in Whitehall, 8th May 1945. The Prime Minister addressed the crowd from the balcony, which, like the roof of the building, is decorated with flags. On the right is the Cenotaph.

Huge crowds thronged the streets of central London.

The partying had begun in London and across Britain on the evening of the 7th. More organised celebrations were to follow on the two Public Holidays of the 8th and 9th. Yet many families did not feel like celebrating, Vi Bottomley¹ was a twenty-four-year-old war widow in Liverpool:

When I heard they’d surrendered I just started to cry and I couldn’t stop. I don’t know what was the matter with me. I should have been happy, but I was crying my eyes out. I kept thinking of Jack [her husband]. He was killed on D Day. I never knew quite what happened to him, only that he was dead.

And I kept thinking, what a waste, what a waste. He was such a lovely man, always laughing and joking. He worked in the docks and needn’t have gone in the Army at all, but no, he had to go and do his bit. And for what? He’d never even seen the baby, his baby, sleeping upstairs.

The nation united for the two live radio broadcasts of the day, Winston Churchill speaking in the afternoon and the King speaking in the evening. The two men were the focus of attention for the crowds in London throughout the day.

As Big Ben struck three, there was an extraordinary hush over the assembled multitude, and then came Winston’s voice.

Churchill at the microphone in the Cabinet Office making his 'VE Day' broadcast to the nation that the war with Germany had been won, 8 May 1945.