Posted on 05/04/2015 4:19:25 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Son receives Dale native's dog tags, lost since 1945
https://duboiscountyherald.com/b/man-receives-fathers-wwii-dog-tags-lost-since-1945
Downed American airman turned Dutch Resistance fighter
Killed two days before German surrender of Holland
http://historys-shadow.blogspot.com/2006/05/burial-of-john-mccormick-may-4-1945.html
A fascinating seven minute color film of post-surrender, pre-Wall Berlin. It shows much of the devastation, but the city is starting to come back to life. Included is a short clip of the outside of the fuehrerbunker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5i9k7s9X_A
'The Germans have surrendered'
Published: 04 May 2015
Exactly 70 years ago on Monday, Denmark was liberated from German occupation and light returned to Danish cities after five years of darknesses.
“At this moment, it is being announced that Montgomery has stated that the German troops in the Netherlands, northwest Germany and Denmark have surrendered. Here is London. We repeat: Montgomery has just now announced that the German troops in the Netherlands, northwest Germany and Denmark have surrendered.”
With those words, BBC’s Danish presenter Johannes Sørensen cut into regular programming to inform the Danish people that their five years of German occupation were over. The message came at 8.35pm on May 4th 1945, 70 years ago.
British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery had just accepted the surrender of German forces at Lüneburg Heath, east of Hamburg.
Denmark would have to wait another 12 hours until the liberation officially took effect at 8am on May 5th 1945, but the radio broadcast brought them out into the streets, many of them using the occasion to burn their hated black window shades that had been used during bombing raids.
Seven decades later, Danes continue that tradition by lighting candles in their window sills every May 4th as a reminder of the five years when Danish cities spent their nights in total darkness.
When Germany launched an invasion into Denmark and Norway on April 9th, 1940, the official Danish resistance lasted just two hours before King Christian X surrendered.
Immediately after the invasion, Denmark was able to keep its government and monarchy in place with a mix of democracy and totalitarianism until Germany dissolved the government in 1943 following strikes and upheaval.
Although some 6,000 Danes are estimated to have joined the corps of Danish Nazis known as Free Corps Denmark during the war, the Danish resistance movement is estimated to have included well over 20,000 Danes who worked to actively undermine the German occupation.
Some 3,000 Danes died as a direct result, with another estimated 4,000 Danish volunteers were killed while fighting alongside the Germans and 1,072 sailors gave their lives for the Allies.
Danish fishermen also put themselves at great risk by ferrying Denmark’s Jews to safety in Sweden.
Denmark publicly apologized for collaboration with the Nazis for the first time in 2003. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the co-operation "morally unjustifiable" in a speech for the 60th anniversary of the end of the 1940 to 1943 collaborationist government.
Although the May 5th, 1945 liberation brought joy across Denmark, the day was also marked with Danish citizens publicly humiliating woman who had known relationships with German soldiers.
The first Allied forces arrived in Denmark on mid afternoon on May 5th, greeted by throngs of people celebrating in Copenhagen. When Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery came to the capital a week later, Danes honoured him with a victory parade throughout the city.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTO GALLERY FROM 1945 LIBERATION
Now onto Asia
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