Figure 1.--VE Day was celebrted in most European countries as wll as America and Canada. In Europe the celebrations were mostly in the West and Moscow. Eastern Europeans had less to celbrate. Here French school children are marching in an organized VE Day celebration. The children appear to be from Dreux (we see that on the flag) which is a commune in northern France. The marchers go all aronf the street and here pass a printers shop. The photograph is dated May 9, 1945. Photographer American Cpt. Joseph Krynicki.

The largest French celebration of VE-Day of course was in Paris. oyous celebrations occurred in Paris with a parade up the Champs-Elysées. Celebrations in Paris did not rival the tumault of liberation a year earlier. It was hard to repeate the unbriled joy in driving the Germns out of Paris, but it was close. VE Day unlike the liberation of Paris came as no great surprise. Thst wa basically known with the liberation of Paris. It was known for some tome thst the Germans were defeated. It was just a matter of when they woulkd surrenddr,. Allied and Soviet armies had met, Berlin had fallen, and Hitler was dead. It was obvious that it was just a matter of days before NAZI Germany surrendered. Here we se the celebrtion in one French town. Interestunhgly, France celebrated VE Day simultaneously on the anniversary of the Siege of Orléans being lifted by French forces led by Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War. In that case the eneny was the English.

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Created: 12:06 AM 11/22/2017
Last updated: 110:01 AM 2/8/2019