V-E Day signified the end of a long road. In the Pacific, there was a brief acknowledgement that the European battle was over, but it didn’t really matter to the soldiers and Marines who were still attacking Japanese positions on Okinawa or to the sailors who were fending off kamikaze attacks on ships off the island. The soldiers realized their divisions, brigades and units would be part of the invasion of Japan. Their joy was further tempered because, while Germany was defeated, Japan fought on. On the front lines deep in Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, the celebration was more muted, with soldiers gradually realizing they were not going to be shot at anymore and were going to go home. Men and women rushed to the streets to hug and kiss and dance. In New York, London and Moscow the eruption of joy was instantaneous. 1, 1939, ended with the total defeat of the Nazi menace and the unconditional surrender of the German military. The war that began with Germany invading Poland Sept. Churchill and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin simultaneously announced that Nazi Germany had surrendered on May 8, 1945, the joy Americans felt was tempered by where they were. Truman, British Prime Minister Winston S.
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