Victory in Europe Day: May 8th 1945

A beautiful handwritten book in Towneley Hall reveals the toll taken on Burnley by the Second World War. The Roll of Honour records the names of nearly 700 local service personnel who lost their lives and at least five civilians killed in air raids elsewhere in the country. Although relatively peaceful during the war, the town was hit by four bombs, including one on October 12^th, 1941, that hit the Starfish site control centre, at Crown Point, killing one man and leaving several people injured. Another bomb fell in Thompson’s Park, one on Rossendale Road near to the Summit and the fourth on Burnley Girls High School playing field.

Although the town was never a major target, it did play its part in a decoy operation aimed at fooling enemy aircraft. A series of dummy airfields, mock towns and cities and simulated urban areas were built in East Lancashire, including on moorland at Crown Point and Worsthorne. The idea was to trick Luftwaffe bombers into dropping their loads on the decoys instead of in war-critical industrial and urban areas. But one Towneley exhibit in the Burnley Room casts an element of doubt on its effectiveness – a detailed, large-scale wartime map of the town. A German map. You can see a version of the map online.

The war, which broke out on September 3^rd, 1939, eventually involved dozens of countries, including Germany, Italy and Japan on the Axis side and, for the Allies, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States and China. In Britain conscription was immediately introduced for men between the ages of 18 and 41 and in 1941 national service was also brought in for women between the ages of 20 and 30.

Civilians, meanwhile, endured food and clothing rationing, children were evacuated from towns and cities to be quartered on families in safer districts and many areas suffered from the Luftwaffe’s aerial bombing campaign in 1940 and 1941. Among England’s Blitzed cities were London, Liverpool and Manchester.

But following D-Day on June 6^th, 1944, victory was in the Allies’ sights. Hitler committed suicide on April 30^th, 1945, and seven days later Germany surrendered. The next day, May 8^th, 1945 – Victory in Europe Day – was declared a public holiday in Britain.

Nearly six years of war had claimed millions of lives, destroyed cities, families and homes and caused massive suffering. The guns may have fallen silent in Europe but relief was tempered by grief for the millions killed in the war which left 383,700 British military personnel and 67,200 civilians dead. And the conflict hadn’t yet ended. War raged on in the Pacific for a further three months.

Still, rejoicing broke out in Britain’s towns and cities. The largest crowds were in London, but people all around the country joined in celebrations, singing, dancing, lighting bonfires and letting off fireworks. In Burnley the town hall clock was illuminated for the first time since 1939, a bonfire blazed on Pendle Hill and street parties were rapidly organised.

Large crowds may have seen celebrating in the cities, but according to the Burnley Express the mood locally was relatively subdued. “Burnley could hardly be said to have been animated by any great transports of fervour. Or to have exhausted itself with patriotic emotion,” it reported.

Nevertheless, bunting and Union flags went up in the streets, women pinned rosettes to their coats and hats, factories sounded their hooters, buzzers and whistles and a special service was held at Turf Moor. In Brierfield church services were held and the UN banner was hung alongside the British flag. Padiham’s town hall and shops were decorated and pubs were offering cut-price drinks.

By the time the war ended on September 2^nd, 1945, it had become history’s most deadly conflict with an estimated 70 to 85 million dead, or about three per cent of the global population.

Sources:

• Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories
• IWM
• Wiki
• https://ww2aircraft.ne
• heritagegateway.org.uk
• aircrashsites.co.uk
• Lancs Live
• parliament.uk/
• zeticauxo.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bombing-decoys.pdf