The war that lasted for 2,174 days and would claim an average of 27,600 lives every day, or 1,150 an hour, or 19 a minute, or one death every 3 seconds, came to an end today sixty years ago.
On 7 March 1945, the Western Allies--led by cheif commanders Omar Bradley and Bernard Law Montgomery--crossed the Rhine after haivng smashed through the Siegfried Line and overran West Germany. Meanwhile, Soviet Red Army troops were forcing their way through the rubble of Berlin under marshals Zhukov and Konev. The unconditional surrender of Germany was signed at Rheims on 7 May and ratified at Berlin on 8 May.
UPDATE: As is often the case with history, time doesn't heal all wounds. See these comments by the German ambassador to London, Thomas Matussek:
"The British behave as if they had conquered Hitler's hordes single-handedly. And they continue to see us as Nazis, as if they have to refight the battles every evening. They are enchanted by this Nazi dimension," he said yesterday. "It's not anti-German sentiment precisely, but it's because we know too little about each other. Ignorance can breed xenophobia, which can breed hatred. That's what we've learnt in Germany." ...
A recent survey showed that when British 10- to 16-year olds were asked what they associated Germany with, 78 per cent said the Second World War, and 50 per cent mentioned Hitler. Youthful British ignorance of Germany and its past was demonstrated by the photographs published earlier this year, showing Prince Harry at a fancy dress party in Nazi uniform.
Mr. Matussek isn't the first to note the misunderstanding that British children have of Germany. Former ambassador Gebhardt von Moltke complained that British schools appeared to end their history lessons at 1945.
He said he was surprised to hear that 80% of A-level students studying history chose to study Nazi Germany.
"It is very important that people know about it study in depth, but they also need to know that history does not stop in 1945," he said. "They need to know that the lessons drawn from this dark era of our past are being implemented and that German democracy is a success story which could also be taught."
He pointed to an attack on two teenage German exchange students in London as an example of the damage cultural ignorance can do.
In October, two boys who were staying in Mordon, South London, were attacked while playing football with local teenagers.
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