October 1945
(Europe)
(Preparations for the Nuremberg Trials)
Following the defeat of Nazi Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, France and the Soviet Union agreed to a joint tribunal in the occupied German city of Nuremberg. The tribunal agreed to gather evidence against the Nazis for plotting and carrying out invasions of countries across Europe, and committing atrocities against their citizens during the Second World War. Evidence was also being gathered about the “Final Solution” of the Jewish problem during the Holocaust. Over 30,000 documents were gathered as evidence against the 177 defendants accused of war crimes. The Nuremberg Trials commenced on the 2nd November 1945 and ended on the 1st October 1946.
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(Introduction of National Service)
British military commitments abroad were still required at the end of the Second World War. Britain still needed to maintain her diminishing Empire, occupy post-war Germany and Japan, and re-establish influence in the world, particularly in the Middle East. In 1947, after the independence of India, Britain no longer had a huge Indian Army at its disposal. To make up for the loss caused by the demobilisation of the wartime conscripted army resulted in a form of a peacetime conscription programme. National Service came into force in 1949 for all able-bodied men between the ages of 18 and 21.
(Germany)
The Allied occupation of Germany was to ensure that Germany could not equip herself to fight another war.
(National Service involvement)
Over two million men were conscripted into National Service. Their locations, apart fromGermany, were the Home Front, the Suez Canal zone, Korea and Cyprus. The Suez Canal zone was a particularly dangerous location as the Egyptians didn’t want the peacekeeping forces there. National Service conscripts were involved in combat in Korea, Kenya and Malaya. The need for National Service ended in June 1963 when regular soldier training recruits became a burden. Also, National Service drained workers from contributing to the British economy.
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(Far East Asia)
With Japan defeated and the subsequent surrender signed on the 2nd September 1945, the Second World War was at an end. For the British government they were faced with a major challenge for the demobilisation of the “Forgotten Army” in the Far East. As with VE-Day in June 1945, age and time spent in uniform determined when most servicemen were released from the armed forces. A small number of so called “Key Workers”, whose occupational skills were vital for post-war reconstruction, were also released ahead of their allotted time. As with VE-Day, the demobilised troops were issued with the means to return to “civvy street”. The difference between the two victory days was that the “Forgotten Army” suffered the consequences of the pro-longed monsoon conditions. The demobilisation process was slow because of the numbers involved and was finally completed in 1947. Returning to civilian life servicemen found conditions to be extremely bad. In the six years of war the home front had endured bombardment and blockades resulting in shortages of many basic essentials. One of the biggest challenges, after many years apart, were husbands and wives had to adjust to living together again.
However, there were many servicemen and women who were not immediately demobilised, as they were the prisoners-of-war captured by the Japanese. More than 130 POW camps spread across East Asia housed almost 150,000 Allied soldiers and women personnel. Japanese military philosophy was such that anyone surrendering was beneath contempt, and as result the treatment of prisoners was harsh. Allied troops were forced to carry out slave-labour on a starvation diet of rice and vegetables, which led to severe malnutrition. The POWs seldom received Red Cross parcels, and tried to supplement their rations with whatever they could grow themselves. Many died of malnutrition or disease from the hostile environment. Many POWs endured sadistic punishments for the most minor breach of camp rules. Some women were also forced into slave-labour, many were sexually abused and many suffered horrific medical experiments. With Allied troops advancing they gradually liberated the interment camps, and were horrified at the conditions the POWs had been had been enduring. For many, liberation came too late. Almost a quarter of all Allied prisoners in Japanese hands died during captivity. Allied ships were refitted with hospital beds for ex-POWs to be transported to hospitals in India, where they were looked after medically and also fed with nutritious food. However, like the “Forgotten Army”, for many ex-POWs, demobilisation was not completed until 1947, but most of them suffered the after effects of tropical diseases for the rest of their lives.
(Other Theatres)
When Germany surrendered in May 1945 all occupying UK/US Allied forces were forbidden to fraternise with German civilians. This order was partly rescinded in June 1945 when the occupying troops were allowed to fraternise with “small Children”. On the 1st October 1945 the directive for the non -fraternisation for UK/US troops was changed. Previously even speaking to a German civilian could lead to a court martial. The lifting of the directive was to lead to many Allied forces marrying German women.
Having served twice as Prime Minister, 56 years old Pierre Laval was a qualified French lawyer and politician in 1939. Laval, a fascist sympathiser, served in the Vichy government in 1940 after France’s defeat by the invasion of Nazi Germany. Officially independent the Vichy government adopted a policy of collaboration with Nazi Germany. Laval served in prominent positions in the Vichy government and displayed harsh treatment toward the people of France. He sent thousands of French people to slavery in Germany, and relying on heavy handed tactics to keep the population in line. Following the Liberation of France in 1944, Laval was imprisoned by the Germans but in April 1945 he escaped and fled to Spain. He soon returned to France and arrested by Charles de Gaule’s government. At his trial he was charged with collaboration with the enemy and plotting against the security of the state. Laval was found guilty and executed by firing squad on the 15th October 1945.
Norway was a neutral country prior to the German invasion of 1940. Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian military officer and politician who had fascist views regarding the Norwegian Jewish community. When Germany occupied Norway, Quisling washead of the country’s government as a Nazi collaborator. As well as participating in Germany’s war efforts the collaborationist government deported many Jews. Their destination was to concentration camps in occupied Poland, where most were killed. At the end of the Second World War in Europe, during the legal purge of the collaborationist government, Quisling was put on trial for war crimes. He was found guilty of high treason against the Norwegian State. The charges also included murder and embezzlement for which he was sentenced to death. Quisling was executed by firing squad on the 24th October 1945.
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Footnote
One final and significant event occurred before the German surrender on VE-Day that was to influence future space exploration.
After the Great War, the “Treaty of Versailles” did not include rocketry in its list of weapons forbidden to Germany. In the early 1930s a “Spaceflight Society” was formed in order to examine the possibility of a liquid-fuelled rocket engine. A formidable group of scientists became encompassed into Nazi Germany’s rocket programme.
The scientists developed the jet engine, designed by British Frank Whittle, to produce the first jet fighter. The Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter was faster than Allied conventional fighter planes but came too late to influence the outcome of the war for air supremacy. The scientists were more successful with the jet-pulse engine of the V1 Flying Bomb and the V2 rocket terror bomb. The V1 and V2 weapons ware launched against Britain and targets in Europe.
With both the Allies and the Red Army approaching Germany in 1945, Wernher von Braun, a high- ranking Nazi scientist/engineer and many of his fellow scientists opted to try to surrender to the Americans rather than to the Soviet Union. They were successful and von Braun became an American citizen who was a leading light in the later space exploration programme.
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The Bay Museum & Research Facility 