Victory in Europe Day celebrations broke out on 8 May 1945 and to many people in Britain it felt as though the Second World War had ended. However, Allied forces were still in action in the Far East as Japan remained the last Axis power involved in the conflict. The expectation that war would soon be over increased when atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (6 and 9 August 1945 respectively) and the Soviet Union declared war on Japan on 8 August 1945. Negotiations between the Japanese Government and the Allied forces stalled as Japan refused to reduce the status of their Emperor and the occupation of their country by Allied forces. Emperor Hirohito intervened and confirmed Japan’s unconditional surrender in a radio broadcast on 15 August 1945. 80 years on, we remember the sacrifices made at home and abroad by looking at the records of those who lived through it.
Civilians and service personnel in London's Piccadilly Circus celebrate the news of Allied Victory over Japan in August 1945.
Image credit: WikiCommons, Public domain
Victory on Japan Day in the planning
On 10 August 1945, a Cabinet Office meeting took place for the ‘Committee for the Co-Ordination of Departmental Action on the Termination of Hostilities with Japan’. Although negotiations were ongoing with Japan, the UK Government was confident that Japan’s surrender was imminent. The minutes of the meeting declare that:
"no official communication had been received from the Japanese Government regarding an offer of surrender and nothing was known beyond the announcement by Tokyo radio to the effect that Japan was now ready to accept the terms announced by the Government of the United Kingdom and the United States of America from Potsdam, on the understanding that the prerogative of the Emperor as a sovereign ruler would not be prejudiced. The Foreign Office were now communicating with the Governments of the U.S.A., the Soviet Union and China, and as an interim measure, the Cabinet approach had yet been made and that an announcement would be made as soon as anything definite was known".
Crown copyright, National Records of Scotland (NRS), HH50/138
The radio announcement from Tokyo mentioned above was heard around the world. Consequently, the British public were already celebrating the end of the war before any official announcement had been made. This prompted the Cabinet to issue a notice to the British press to be published the following day, Saturday 11 August:
"As already announced, His Majesty’s Government are in communication with the Governments of the U.S.A., the Soviet Union and China about the Japanese Government on surrender terms; but no official statement on this matter can yet be made… This notice is issued to enable advance preparations to be made where necessary. A definite announcement will be made as soon as possible as to the days to be treated as holidays".
The ‘Cabinet had agreed that the VJ-Day arrangements should be broadly in conformity with those which were made in connection with VE-Day.’ However, it was noted that ‘the feeling had been expressed at the Cabinet that during the VE-holiday there had not been enough entertainment for the public and the hope had been expressed that the VJ-Day there would be more amusements in the form of bands, etc.’ Despite the locally organised street parties and bonfires that took place on Victory in Europe Day (8 May 1945) the people felt that there should have been more official events organised as part of the celebrations.
In an attempt to meet this demand, local authorities were sent a circular outlining the arrangements made for VE Day, but the ‘Secretary of State recommends that the local authorities should endeavour to make such arrangements as are possible in the time available’ (NRS, HH50/138).
An undated and ‘SECRET’ memo entitled ‘ARRANGEMENTS FOR CELEBRATING THE END OF THE WAR’ probably drafted following the Cabinet meeting on 10 August, suggested the dates of a two-day public holiday. It states that ‘If the news of Japan’s surrender was confirmed in time, it would be convenient that these holidays should be fixed for Monday and Tuesday, 13th and 14th August’. It also recommends the ‘extension of licensing hours in restaurants, public houses, etc. during the two days’ holiday on the same lines as had been done for VE Day’. The memo goes on to say that ‘It would be desirable that arrangements should be made, if possible, for bands to play and music to be broadcast in streets and open places during the evenings of the two days’ holiday.’ (NRS, HH50/138).
‘SECRET’ government memo concerning the Victory in Japan celebrations on 13 and 14 August 1945.
Crown copyright, NRS, HH50/138
Despite the definite date of the two-days’ holiday being in doubt due to the uncertainty of Japan’s surrender, a ‘National Day of Thanksgiving would take place probably on Sunday, August 19th’ with special services of thanksgiving […] held on that day at ‘St Paul’s and in Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff’. (NRS, HH50/138).
The plans for the Thanksgiving Service in Edinburgh were quickly put in place, largely drawing from the service held following VE Day and also taking place at St Giles Cathedral. It was determined that a service ‘will be held at 1100 hours in St Giles Cathedral at which His Majesty The King is being represented by The Most Honourable The Marquis of Linlithgow.’ The King would be attending the service in London’s St Pauls, and would be represented in the services held in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast. Other details of the service put in place were:
"Guard of Honour
A Guard of Honour… will parade on The Castle Esplanade at 1000 hours, Sunday 19 August and will march to St Giles Cathedral and will be in position at 1030 hours.
Composition of Guard of Honour
A. Naval Detachment 1 Officer 33 Ratings
B. Military Detachment 1 Officer 33 O[ffice]rs.
C. RAF Detachment 1 Officer 33 Aircraftsmen
The Navy contingent being HMS Lochinvar, Granton. The Military 10 Infantry Holding, East Scotland. The RAF by 17 Group RAF under instructions being issued by ACC.
The Band of The Royal Scots will be in attendance under instructions to be issued by the Commander, East Scotland District.
Rehearsal on Saturday at 1000 [...]
The service at St Giles was conducted by Very Rev. Dr Charles L Warr, Dean of the Thistle and Chapel Royal"
Passage from Circular 38236 signed off by Neil Richie, Lieutenant General, General Officer Commanding in Chief, Scottish Command, no date, NRS, HH50/138
Victory in Japan was finally scheduled to take place on 15 August, coinciding with the opening of Parliament, and the following day was to be a public holiday. The day before, The Scotsman reported:
The King, it is officially announced at Buckingham Palace, will broadcast in the evening of V Day. If V Day should come to-morrow, thus coinciding with the State opening of Parliament, no alteration will be made in the route of the Royal drive from Buckingham Palace to Westminster and back. Yesterday morning workmen were busy in the quadrangle of Buckingham Palace installing floodlights which were last used after VE Day. They will be turned on the night of V Day when Their Majesties appear on the Palace balcony.
The Scotsman, 14 August 1945, NRS, HH50/138
A flood of revelry
The people of Britain were poised to start celebrating. They had had good practice with VE Day, 99 days before. After days of expectation, US President Harry S Truman broke the news at a press conference at the White House at 7 p.m. on 14 August. Later at midnight, Britain's new Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, confirmed that: "The last of our enemies is laid low." Following the announcement Scotland was in a ‘flood of revelry’ as reported in The Daily Record of 15th August: ‘VE-night hysteria was dwarfed by the riot of noise and movement and converged on city streets, parks and open spaces’ (The Daily Records, 15 August 1945, British Newspaper Archive).
The events of VJ Day were recorded in the diary of Angus McMillan (1909-1993), a Scot who had joined the Royal Artillery and was stationed in Preston during the end of the Second World War. He starts his entry for Wednesday 15th August 1945 with “V.E. Day + 99 […] Just after midnight last night Mr Attlee announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally. Praise be to God that the war is over at long last.”
Angus McMillan, from a family photo album, 1937.
NRS, GD474/4/9
McMillan goes on to write that he “was awakened soon after midnight by the noise & the singing, the bells and the hooters.” The next day McMillan noted “Flags beginning to appear… Shops all closed.” He travelled into the centre of Glasgow, which had been “gaily bedecked with flags and bunting”. Due to McMillan’s role as a Royal Army Pay Corps Clerk, he was not allocated leave for VJ Day or the following day’s holiday. In his diary he notes that he and his colleagues “all feel a great relief that the War was over, and we have won.”
The celebrations continued late into the evening, as McMillan travelled to Paisley “which was very busy, and endless surge of people moved to and fro, singing, shouting and cheering. The Abbey was very beautifully floodlit […] Bonfires waxed and waned in many places. Fireworks gleamed or swished in many colours, or went off with resounding bangs […] The Municipal Buildings were bedecked with flags, flowers, banners, shields, bunting & gaily coloured lights.” As the next day was a normal working day for McMillan, he ends his diary entry for VJ Day at 1.00 a.m. he goes to bed: “Singing and shouting continues outside. I wonder what festivities would be like if there was no drink?”
Angus McMillan’s diary entry for Wednesday 15 August 1945.
NRS, GD474/1/63
The Victory Celebrations of June 1946
V J Day was not the last national celebration of the Second World War. Victory Day, which took place on Saturday 8 June 1946, was a national holiday of jubilation. The announcement of Victory Day was received with mixed feelings. Peace had ‘its shortages and difficulties, its strains and stresses, which sorely try powers of endurance and patience, already almost exhausted by the ordeal of long years of war’ (The Scotsman, 8 June 1946). Among other struggles, the home nations were still subject to rationing and bombed-out cities were slowing being rebuilt. After the jubilant celebrations of VE and VJ Days, this time the celebrations would be measured and respectful.
Official Programme of the Victory Celebrations, 8 June 1946.
NRS, HH50/142
The commemorations centred on a Victory Parade which took place in London. Thousands of men and women were included in the march, which was an opportunity for the people to express their gratitude to all those involved in the conflict. It was also a time to remember those who had died at home and abroad fighting for victory. Representatives of the Dominions and of the Allied forces took part in the vast parade. Also participating were hundreds of soldiers from the British Indian Army and the Royal West African Frontier Force, who were a large contingent of the fighting force in the final stages of the war, particularly in Burma (now Myanmar).
The band of the 8th Punjab Regiment, leading the band of the Royal Garhwal Rifles, head the contingent of infantry from the Indian Army during in the Victory Parade in London, 8 June 1946.
Image credit: WikiCommons, Public Domain
Local festivities were also organised throughout the country. In the King’s Park in Edinburgh (now known as Holyrood Park) there were ‘open air entertainments for children’, local firework displays blazed in the night sky and civil buildings were floodlight in larger towns (Victory Celebrations, (Government decision) Hansard ) Scots across the nation were poised to start festivities. However, not everyone welcomed the coming celebrations. The Property Owners and Factors Association, Glasgow, Limited were so concerned about the prospective damage to property during Victory Day that they wrote to the Secretary of State.
Letter from the Secretary of the Property Owners and Factors Association, Glasgow, Limited to The Secretary to the Department of Health for Scotland.
NRS, HH50/142
The letter pleads that notices and announcements should be made to dissuade the public from making and lighting bonfires and ‘that property should not be destroyed’. The clean-up after the previous Victory celebrations appear to have been extensive, as the letter says ‘it may well be the case that on these two days more damage was done to property in Glasgow as the result of the celebrations than was caused throughout the war by the German Air Force.’
The 80th anniversaries of both Victory in Europe Day and Victory on Japan Day is an opportunity for the nation to honour and commemorate the Second World War generation across the UK and Commonwealth. You can find out about local events via the VE and VJ 80 Government site.
