Also, the Pentagon published a test of knowledge of the Second World War, in which it is necessary to indicate who announced the end of the war - Churchill or Tony Blair, and also answer which president is celebrating DR on May 8.
The US Department of Defense has posted a small presentation and test on its website in honor of Victory Day, which is celebrated in the West on May 8 (they call it VE Day). The presentation is quite short, but a dozen and a half sentences were enough to anger Russian Internet users with some formulations.
On the title page of the presentation is a photograph of the Spirit of the Elbe memorial in Washington. It is dedicated to the meeting of Soviet and American troops on April 25, 1945. The meeting itself is not mentioned in the text. Users of the site are invited to find out about what happened on May 8, 1945, and the events that made this date VE Day. The introduction says: “May 8, 9145 - Victory Day in Europe or VE Day - the world marked the end of the war in Europe. The war had raged for nearly five years by the time the United States and Allied forces landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. This landing marked the beginning of the end for Hitler and Nazi Germany. In less than a year, Germany will surrender and Hitler will be dead."
Then it is indicated that the surrender agreement was signed twice. On May 7, 1945, in French Reims, Alfred Jodl signed the Act of Unconditional Surrender of the German Armed Forces. “The second act, which Joseph Stalin insisted on, was signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel the next day in Berlin. Jodl and Keitl were later found guilty of war crimes by the Nuremberg Military Tribunal and subsequently executed."
It is also written that tens of millions of people died as a result of the war, and then briefly about the beginning of the war: “The conflict began in 1939, when Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland. Among the dead - 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany. Approximately 250,000 American soldiers were killed in battles in the European theater of operations."
Promotional video:
“Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of New York, New Orleans and cities in Canada, Australia and other Allied countries. A great celebration was held in Paris. American troops participated in the celebrations in France, a country that bore most of the burden of the struggle. In the Soviet Union, I celebrate my own Victory Day on May 9.
The following is a fragment of President Truman's radio speech about the price that had to be paid for the defeat of Hitler and his gang. It is also said that the fighting ended in Europe but continued in the Pacific theater of operations, where the United States and allies fought the Japanese in Okinawa, the Philippines and elsewhere. The story ends with a proposal about the fate of the European countries liberated from the Nazis. "The regions of Western Europe liberated by the Allied forces will become prosperous democracies, while the liberated countries in the east will be occupied by Soviet troops for decades." Then the reader is offered to pass the test for knowledge of VE Day and World War II."
There are only four questions in the test. You will definitely not learn a lot about the Second World War from it. For example, we are asked who announced the end of the war in London? Tony Blair, Margaret Thatcher, Winston Churchill or Clement Attlee? You also need to answer which American president has a birthday on May 8, how many Americans participated in the war, and why, because of Russia and Japan, the Second World War is formally continuing.
Not only users, but also professional historians reacted to the presentation and test on the US Department of Defense website. Mikhail Myagkov, scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society, in an interview with RT called the presentation a historical unconsciousness and an abomination: “We certainly appreciate the contribution of the Western allies and the United States to the victory, and during Soviet times their role was not diminished. But simple dry numbers make any sane person think. By the way, in 1945, none of the Western politicians doubted that the Red Army had made a decisive contribution to the defeat of Nazi Germany. An attempt to reconsider this fact cannot be called anything other than an abomination."