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Food
1 – 3.30pm Tickets £12 (pre-booking required) Venue: The Centre for Heritage & Family History, 2nd Floor, Reading Central Library, Abbey Square, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 3BQ Find out more: https://berksfhs.org/events/ve-day-anniversary-lunch-and-talk/?occurrence=2025-05-08 Our VE Day 80th anniversary event begins with a fish and chips lunch. This is followed by a talk by Mike Cooper and Richard Marks on the collapse of Germany in 1945. The Collapse of Germany in 1945 8th May 1945 marked the formal end of World War Two in Europe, when the allied nations accepted the final unconditional surrender of Germany’s armed forces. Why did Germany’s armed forces, the same army and air force which stormed through Europe in 1939 and 1940, collapse? What was different in 1945 from 1940 when Germany controlled most of Europe, other than the neutral nations such as Sweden, Spain and Switzerland? Military and Industrial Historians Mike Cooper and Richard Marks will examine the situation in 1945 and reveal why Germany was defeated. This event is organised by Berkshire Family History Society CIO, a registered charity number 1204390.