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Europe Marks 65th Anniversary of End of World War II

   VOA News 08 May 2010
   French  President  Nicolas  Sarkozy,  center, prepares to lay a wreath
   during  a  ceremony  to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Allied
   victory over Nazi Germany, in Colmar, eastern France, 08 May 2010

Photo: AP

   French  President  Nicolas  Sarkozy,  center, prepares to lay a wreath
   during  a  ceremony  to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Allied
   victory over Nazi Germany, in Colmar, eastern France, 08 May 2010

   Western  European  leaders  marked  the 65th anniversary of the end of
   World  War II Saturday, ahead of a large-scale celebration planned for
   Sunday in Russia.
   French  President Nicolas Sarkozy honored the Allied victory over Nazi
   Germany with a wreath-laying at the statue of the late General Charles
   de  Gaulle  in  Paris.   De  Gaulle led the French resistance against
   Germany during the war. Â
   Another ceremony was planned for later Saturday in the city of Colmar,
   one of the last French towns to be liberated from the Germans.
   In  London,  the  leaders  of  Britain's  three main political parties
   joined  in  a ceremony marking Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day), as the
   anniversary is widely known.  The British political leaders put aside
   their  election  rivalry  to  lay wreaths together at the Cenotaph war
   memorial near the Houses of Parliament.
   On Sunday, soldiers from France, Britain, Poland and the United States
   will  join  Russian  troops  in  a massive parade through Russia's Red
   Square.
   World  War  Two  is  known  in  Russia  as  the  Great Patriotic War.Â
   Russians  are  fiercely  proud  of the heroism of Soviet troops during
   wartime   battles  over  Stalingrad  and  Kursk,  and  their  role  in
   liberating Berlin.
   Nazi Germany surrendered to Allied forces on May 8, 1945, after nearly
   six  years  of  war  triggered by Adolf Hitler's invasion of Poland in
   September 1939.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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