Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army shortened to Red Army was the army and the air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, after 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The army was established after the 1917 October Revolution; the Bolsheviks raised an army to oppose the military confederations of their adversaries during the Russian Civil War. Beginning in February 1946, the Red Army, along with the Soviet Navy, embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces; the Red Army provided the largest land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II, its invasion of Manchuria assisted the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan. During operations on the Eastern Front, it accounted for 75–80% of casualties the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS suffered during the war and captured the Nazi German capital, Berlin. In September 1917, Vladimir Lenin wrote: "There is only one way to prevent the restoration of the police, and, to create a people's militia and to fuse it with the army."
At the time, the Imperial Russian Army had started to collapse. 23% of the male population of the Russian Empire were mobilized. The Tsarist general Nikolay Dukhonin estimated that there had been 2 million deserters, 1.8 million dead, 5 million wounded and 2 million prisoners. He estimated the remaining troops as numbering 10 million. While the Imperial Russian Army was being taken apart, "it became apparent that the rag-tag Red Guard units and elements of the imperial army who had gone over the side of the Bolsheviks were quite inadequate to the task of defending the new government against external foes." Therefore, the Council of People's Commissars decided to form the Red Army on 28 January 1918. They envisioned a body "formed from the class-conscious and best elements of the working classes." All citizens of the Russian republic aged 18 or older were eligible. Its role being the defense "of the Soviet authority, the creation of a basis for the transformation of the standing army into a force deriving its strength from a nation in arms, furthermore, the creation of a basis for the support of the coming Socialist Revolution in Europe."
Enlistment was conditional upon "guarantees being given by a military or civil committee functioning within the territory of the Soviet Power, or by party or trade union committees or, in extreme cases, by two persons belonging to one of the above organizations." In the event of an entire unit wanting to join the Red Army, a "collective guarantee and the affirmative vote of all its members would be necessary." Because the Red Army was composed of peasants, the families of those who served were guaranteed rations and assistance with farm work. Some peasants who remained at home yearned to join the Army. If they were turned away they would prepare care-packages. In some cases the money they earned would go towards tanks for the Army; the Council of People's Commissars appointed itself the supreme head of the Red Army, delegating command and administration of the army to the Commissariat for Military Affairs and the Special All-Russian College within this commissariat. Nikolai Krylenko was the supreme commander-in-chief, with Aleksandr Myasnikyan as deputy.
Nikolai Podvoisky became the commissar for Pavel Dybenko, commissar for the fleet. Proshyan, Steinberg were specified as people's commissars as well as Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich from the Bureau of Commissars. At a joint meeting of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, held on 22 February 1918, Krylenko remarked: "We have no army; the demoralized soldiers are fleeing, panic-stricken, as soon as they see a German helmet appear on the horizon, abandoning their artillery and all war material to the triumphantly advancing enemy. The Red Guard units are brushed aside like flies. We have no power to stay the enemy; the Russian Civil War occurred in three periods: October 1917 – November 1918: From the Bolshevik Revolution to the First World War Armistice, developed from the Bolshevik government's nationalization of traditional Cossack lands in November 1917. This provoked the insurrection of General Alexey Maximovich Kaledin's Volunteer Army in the River Don region; the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk aggravated Russian internal politics.
The situation encouraged direct Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, in which twelve foreign countries supported anti-Bolshevik militias. A series of engagements resulted, amongst others, the Czechoslovak Legion, the Polish 5th Rifle Division, the pro-Bolshevik Red Latvian Riflemen. January 1919 – November 1919: Initially the White armies advanced: from the south, under General Anton Denikin; the Whites defeated the Red Army on each front. Leon Trotsky reformed and counterattacked: the Red Army repelled Admiral Kolchak's army in June, the armies of General Denikin and General Yudenich in October. By mid-Nove
Vehicle registration plates of Poland
Vehicle registration plates of Poland indicate the region of registration of the vehicle encoded in the number plate. According to Polish law, the registration plate is tied to the vehicle, not the owner. There is no possibility for the owner to keep the licence number for use on a different car if it's a custom number; the licence plates are issued by the powiat of the vehicle owner's registered address of residence, in the case of a natural person. If it is owned by a legal person, the place of registration is determined by the address of its seat. Vehicles leased under operating leases and many de facto finance leases will be registered at the seat of the lessor; when a vehicle changes hands, the new owner must apply for new vehicle registration document bearing his or her name and registered address. The new owner may obtain a new licence plate although it is not necessary when new owner's residence address lies in the same area as the previous owner's. In such a situation the licence plates are carried over to the new owner, because the change carries an additional cost.
Upon purchasing a vehicle from another person, if the vehicle has an EU plate, the new owner must replace it with a license for their address and area, give the EU plate to their powiat plate mint to free up numbers in the future. If the car has a pre- May 1, 2006 plate, the owner is free to do whatever they wish with it, as long as it's legal with the Polish law; the plaque can not be replaced. The change of the whole set is required; the change in system shown below in 2001 is related to the reduction in the previous year of the number of voivodeships in Poland from 49 to 16, based on the country's historic regions. The pre-2001 licence plates can be used indefinitely, but since they are obsolete they have to be replaced in case of change of vehicle's ownership. In the pre-2001 model, there were not sufficient letters in the Polish alphabet for each of the old voivodeships to have a single letter. Only the standard latin alphabet were used, the specific Polish characters with diacritics were excluded in order to make the plates internationally readable.
Therefore, two letters had to be used to indicate the vehicle's origin. Since the change, the first letter denotes the new voivodeship. One additional letter is used in cities with rights of powiat. Two additional letters are used in any other powiat, it is not necessary for EU citizens to re-register the vehicles they have brought with them, which are duly registered and taxed elsewhere in the EU, when living in Poland. This emerges from European law, although local regulations have to date not been changed to reflect the law, leading to officials locally sometimes giving incorrect advice on this point. If in doubt, refer to your Embassy; the licence plates are invalid without the two adhesive stickers with a hologram placed on the license plates, an adhesive plaque bearing the same number as the plates on the inside of windshield. If the vehicle uses only one licence plate the excessive sticker must be attached to the registration papers; each powiat uses a unique two or three letter code, with the first letter denoting the powiat's voivodeship.
The number pools listed below are not used in any particular order, although one pool is depleted before the next one is used. A visible gap exists between the area code and series, but there is no possibility of confusion if the number is written down without it, unlike in the German system; the following characters are used in licence plate examples: X - voivodeship code XY, XYZ - powiat code J, K, L - any allowed letter digitsThe letters used in licence plates include all standard Latin alphabet letters outside of Q. The letters B, D, I, O, Z cannot be used in series area, because they can be confused with digits. Only custom plates can include these letters; the leading 0 in numbers is never omitted. Format: XY 12345 XY 1234J XY 123JK XY 1J345 XY 1JK45 XYZ J234 XYZ 12JK XYZ 1J34 XYZ 12J4 XYZ 1JK4 XYZ JK34 XYZ 12345 XYZ 1234J XYZ 123JKThe number of available unique numbers with these mentioned formats is 1,100,000 for each two-letter powiat code, 872,400 for each three-letter powiat code.
Note that the combinations "XYZ 1234" and "XYZ 123J" are not used, because they would lead to creation of numbers identical to these in the old system. The two-letter powiat codes must be followed by a leading digit, "XY 1...", to avoid confusion with the "XYZ..." scheme, as the gap is not significant. Format: XY 1234 XY 123J XYZ J234 XYZ 12JK XYZ 1J34 XYZ 12J4 XYZ 1JK4 XYZ JK34Cars - reduced size Format: X 123 X 12J X 1J2 X J12 X 1JK X JK1 X J1KThe plates are designed for cars from USA. Reduced size plates are the same width as US plates. Format: XY 12J XYZ 1JThese plates use black text on a yellow background with an additional picture of a vintage car on the right side. Only cars older than 25 years, out of production for 15 years and containing at least 75% of original parts are eligible to be registered as classic cars, with an exception of prototypes that were never produced, cars of considerable historical value or "being an example of original or important technological solutions"; these plates are issued on a case by case rules.
Format: X1 2345 X1 234JThese plates use red text on a white background. The plates wear a seal with year of validation. Th
World War II
World War II known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries; the major participants threw their entire economic and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China, it included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, the only use of nuclear weapons in war. Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with China by 1937, though neither side had declared war on the other. World War II is said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.
From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Finland and the Baltic states. Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, the fall of France in mid 1940, the war continued between the European Axis powers and the British Empire. War in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the long Battle of the Atlantic followed. On 22 June 1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history; this Eastern Front trapped most crucially the German Wehrmacht, into a war of attrition. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States as well as European colonies in the Pacific. Following an immediate U. S. declaration of war against Japan, supported by one from Great Britain, the European Axis powers declared war on the U.
S. in solidarity with their Japanese ally. Rapid Japanese conquests over much of the Western Pacific ensued, perceived by many in Asia as liberation from Western dominance and resulting in the support of several armies from defeated territories; the Axis advance in the Pacific halted in 1942. Key setbacks in 1943, which included a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, Allied victories in the Pacific, cost the Axis its initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and turned toward Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in Central China, South China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands; the war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945.
Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on 15 August 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies. Tribunals were set up by fiat by the Allies and war crimes trials were conducted in the wake of the war both against the Germans and the Japanese. World War II changed the political social structure of the globe; the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The Soviet Union and United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia.
Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic expansion. Political integration in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and create a common identity; the start of the war in Europe is held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred and the two wars merged in 1941; this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935; the British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the fo
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 17 July to 2 August 1945. The participants were the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, represented by Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee, President Harry S. Truman. Stalin and Truman gathered to decide how to administer Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier on 8 May; the goals of the conference included the establishment of postwar order, peace treaty issues, countering the effects of the war. A number of changes had taken place in the five months since the Yalta Conference which affected the relationships among the leaders; the Soviet Union was occupying Eastern Europe. Stalin had set up a puppet Communist government in Poland, he insisted that his control of Eastern Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attacks, claiming that it was a legitimate sphere of Soviet influence.
Second, Britain had a new Prime Minister. Conservative Party leader Winston Churchill had served as Prime Minister in a coalition government. A general election had been held in the UK on 5 July; the outcome became known during the conference when Labour leader Clement Attlee became the new Prime Minister. Third, President Roosevelt had died on 12 April 1945, Vice President Harry Truman assumed the presidency. During the war and in the name of Allied unity, Roosevelt had brushed off warnings of a potential domination by Stalin in part of Europe, he explained, "I just have a hunch that Stalin is not that kind of a man." "I think that if I give him everything I can and ask for nothing from him in return,'noblesse oblige', he won't try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace."Truman had followed the Allied progress of the war. George Lenczowski notes that, "despite the contrast between his modest background and the international glamour of his aristocratic predecessor, had the courage and resolution to reverse the policy that appeared to him naive and dangerous", "in contrast to the immediate ad hoc moves and solutions dictated by the demands of the war".
With the end of the war, the priority of allied unity was replaced with the challenge of the relationship between the two emerging superpowers. The two leading powers continued to sustain a cordial relationship to the public, but suspicions and distrust lingered between them. Truman was much more suspicious of the Communists than Roosevelt had been, he became suspicious of Soviet intentions under Stalin, he and his advisers saw Soviet actions in Eastern Europe as aggressive expansionism, incompatible with the agreements that Stalin had committed to at Yalta the previous February. In addition, Truman became aware of possible complications elsewhere when Stalin objected to Churchill's proposal for an early Allied withdrawal from Iran, ahead of the schedule agreed at the Tehran Conference; the Potsdam Conference was the only time. At the Yalta Conference France had been granted an occupation zone within Germany, France had been a participant in the Berlin Declaration, France was to be an equal member of the Allied Control Council.
At the insistence of the Americans, General de Gaulle was not invited to Potsdam, as he had too been denied representation at Yalta. Reasons for the omissions included the longstanding personal mutual antagonism between Roosevelt and De Gaulle, ongoing disputes over the French and American occupation zones and anticipated conflicts of interest over French Indochina. At the end of the conference, the three Heads of Government agreed on the following actions. All other issues were to be answered by the final peace conference to be called as soon as possible; the Allies issued a statement of aims of their occupation of Germany: demilitarization, democratization, decentralization and decartelization. Germany and Austria were each to be divided into four occupation zones, each capital and Vienna, was to be divided into four zones, it was agreed. All German annexations in Europe were to be reversed, including Sudetenland, Alsace-Lorraine and the westernmost parts of Poland. Germany's eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the Oder–Neisse line reducing Germany in size by 25% compared to its 1937 borders.
The territories east of the new border comprised East Prussia, West Prussia, two thirds of Pomerania. These areas were agricultural, with the exception of Upper Silesia, th
Coal mining
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, since the 1880s, has been used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine a pit, the above-ground structures the pit head. In Australia, "colliery" refers to an underground coal mine. In the United States, "colliery" has been used to describe a coal mine operation but nowadays the word is not used. Coal mining has had many developments over the recent years, from the early days of men tunnelling and manually extracting the coal on carts, to large open cut and long wall mines. Mining at this scale requires the use of draglines, conveyors, hydraulic jacks and shearers. Small-scale mining of surface deposits dates back thousands of years. For example, in Roman Britain, the Romans were exploiting most of the major coalfields by the late 2nd century AD.
The Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain in the 18th century and spread to continental Europe and North America, was based on the availability of coal to power steam engines. International trade expanded when coal-fed steam engines were built for the railways and steamships; until the late nineteenth century coal was mined underground using a pick and shovel, children were employed underground in dangerous conditions. Coal-cutting machines were introduced in the 1880s. By 1912, surface mining was conducted with steam shovels designed for coal mining; the most economical method of coal extraction from coal seams depends on the depth and quality of the seams, the geology and environmental factors. Coal mining processes are differentiated by whether they operate on the underground. Many coals extracted from both surface and underground mines require washing in a coal preparation plant. Technical and economic feasibility are evaluated based on the following: regional geological conditions.
Surface mining and deep underground mining are the two basic methods of mining. The choice of mining method depends on depth, density and thickness of the coal seam. Coal that occurs at depths of 180 to 300 ft are deep mined, but in some cases surface mining techniques can be used. For example, some western U. S. coal that occur at depths in excess of 200 ft are mined by the open pit methods, due to thickness of the seam 60–90 feet. Coals occurring below 300 ft are deep mined. However, there are open pit mining operations working on coal seams up to 1,000–1,500 feet below ground level, for instance Tagebau Hambach in Germany; when coal seams are near the surface, it may be economical to extract the coal using open cut mining methods. Open cast coal mining recovers a greater proportion of the coal deposit than underground methods, as more of the coal seams in the strata may be exploited; this equipment can include the following: Draglines which operate by removing the overburden, power shovels, large trucks in which transport overburden and coal, bucket wheel excavators, conveyors.
In this mining method, explosives are first used in order to break through the surface or overburden, of the mining area. The overburden is removed by draglines or by shovel and truck. Once the coal seam is exposed, it is drilled and mined in strips; the coal is loaded onto large trucks or conveyors for transport to either the coal preparation plant or directly to where it will be used. Most open cast mines in the United States extract bituminous coal. In Canada and South Africa, open cast mining is used for both thermal and metallurgical coals. In New South Wales open casting for steam coal and anthracite is practiced. Surface mining accounts for around 80 percent of production in Australia, while in the US it is used for about 67 percent of production. Globally, about 40 percent of coal production involves surface mining. Strip mining exposes coal by removing earth above each coal seam; this earth is removed in long strips. The overburden from the first strip is deposited in an area outside the planned mining area and referred to as out-of-pit dumping.
Overburden from subsequent strips are deposited in the void left from mining the coal and overburden from the previous strip. This is referred to as in-pit dumping, it is necessary to fragment the overburden by use of explosives. This is accomplished by drilling holes into the overburden, filling the holes with explosives, detonating the explosive; the overburden is removed, using large earth-moving equipment, such as draglines and trucks, excavator and trucks, or bucket-wheels and conveyors. This overburden is put into the mined strip; when all the overburden is removed, the underlying coal seam will be exposed. This block of coal may be drilled and blasted or otherwise loaded onto trucks or conveyors for transport to th
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is divided. Lower Silesia was part of Medieval Poland during the Piast dynasty. After the testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth in 1138, Poland entered a period of fragmentation. Silesia became a province of Poland as a duchy, which on became divided into many small duchies reigned by dukes and princes of the Piast dynasty. During this time and ethnic Germanic influence prospered due to immigrants from the German-speaking areas of the Holy Roman Empire; this impacted on the local architecture as well as traditions and cuisine. At the same time, Lower Silesia was a leading Polish cultural center; the Book of Henryków, which contains the earliest known sentence written in the Polish language, as well as Statuta synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensis, which contains the oldest printed text in Polish, were both created here. Both texts can be seen in Wrocław. Złotoryja, Poland's first town, was granted municipal privileges by Henry the Bearded.
Over the centuries, Lower Silesia has experienced epochal events such as the Protestant Reformation, the Silesian Wars, industrialisation, the two World Wars. Lower Silesia is one of the richest provinces in Poland as it has valuable natural resources such as copper, brown coal and rock materials, which are exploited by the biggest enterprises, its well developed and varied industries attract both foreign investors. Its capital and largest city is Wrocław, situated on the Odra River, it is one of Poland's largest and most dynamic cities with a growing international profile, is regarded as one of the most important commercial and tourist sites in the whole country. Burial sites of Polish monarchs and consorts are located in Trzebnica. Furthermore, the voivodeship is famous for its many castles and palaces and is one of Poland's most visited regions by tourists; the voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrzych and Jelenia Góra Voivodeships, following the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998.
It covers an area of 19,946 square kilometres, as of 2013 has a total population of 2 914 362. Although much of the region is low-lying it includes Sudeten Foreland and part of the Sudetes mountain range running along the Polish/Czech border. Popular ski resorts in Lower Silesian Voivodeship include Karpacz and Szklarska Poręba in the Karkonosze mountains. Other important tourist destinations in the voivodeship include the chief city, Wrocław, as well as the towns of Jelenia Góra and Legnica; the town of Boleslawiec is famed for its pottery. The voivodeship has the largest number of spa towns in Poland: Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój, Długopole-Zdrój, Duszniki-Zdrój, Jedlina-Zdrój, Kudowa-Zdrój, Lądek-Zdrój, Polanica-Zdrój, Przerzeczyn-Zdrój, Szczawno-Zdrój, Świeradów-Zdrój. Lower Silesian Voivodeship is bordered by Lubusz Voivodeship to the north-west, Greater Poland Voivodeship to the north-east, Opole Voivodeship to the south-east, the Czech Republic to the south, Germany to the west; the Wrocław–Copernicus Airport serves as an international and domestic airport.
The main railway station is Wrocław Główny. The A4 motorway, A8 motorway and A18 motorway run through the Voivodeship. Lower Silesian Voivodeship is one of the most visited voivodeships in Poland, it is famous for a large number of castles and palaces, inter alia: Książ Castle, Czocha Castle, Chojnik Castle, Grodziec castle, Gorzanów Castle, Kliczków Castle. There is a lot in the Jelenia Góra valley; the voivodship's most visited city is Wrocław with many sights and attractions, inter alia open all year round Aquapark, Wrocław SPA Center and famous Wrocław's dwarfs. The annual international Chopin Festival is held in the Fryderyk Chopin Theatre in Duszniki-Zdrój, established at the site of the first concert played by the Polish virtuoso pianist outside of the Russian Partition of Poland. Other major attraction of the town is the Museum of Papermaking, established in a 17th-century paper mill; the Festival of Good Beer is held every year, on the second weekend of June. Śnieżka is one of the first European peaks visited by tourists, it is the highest peak of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship and the whole of the Sudetes.
Other highlights include: Kłodzko Fortress, Fort Srebrna Góra, Legnickie Pole, Henryków, Lubiąż Abbey, Krzeszów Abbey, Oleśnica Mała, Vang stave church, Churches of Peace, Sokołowsko, Cave Bear, Museum of Gold Mining and Metallurgy in Złoty Stok, Coal Mine in Nowa Ruda, Museum of Industry and Railway in Jaworzyna Śląska, Skull Chapel in Czermna, Mount Ślęża, Table Mountains, Owl Mountains, The Main Trail Sudetes, Barycz Valley Landscape Park and connected with the history of World War II - complex tunnels Project Riese, a German Gross-Rosen concentration camp, German War Cemetery and Park Peace in the Nadolice Wielkie. Castles and palaces Burial sites of Polish monarchs and consorts Protected areas in Lower Silesian Voivodeship: 2 National Parks Karkonosze National Park Table Mountains National Park 12 Landscape Parks Barycz Valley Landscape Park Bóbr Valley Landscape Park Bystrzyca Valley Landscape Park Chełmy Landscape Park Jezierzyca Valley Landscape Park Książ Landscape Park Owl Mountains Landscape Park Przemków Landscape Park Rudawy Landscape Park Ślęża Landscape Park Śnieżnik Landscape Park Sudety Wałbrzyskie Landscape Park 67 Nature reserves 20 protected landscape areas 3100 Natural monuments 1
Victory in Europe Day
Victory in Europe Day known as VE Day or V-E Day, was celebrated on Tuesday, 8 May 1945 to mark the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. The formal surrender of the German forces occupying the Channel Islands did not occur until the following day, 9 May 1945, it thus marked the end of World War II in Europe. The term VE Day existed as early in anticipation of victory. On 30 April 1945, the Nazi leader, committed suicide during the Battle of Berlin. Germany's surrender, was authorised by his successor, Reichspräsident Karl Dönitz; the administration headed by Dönitz was known as the Flensburg Government. The preliminary act of military surrender was signed at 02:41 on 7 May in SHAEF HQ at Reims, the final document was signed on 8 May in Berlin; the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries have celebrated the end of World War II on 9 May. In Ukraine since 2015, 8 May is designated as a day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, but it is not a public holiday.
Upon the defeat of Germany, celebrations erupted throughout the western world in Great Britain and North America. More than one million people celebrated in the streets throughout Great Britain to mark the end of the European part of the war. In London, crowds massed in Trafalgar Square and up the Mall to Buckingham Palace, where King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, appeared on the balcony of the palace before the cheering crowds. Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret were allowed to wander incognito among the crowds and take part in the celebrations. In the United States, the victory happened on President Harry Truman's 61st birthday, he dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died of a cerebral hemorrhage less than a month earlier, on 12 April. Flags remained at half-staff for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period. Truman said of dedicating the victory to Roosevelt's memory and keeping the flags at half-staff that his only wish was "that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day".
That day, Truman said that the victory made it his most enjoyable birthday. Massive celebrations took place in many American cities in New York's Times Square. Tempering the jubilation somewhat, both Churchill and Truman pointed out that the war against Japan had not yet been won. In his radio broadcast at 15:00 on the 8th, Churchill told the British people that: "We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing remains unsubdued". In America, Truman broadcast at 09:00 and said it was "a victory only half won"; the instrument of surrender stipulated that all hostilities had to stop at 23:01, 8th of May, just an hour before midnight. Since it was 9th of May in the European part of the USSR, most post-Soviet states, including Russia, as well as Israel commemorate Victory Day on 9 May instead of 8 May. Italy "Festa della Liberazione". Denmark as "Befrielsen" Netherlands as "Bevrijdingsdag" United Kingdom: In 1995 the May Day bank holiday was moved from the first Monday in May, 1 May, to Monday 8 May, for that year only, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ending of the Second World War.
East Germany as Tag der Befreiung, a public holiday from 1950 to 1966 and in 1985. Between 1975 and 1990, as Tag des Sieges. France as Victoire 1945. Orléans celebrates both V-E Day and the anniversary of the Siege of Orléans being lifted by French forces led by Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War on this date. Slovakia as Deň víťazstva nad fašizmom Czech Republic as Den vítězství or Den osvobození Poland as "Narodowy Dzień Zwycięstwa" – National Victory Day. Norway as "Frigjøringsdagen" "offisiell flaggdag" not "helligdager" Ukraine "День пам'яті та примирення" Ukraine "День перемоги над нацизмом у Другій світовій війні" — from 2015. Georgia "ფაშიზმზე გამარჯვების დღე" Belarus "Дзень Перамогі" Bosnia and Herzegovina "Дан побједе", "Dan pobjede" Russia "День Победы" Israel Victory in Europe Day Ex-Yugoslavia "Дан победе", "Dan pobede", "Dan pobjede", "Dan zmage" Serbia "Дан победе", "Dan pobede" Kazakhstan as "Жеңіс күні" or "День победы" British Channel Islands Liberation Days: Jersey and Guernsey and Alderney.
Time of remembrance and reconciliation Victory over Japan Day Stunde Null Victory in Europe Day WWII: VE Day, May 8, 1945 – slideshow by Life magazine Rare audio speeches of the famous historical persons of the USSR, etc. 50th Anniversary Celebration of VE Day in Moscow on YouTube by Leon Charney on The Leon Charney Report
Poland
Lower Silesian
(33rd)[1]
listen) (German: Waldenburg; Lower Silesian: Walmbrig or Walmbrich; Czech: Valbřich or Valdenburk) is a city in Lower Silesian Voivodeship in southwestern Poland. From 1975–1998 it was the capital of Wałbrzych Voivodeship; it is now the seat of Wałbrzych County. Wałbrzych lies approximately 70 kilometres (43 mi) southwest of the voivodeship capital Wrocław and about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the Czech border, it has a population of about 112,600 which makes it the second-largest city in the voivodeship and the 33rd largest in the country.
