Chris Coleman

Russian Ambassador to China Igor Morgulov, centre, attends the Immortal Regiment
march as part of celebrations of the upcoming Victory Day, in Beijing, China

On Monday, May 5, a massive military parade from Westminster to Buckingham Palace opened the VE Day commemorations officially organised by the British state. King Charles and sundry "Royals" as they are laughingly known, all resplendent in military uniform with glittering if unearned honours, received the marchers. Prime Minister Keir Starmer also attended.

The Soviet War Memorial, Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, South East London

In interviews and other declarations that day, Starmer spoke of the legacy of "service" of those who fought and sacrificed in WW2, but with scant regard for the facts of its history, and lauded thereby the "service" of the today's forces, in their preparations for further wars. No mention was made of Britain's participation in the US/NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Ironically, much was made of the presence in the parade of a group of the Ukrainian Army being trained here in Britain, notwithstanding the incorporation in that army of the direct descendants of the Stepan Bandera Nazi collaborators. No mention was made either of the Starmer government's support in armaments and other military assistance in the genocide of the Palestinian people being perpetrated in Gaza and elsewhere.

It is notable also that the Starmer government were not represented at the Victory celebrations in Moscow on May 9. Shame on them! Yet the facts of history are clear. It was the Soviet Red Army and the immense sacrifices of the Soviet people that played the main role in the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, at the cost of 27 million lives. The great battles at Stalingrad and Kursk were the turning point of the war. And the fact was that, apart from the successful campaign against Rommel's forces in North Africa and the subsequent pursuit of the Nazi forces up through Italy and Austria, for nearly two years the Soviet Union, not forgetting the communist-led Resistance and partisans in occupied Europe, had fought the Nazis virtually alone, with Churchill's refusal to open a Second Front, even with Roosevelt willing. Once that front was opened with the D-Day landings a major contribution to victory was made with further great sacrifice against a determined enemy. Again, the exploits of the Red Army on the Eastern Front at that time are never mentioned.

The Red Army raising the flag of the USSR over the Reichstag 1945

It should also be pointed out that, earlier, faced with the threat to all Europe of Hitlerite aggression, the Soviet Union had called on Britain and France to sign a collective mutual assistance pact with military clauses. They refused, choosing instead to sign the Munich Agreement with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, an act of gross betrayal which sealed the fate of Europe, ceding Czechoslovakia and its powerful armaments industry to Hitler, and giving him the green light to go East and attack the Soviet Union. In such circumstances, the Soviet Union wisely signed a purely Non-Aggression Pact with Germany, which delayed the inevitable Nazi invasion, gave time to rapidly re-arm, and allowed Soviet forces to retake territories of Byelorussia and Ukraine seized by Poland in 1919-20, and thus save their populations from the terrible fate of Poland.

Later, with the victory of 1945 promising a world of peace, freedom and democracy, the governments of Truman and Attlee reverted to their old policies. These policies had brought disasters to the world's peoples, including their own - policies of "containment of communism" as their main aim, policies of support for and the practice of colonialism and militarism - whatever their solemn pledges to prevent fascism and militarism from ever rising again.

As regards the military, it must be said that British forces have not participated in a just war since 1945. One has only to cite Greece, Malaya, Korea, Ireland, Malvinas, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria. And current threats against China, Russia, and the DPRK promise no less!

Nothing however can dim the memory of or the respect for those who fought so heroically and made such sacrifices in the Second World War, military, civilians and partisans alike. Nor can the growing resistance against the warmongers - whatever the grave dangers they pose - involving millions throughout the country and the world, including governments, each step bringing nearer the achieving of an anti-war government, in its widest sense, be ignored. The peace-loving people will prevail, once again, not the warmongers, with the release of the people's limitless initiative!

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