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Exhibitions
- 'Adventurers and Pirates' - Hetton Coal Company, 1820
- Looking back at Consett Steel Works
- Celebrating Gala Day 2020
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County Durham remembers VE Day 1945
- 'We have come through' - Remembering VE Day 1945
- 9th Battalion DLI: From D-Day to Berlin
- 9th Battalion DLI: VE Day
- 9th Battalion DLI: In Berlin, June - September 1945
- Berlin Victory Parade, 7 September 1945
- Victory Parade at Belsen, 8 May 1945
- The Northern Echo, Victory edition, 9 May 1945
- VE Day and Durham Schools
- 2nd Battalion DLI: Burma 1945
- 2nd Battalion DLI: Rangoon Victory Parade, 15 June 1945
- VE Day and the Durham Miners' Association
- County Durham celebrates VE Day
- Haswell Victory Celebrations, 1945
- Soldier: Victory Souvenir edition, 8 May 1945
- Parade: European Victory edition, 26 May 1945
- VE Day not forgotten by one Spennymoor family
- County Durham celebrates VJ Day
- Victory Day, 8 June 1946
Berlin Victory Parade, 7 September 1945
Part of an online exhibition from Durham County Record Office commemorating the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe on 8 May 1945

Only one battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was in action from the Normandy beaches in June 1944 to the final defeat of Nazi Germany in May 1945 - the 9th Battalion DLI. Arriving in Berlin by road from Hamburg on 30 July 1945, the battalion joined the British, French, Soviet and US forces occupying the ruined city.
Before the Durham soldiers arrived, two Victory parades had already been held in Berlin. On 12 July, Field Marshal Montgomery joined Marshal Zhukov, commander of the victorious Soviet forces, on the saluting platform. Then, on 21 July, Winston Churchill and Clement Attlee took the salute at a parade of British forces.
Finally, on 7 September 1945, to celebrate the Victory over Japan, a parade of all the Allied forces in Berlin was held in the Tiergarten. Carrying their Colours (flags) flown over specially from the DLI's Depot at Brancepeth, the Durham soldiers marched past Marshal Zhukov, General Patton and other Allied generals.
Proudly displaying his medals, Marshal Zhukov is in the centre of the saluting platform. To his left, distinctive in his battle dress blouse, riding breeches and polished helmet, is General Patton. Field Marshal Montgomery did not attend this parade.
This photograph is from Alan Capstick's collection (D/DLI Acc: 10050).
This photograph is from Roy Griffiths' album (D/DLI 7/273/15(18)).
This photograph is from Roy Griffiths' album (D/DLI 7/273/15 (22)).
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