- New exhibition featuring stories of Oxfordshire celebrating VE & VJ Day 80 years ago
- Accounts of soldiers from Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire that liberated towns, POWs and concentration camps in the latter stages of the Second World War
- A programme of events at the museum and in Woodstock mark the anniversaries of VE Day and other milestones from 1945
Marking the 80th anniversaries of Victory in Europe and Victory of Japan Day, as well as those of many other key events from the final stages of the Second World War, Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum (SOFO) is launching a brand-new exhibition. From Conflict to Peace: Celebrating VE and VJ Day will go on display from Tuesday, 1 April to Tuesday, 18 November 2025. The exhibition will cover the celebrations across the county itself, but also the experiences of Oxfordshire people serving in the armed forces throughout 1945, and for many, beyond the end of the war.
VE and VJ Day were both celebrated across the country in 1945, including many events in Oxfordshire. Women working for MI5 at Blenheim Palace recall hearing the bells of Woodstock’s St Mary Magdalene Church ringing out for the occasion. In Oxford, locals recall street celebrations, with ‘people dancing in line from St Giles to Carfax’.
With the announcement of the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945 and the effective end of the war, a two day national holiday was announced and similar celebrations were seen across Oxfordshire, a bonfire was lit in St Clements with an effigy of Hitler, while Christ Church cathedral hosted thanksgiving services, also addressing the moral issue of the atomic bomb.
For many Oxfordshire people serving in the armed forces, including the two county regiments, The Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light infantry and Oxfordshire Yeomanry, 1945 had seen a series of tough battles before hostilities would come to an end, and the prospect of many new challenges in the wake of victory in Europe and over Japan.
The Yeomanry, then serving within the Royal Artillery, would witness some of the darkest aspects of the conflict. 251 ‘Banbury’ Battery were sent to Singapore to defend the island against the Japanese, but when it fell in 1942 they became Prisoners of War. Held captive in terrible conditions and forced to work on the infamous Burma-Siam Railway, they were not freed until the Japanese surrendered, over three years later. 249 Battery had remained in the UK until October 1944, but then moved with the Allied advance from France, through Belgium and on to the Netherlands. Here, on 15 April 1945, they would be amongst the first British forces to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The ordinary soldiers were faced with terrible conditions at the camp that they were neither expecting nor prepared for. Surviving prisoners were malnourished, while thousands of unburied dead and poor sanitation had caused the spread of deadly diseases like Typhus. Despite the liberators’ best efforts, around 14,000 held at the camp would still die following liberation, as a result of the conditions they had been subjected to.
The 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, are most famed for their role in the capture of the Caen Canal and Orne river bridges on D-Day, but also took part in Operation Varsity on 24 March 1945. This was the largest single-day airborne operation in history, with the aim of holding and crossing the Rhine further into Germany. Though ultimately successful, it took a toll on the forces involved, as gliders carrying the men into action took on anti-aircraft fire, with many breaking up before landing. Major John Tillet’s D-Company had boarded their gliders ‘140 strong’ but ‘was down to 63’ by the time they were relieved. The experience was the same across their battalion, with half the men killed or injured.
As the end of the war in Europe approached, their Division received special orders to race to Wismar, Germany, and head off the Soviet advance and a potential invasion of Denmark. At Wismar they would form the Guard of Honour for the meeting of Field Marshal Montgomery and the Soviet Marshal Rokossovsky on 7 May 1945. With the war over, 2nd Oxf & Bucks still had challenges ahead, as they were posted to Palestine in October 1945. Just after they arrived, the terrorist offensive in opposition to British rule began with a wave of bomb attacks.
The 2nd Battalion were not the only part of the county regiment with a special role to play in the latter stages of the war, as 1st Buckinghamshire Battalion were tasked with securing military and industrial sites across Holland and Germany. Gathering vital information and infrastructure for allied intelligence, they were part of Target, or ‘T’, Force. These new units were the brainchild of James Bond creator, Ian Fleming.
Serjeant Harry Carr, one of just 210 men from the 1st Bucks to have made it home after defending the retreat to Dunkirk in 1940, was part of the T-Force unit when they entered Holland, liberating the Dutch town of Delft on 8 May 1945. With food shortages in the Dutch countryside, Delft was badly affected. Carr recalled, ‘we pooled our own rations of bread, stew and flour for our Battalion cooks to supply these poor kids with one meal a day’.
The new exhibition focuses on personal accounts of the people who were there, both soldiers and civilians. It will also be supported by a programme of themed events at the museum, opening with a free talk by Dr Myfanwy Lloyd on the liberation of Bergen-Belsen on Saturday, 12 April, ahead of the 80th anniversary. Dr Lloyd’s research, making contact with the families of a British soldier and a survivor of the camp, resulted in a new permanent display at SOFO Museum. Another talk, with local academic Anthony Glees, takes place on 17 April at 7pm, concerning the occupation of the island of Alderney during the war, and the Nazi war crimes perpetrated there that went unpunished. Professor Glees’ was an advisor to Margaret Thatcher’s War Crimes Inquiry, 1989-91.
On Saturday, 10 May, Woodstock will celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day with a special event in the town’s Market Square, featuring live 1940s music, living history displays, food and drink from local businesses, and fun for all ages from 4pm – 8pm. On the same day, the museum will host Lt. Col. (Retd) Mike Tickner for his talk Savage Wars of Peace, from 2pm. The talk provides insight into the situation in eastern Asia following VJ Day and the Japanese surrender, as many nations saw an opportunity for independence, and Gurkha, Indian and British troops became responsible for restoring colonial rule in the region.
The new exhibition and accompanying events programme will offer visitors a chance to discover the part Oxfordshire and its people played in achieving victory and liberation in Europe and in East Asia, 80 years on.
