The Consulate General of France in Puducherry and Chennai led the tributes to the fallen heroes of World War II at the French War Memorial on Sunday. The National Day celebrations marked the 77th anniversary of the historic victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany in 1945. Dignitaries who paid tributes and placed wreaths at the War Memorial included E. Vallavan, District Collector, Carole Josse — Deputy Consul General, Colonel Norbert Gaine, Deputy Defense Attaché at the Embassy of France in New Delhi, Balaramin Bichat and Predibane Siva — local consulaires for French Citizens Living Abroad. A commemoration was also held in Karaikal, the French Consulate said. A press note said May 8 is celebrated to commemorate the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces marking the end of World War II in Europe. After more than five years of a war in Europe that cost the lives of tens of millions of people, the Allied forces entered Germany in February 1945. Three days after Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker on April 30, the Nazi troops defending Berlin surrendered on May 2, 1945. On the intervening night of May 6-7, General Alfred Jodl, Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht, signed the unconditional surrender of Germany in Reims the following day. A new act of capitulation of the Third Reich was then signed in Berlin between the German and Allied military commands to signify the end of war. The tragedy of war pushed the leaders of France and Germany to work together towards rapprochement, to build what we now know as the European Union, the Consulate said. The commemoration is not only to remember and celebrate the end of WWII, but also to remember the victims and the ceremony is an opportunity to celebrate the Franco-Indian brotherhood of arms, the Consulate added.
