ITS cities ravaged by bombs and its people surviving on rations, by spring 1945 Britain was bruised and battered by six years of war.

But the spirit of its citizens had not been broken.

On May 8, Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced the German High Command had offered its unconditional surrender to Allied forces.

Just like that, a conflict which had seen millions bombed, shelled, and shot, and innocents slaughtered in horrific genocide across Europe, was over.

The PM’s broadcast to the nation on Victory in Europe (VE) Day can still be heard.

He said: “The German war is therefore at an end.

“We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing.”

In London, thousands gathered, with many taking early trains to the capital to join in the jubilation.

Around Colchester and north Essex, there were street parties everywhere.

Eric Cross, from Colchester, was six years old on VE Day.

He has a hazy memory of the occasion, but remembers the widespread scenes of celebration.

His parents, Leo and Evelyn Doe, were part of a troupe of entertainers led by Harry McCrea, known as Happy Harry.

During the war years the troupe would entertain children across Colchester, collecting funds for charities including Sunshine Homes for the Blind.

They also served a purpose of keeping people’s spirits up during a difficult time.

“My parents were quite well-known around the town for collecting funds for Essex County Hospital,” said Eric.

“They attended many of the victory parties in the town with Happy Harry, mostly giving donkey rides to the children.

“Although I went to these parties with them, my memories are sketchy, but I do remember people being happy and letting their hair down.

“They were having fun, knowing that the war was over.”

Eric recalls one particular party which took place in the Old Heath area of Colchester.

“It was in the old Co-op hut, which in those days was a wooden building on the corner of D’Arcy Road,” he said.

“The people, despite rationing, managed to make cakes, jellies and trifles for us children.

“The hut had a tortoiseshell stove in the middle of the floor and I remember us singing a song with the chorus ‘and the smoke went up the chimney just the same’.

“After the party in the hut, we all went to Old Heath School where we had games and races with prizes for the winners.

“My father brought his two donkeys and gave rides to the children, while Happy Harry and his gang provided the slapstick entertainment.

“His functions were mostly in Castle Park, around the bandstand, or the Hollytrees Lawn.”

Many were still mindful of the fact the war was not truly won.

In the East, the Axis power of Japan persisted.

Pearl Burton, 97, was living in Roman Road at the time of VE Day.

Born in Manor Park, London, she had spent every holiday in Colchester with her aunt and cousins, and it was to her good fortune that her family decided to move to the town just one month before war broke out.

“My mother met her second husband here,” she remembers.

“He was a soldier.

“We both wanted to live in Colchester and persuaded him to move when he came out of the Army.

“Fortunately we moved the month before war broke out.

“I think I looked on it all as an adventure – I used to go to the shop in High Street with out ration books and queue up.

“My mother was a good manager and made good meals for us and my stepdad got a job at Ind Coope on East Hill.”

During the war, Pearl was in her 20s and working as a shorthand typist at EN Mason.

She recalls she did not suffer “too much” from German bombings, but she remembers the moment bombs fell in Chapel Street on September 28, 1942.

The raid killed eight people, injured 28 and destroyed 30 houses.

“There was a large shelter at the bottom of the road,” she said.

“We didn’t have a shelter of our own.

“I remember the bombs dropping in Chapel Street, and the clothing factory being destroyed.”

Pearl experienced one of her most dramatic moments of the war when a Canadian soldier dropped into her garden.

“I was sitting looking out the window when I saw a man coming up our garden path,” she said.

“I went to the door and he asked if I had anything to treat burns.

“I could see then that he was a pilot and had his parachute in the garden.

“He told us he was Canadian and mum made him a cup of tea.

“I got something for burns and dad went off to notify the authorities.

“They didn’t take long to come for him – and sadly they took the parachute.”

She added: “He came back some months later to thank us.”

For the soldiers, the fighting was surely hellish, but civilians also lived in fear and uncertainty.

Of all the feelings one would anticipate experiencing after hearing six years of war in Europe was finally over, it is unsurprising to learn the most prominent among them was relief.

Pearl said: “When we first realised the war might be coming to an end, there was relief and gladness.

“But when VE Day was announced, what a marvellous feeling that was.

“It was hard to believe at first.

“Yes, we had street parties and people were hugging and kissing each other.

“All the neighbours brought food and drink.

“But we were mindful, though, that the war was still raging in the Far East.

“My marriage was going through a bad patch and we divorced some years later.”

Pearl went on to enjoy a happy second marriage to prolific marine and landscape artist William Burton.

The war in the East persisted until August 1945, when, with the Soviets closing in and the terror of the atomic bomb unleashed, Japan finally surrendered.