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History

08th May 2020

VE Day: The untold stories of the guerrillas who fought the Nazis

Rich Cooper

ve day

On VE Day more than any other, they must not be forgotten

When we think of World War II and the Allied defeat of the Nazis and Axis forces, we often think of the landings at Normandy and the Battle of Stalingrad, but such was the war’s sheer size that many stories of incredibly bravery got lost along the way.

One such story is that of the resistance fighters who fought back against the Nazis in occupied countries, namely the Italian partisans, a group made up of civilians and former soldiers who decided that they could not live under the oppressive and cruel occupation of the Nazis any longer.

Their story is not one recounted often on VE Day, but it should be. We spoke to Matt Collins of HOPE NOT HATE, who told us why it is essential that the Italian partisans’ stories do not forgotten, and why victory over the Nazis would’ve been impossible without the participation of them and other resistance fighters around Europe.