Combat Dealers

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day, Bruce Crompton dispatches rare German half‑track vehicles to take part in a battle re‑enactment, recreating wartime action. Afterward, he journeys to France, where he hunts for surviving VE Day relics, hoping to locate and preserve historic artefacts.

V for Victory is presented as a programme in the episode genre. It follows a documentary‑style format, concentrating on key moments from the Second World War. Each instalment zeroes in on a particular event, giving viewers a concise view of the people and machinery involved. The most recent episode marks the seventy‑plus anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. In this instalment, Bruce Crompton takes the lead in marking the 75th anniversary of VE Day. To commemorate the occasion, he arranges for a collection of rare German half‑track vehicles to be brought in and used in a staged battle re‑enactment. The inclusion of these authentic machines provides a tangible link to the combat conditions of 1945, allowing participants and observers to witness a realistic recreation of the final days of the European conflict. Following the re‑enactment, Crompton travels to France with the specific aim of locating surviving artefacts from VE Day. His quest is to identify and document relics that have endured since the historic surrender. By seeking out these tangible pieces of history, he hopes to preserve the memory of the day for future generations and to add further depth to the programme’s commemoration of the landmark anniversary. By blending the staged battle with his search for physical memorabilia, the episode offers both a visual representation of the wartime experience and a documentary record of the objects that have survived the decades since VE Day.