Convoy of US war jeeps starts end-of war celebrations

A convoy of American war jeeps drove through Prague on Friday at the start of celebrations marking the 65th anniversary of the end of WWII and the liberation of western Bohemia from the Nazis by the US 3rd army. The largest Czech city General Patton’s men freed in 1945 was Plzen - about 80 kilometres south-west of Prague – where the biggest celebrations with US war veterans are due to take place over the weekend. During the communist years the authorities only credited the Russian army with the country’s liberation from Nazi rule, downplaying the US role in the process.