Top Photo: V-E Day celebrations on Bay Street, Toronto, Canada. City of Toronto Archives
In the Spring of 1945, Allied forces were converging on Germany from East and West. As they crossed into Germany, advancing soldiers encountered fierce resistance, cities devastated by bombing, and horrific evidence of Nazi crimes.
Seeing the looming collapse of his regime, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler took his own life on April 30, 1945. Within days, his successors surrendered unconditionally to Allied forces.
On May 7, 1945, the Chief of Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, Alfred Jodl, surrendered at General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Allied headquarters in Reims. At the ceremony in which Jodl signed the Act of Military Surrender were representatives of the major Allied powers who also signed: France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
At Soviet request, another surrender document with few significant changes was signed in Berlin on May 8, 1945, by German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, bringing a formal end to nearly six years of bloody fighting in Europe.
Victory in Europe
American President Harry Truman, who had only assumed the presidency weeks prior following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressed the nation by radio to announce Germany's surrender. "General Eisenhower informs me that the forces of Germany have surrendered to the United Nations. The flags of freedom fly over all Europe," Truman said.
Truman designated May 8 as V-E Day and most of the Western Allies followed suit. The Soviets, however, designated May 9 as V-E Day or Soviet Victory Day, based on the document signed in Berlin.
News of Germany's surrender ignited joyous celebrations in cities across the world. In New York City, church bells tolled and car horns sounded as 250,000 soldiers, sailors, and civilians gathered in Times Square to sing and celebrate. Across the nation, expressions of joy were accompanied by moments of Thanksgiving and somber reflection. People flocked to houses of worship to give thanks for the victory and pray for a swift end to the war in the Pacific.
"This is Your Victory"
In the United Kingdom, May 8, 1945, was declared a national holiday. But the people did not wait to celebrate. Instead, they packed pubs and lit bonfires the night before. Restaurants created special victory menus, and the Ministry of Food made sure there were sufficient beer supplies in London.
Winston Churchill addressed the cheering crowds on V-E Day saying, "This is your victory." But the crowds shouted back at him, "No, it's yours."
V-E Day, however, did not mark the final Allied victory. On the island of Okinawa, American forces marked V-E Day by firing a barrage of artillery rounds at Japanese positions at midnight. It was a grim reminder that while fighting had ceased in one theater, World War II still raged in the Pacific.
