Allied nations worldwide celebrate V-E Day | May 8, 1945

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

On May 8, 1945, Great Britain, the United States and other Allied countries celebrate Victory in Europe Day. Cities in the U.S., U.K. and Western Europe, along with in the Soviet Union, Canada and Australia, put out flags and banners, rejoicing in the defeat of the Nazi war machine during World War II.

The German surrender was realized in a final ceasefire. German General Alfred Jodl had signed an unconditional surrender on May 7.

The eighth of May marked the day when German troops throughout Europe finally laid down their arms. In Prague, Germans surrendered to their Soviet antagonists, after the latter had lost more than 8,000 soldiers, and the Germans considerably more. Elsewhere, troops stood down in Copenhagen, Denmark; in Oslo, Norway; at Karlshorst, near Berlin; in northern Latvia; on the Channel Island of Sark. More surrender documents were signed in Berlin and in eastern Germany.

Vet Discusses the WWII Generation

WWII veteran Samuel Hynes talks about the lasting effects of the war on his generation.

2:01m watch

The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces so as to keep from being taken prisoner. About 1 million Germans attempted a mass exodus to the West when the fighting in Czechoslovakia ended but were stopped by the Russians and taken captive. The Russians took approximately 2 million prisoners in the period just before and after the German surrender.

Meanwhile, more than 13,000 British prisoners of war were released and sent back to Great Britain.

Pockets of German-Soviet confrontation would continue into the next day. On May 9, the Soviets would lose 600 more soldiers in Silesia before the Germans finally surrendered. Consequently, V-E Day was not celebrated until the ninth in Moscow, with a radio broadcast salute from Stalin himself: "The age-long struggle of the Slav nations…has ended in victory. Your courage has defeated the Nazis. The war is over."

Despite being one of the most significant days during World War II, the conflict continued in the Pacific for a few more months. V-J Day on August 14 marked another major celebration as Japan announced it would also surrender.

An estimated 45-60 million people lost their lives and millions more were injured in World War II. Here, Private Sam Macchia from NYC returns home, wounded in both legs, to his elated family.

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Also on This Day in History

Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on May 8th

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1792 -- Militia Act establishes conscription under federal law

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1864 -- General Lee's army beats Grant's Union troops to Spotsylvania

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1884 -- Harry S. Truman is born

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1902 -- Mount Pelee begins to erupt, burying Caribbean city

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1945 -- High-ranking Nazi Hermann Goring is captured by the U.S. Seventh Army

On May 8, 1945, Herman Goering, commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, head of the Gestapo, prime minister of Prussia and Hitler's designated successor is taken prisoner by the U.S. Seventh Army in Bavaria. Goering was an early member of the Nazi Party and was wounded in the failed Munich Beer […]

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1970 -- Nixon defends invasion of Cambodia

President Nixon, at a news conference, defends the U.S. troop movement into Cambodia, saying the operation would provide six to eight months of time for training South Vietnamese forces and thus would shorten the war for Americans. Nixon reaffirmed his promise to withdraw 150,000 American soldiers by the following spring. The announcement that U.S. and […]

1973 -- American Indian Movement (AIM) ends occupation of Wounded Knee

On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, armed members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) surrender to federal authorities, ending their 71-day siege of Wounded Knee, site of the infamous massacre of 300 Lakota Indians by the U.S. 7th Cavalry in 1890. AIM was founded in 1968 by Native American leaders Mary Jane Wilson, […]

1976 -- The theme song from "Welcome Back, Kotter" is the #1 song in America

On May 8, 1976, John Sebastian's playfully nostalgic theme song for the TV show "Welcome Back, Kotter" becomes the number one pop single in the U.S. The previous year, Sebastian, former member of the beloved '60s pop group the Lovin' Spoonful, was asked to write and record the theme song for a brand-new ABC television […]

1984 -- Soviets announce boycott of 1984 Olympics

Claiming that its athletes will not be safe from protests and possible physical attacks, the Soviet Union announces it will not compete in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. Despite the Soviet statement, it was obvious that the boycott was a response to the decision of the United States to boycott the 1980 games that […]

2010 -- Betty White becomes oldest "Saturday Night Live" host

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