May 8, 1945, Victory In Europe Day, was the official end of the war in Europe with the Allied victory over the Axis Powers when Germany offered its unconditional surrender. It would be an understatement to say that the free world celebrated that day; hell the Germans were probably happy it was over too.
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| The Brits celebrating with Churchill above. |
It would be another 3 months and one week (exactly) - August 15, 1945 - before VJ Day when the Japanese surrendered (the 15th in Japan and 14th in the US due to the dateline - the surrender documents were not signed until September 2, 1945 but the Japanese did in fact surrender on the 15th of August) and of course that only came after Truman ordered the only two atomic bombs ever detonated in actual warfare to be dropped on Japan.
All the best,
Glenn B
