On May 8, 1945, after WWII had ravaged Europe for 5 years, the German army surrendered and the world celebrated Victory in Europe Day. Just a week before Hitler had committed suicide leaving Germany under the leadership of Karl Dönitz, who began negotiations for surrender with the Western Allies hoping to avoid the Soviets.
The allies were unwilling to provoke Joseph Stalin and insisted that Germany surrender to all the Allies simultaneously. The main concern of many German soldiers was to elude the grasp of Soviet forces, to keep from being taken prisoner. As the surrender was being negotiated, Germany transferred 1.8 million troops, or 55 percent of the Army of the East, into the British-U.S. zone of control.
Alfred Jodl, Dönitz’s chief of staff, signed the unconditional surrender at the Reims headquarters of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of all Allied forces in Europe.
Pay tribute to our “Greatest Generation” and celebrate the 78th anniversary of the Allied Forces Victory in the Atlantic Theater and the end of WWII in Europe. The Friends of the National World War II Memorial invite you to celebrate V-E Day at the World War II Memorial in Washington, DC on Monday, May 8 at 11 a.m. EST.
As part of the commemoration, WWII veterans will place wreaths at the Memorial’s Freedom Wall in remembrance of the more than 400,000 Americans and 60 million people killed worldwide during the deadliest military conflict in human history.