It’s one of those questions that seems like it should have a one-sentence answer, right? If you ask a historian "what day was V-E Day," they’ll tell you May 8, 1945. Simple. Case closed. Except, if you were in Moscow in 1945, you would have been celebrating on May 9. And if you were a high-ranking official in a cramped schoolhouse in Reims, France, the whole thing actually "happened" on May 7.
History is messy.
Victory in Europe Day wasn't just a calendar date; it was a chaotic, bureaucratic, and deeply emotional explosion of relief that happened in fits and starts. It marked the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces. It meant the end of the Third Reich. It meant the end of a conflict that had systematically chewed through millions of lives across the continent.
But getting everyone to agree on when to pop the champagne? That was its own battle.
The Schoolhouse Surrender: Why May 7 Matters
Most people don't realize that the war technically "ended" on May 7.
Inside a red brick schoolhouse in Reims, which served as the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), German Colonel General Alfred Jodl signed the documents. It was 2:41 a.m. He was signing for Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, who had taken over as the head of state after Hitler committed suicide in his bunker.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower wasn't even in the room. He sent his Chief of Staff, Walter Bedell Smith, to handle the paperwork. Eisenhower reportedly didn't want to give Jodl the satisfaction of a face-to-face meeting until the ink was dry.
The surrender was set to take effect at 11:01 p.m. on May 8.
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This created a massive problem for the press. The Allies wanted to wait and announce everything simultaneously on May 9 to keep the Soviet Union happy. But Edward Kennedy, an Associated Press reporter, broke the embargo. He saw the signing, he knew the war was over, and he wasn't going to wait. He used a military phone line to scoop the world. Because of that leak, the news started trickling out, and the "official" celebration plans had to be moved up.
What Day Was V-E Day for the Rest of the World?
The official date remains May 8, 1945.
In London, more than a million people flooded the streets. The atmosphere was electric, a strange mix of grieving and pure, unadulterated joy. Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret—the current late Queen and her sister—actually slipped out of Buckingham Palace to mingle with the crowds incognito. Can you imagine? The future Queen of England doing the Conga through Piccadilly Circus? It happened.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth appeared on the balcony of the palace eight times.
Across the pond in the United States, Harry Truman celebrated his 61st birthday on the exact same day. Talk about a birthday present. He dedicated the victory to the memory of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died just weeks before the finish line. Truman was cautious, though. He kept reminding everyone that while the war in Europe was done, the war in the Pacific against Japan was still raging.
The Soviet Discrepancy
This is where the timeline gets wonky. Joseph Stalin wasn't satisfied with the Reims signing. He felt it was a "preliminary" document and insisted that the definitive surrender take place in Berlin, the heart of the Nazi regime, which the Red Army had captured.
So, they did it again.
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On the night of May 8, a second signing ceremony occurred in Karlshorst, Berlin. By the time the paperwork was finalized, it was already past midnight in Moscow. Because of that time zone difference, the Soviet Union (and modern-day Russia) has always marked V-E Day—or Victory Day—on May 9.
It’s a massive distinction. For Western Allies, May 8 is a day of remembrance. For Eastern Europe, May 9 is the heavy hitter.
The Reality of the "End"
We like to think that on May 8, the guns just stopped.
They didn't.
In many places, German units continued to fight the Red Army for days, trying to push westward so they could surrender to the Americans or British instead of the Soviets. The fear of Russian retribution was very real. In Prague, the fighting didn't really settle down until May 11. On the Channel Islands, the only part of British soil occupied by Germany, liberation didn't come until May 9.
Then there were the "Werewolves"—supposed Nazi insurgents—and the millions of displaced persons (DPs) wandering the ruins of Europe. The continent was a graveyard of infrastructure. There was no food, no mail, and no clear way home for many.
V-E Day was the end of the organized slaughter, but it was the beginning of a decades-long reconstruction project.
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Why We Still Care About May 8
If you look at the numbers, the scale of World War II is almost impossible to wrap your head around. We're talking about an estimated 15 million to 20 million deaths in Europe alone.
V-E Day represents the moment the world's most destructive ideology was fundamentally broken.
It’s also a reminder of the fragility of peace. If you visit London or Paris on May 8 today, you’ll see wreaths and hear silence. It’s not just a "holiday." It’s a collective sigh of relief that has echoed for over 80 years.
Common Misconceptions About the Date
- The war ended globally on May 8. Nope. Not even close. V-J Day (Victory over Japan) didn't happen until August, and the formal surrender wasn't signed until September 2 on the USS Missouri.
- Everyone was happy. For many, especially Holocaust survivors liberated from camps like Buchenwald or Dachau, V-E Day was a day of profound mourning. They were free, but they had lost everyone and everything.
- Hitler was captured on V-E Day. Hitler was already dead. He committed suicide on April 30, about a week before the surrender.
How to Commemorate V-E Day Today
If you're looking to connect with this history beyond just knowing the date, there are a few things that actually make the experience "real" rather than just a textbook entry.
- Read the actual surrender documents. You can find digital scans of the Reims and Berlin documents online via the National Archives. Seeing the signatures of Jodl and Keitel puts the finality of the event into perspective.
- Listen to the BBC archives. The recordings of Winston Churchill’s speech on May 8 are haunting. His voice, crackling over the radio, telling the British people "This is your victory," is a piece of living history.
- Visit a local cenotaph. Almost every town in the UK, and many in the US and Canada, has a memorial with names from 1945. Finding the names of people from your own zip code makes the "May 8" date feel less like a trivia fact and more like a local event.
The date was May 8, 1945. But the impact of that day is something we are still navigating in the geopolitical landscape of the 21st century.
To truly understand the weight of that Tuesday in May, look into the personal accounts of the "Desert Rats" or the members of the 101st Airborne. Their memoirs often highlight that V-E Day wasn't just a political shift—it was the first night they could sleep without the sound of artillery. That silence, starting on May 8, was the greatest gift the 20th century ever received.
For those researching family history, check the World War II enlistment records or the "Morning Reports" for units active in May 1945. These documents often note exactly where a soldier was when the "Cease Fire" order was relayed. It’s the most direct way to see how V-E Day impacted the individuals who actually lived it.