Everything you need to know about VE Day

VE Day is one of the most important dates in Second World War history. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

VE Day

What is VE Day?

Image: Hordes gather in Trafalgar Square, London, to hear the victory in Europe announcement (© IWM (HU 92004)

“Yesterday morning at 2.41 am, at General Eisenhower’s headquarters, General Jodl, the representative of the German High Command, and Grand Admiral Dönitz, the designated head of the German State, signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land, sea and air forces in Europe.” – British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill, 8 May 1945

VE Day stands for Victory in Europe Day. It marks the day when Nazi Germany officially surrendered to the Western Allies, ending the Second World War in Europe.

With the surrender, the war in Europe, which had raged for six long years, claimed millions of military and civilian lives, and caused untold damage across the continent, was over.

When is VE Day?

VE Day is celebrated on 8 May every year.

On 1 May 1945, it was announced that Nazi Germany’s leader and dictator Adolf Hitler was dead. He had committed suicide in his command bunker beneath the streets of Berlin in late April.

Image: German officers surrender to Field Marshal Montgomery (© IWM)

With the Führer’s death, leadership of Nazi Germany passed to other officials. By that point, it was obvious to German High Command that the war in Europe was over.

The Western Allies of the British Empire, United States and France had successfully crossed the Rhine in March and had invaded Germany from the West. The Soviet Army, advancing from the East, was already in the German capital Berlin.

On 4 May 1945, a German military delegation arrived at the headquarters of British Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery at Lünberg Heath west of Hamburg. There, Montgomery formally accepted the total surrender of German forces in the Netherlands, northwest Germany, and Denmark.

Three days later, on 7 May, the formal instrument of unconditional surrender was signed at Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters in Reims, France. The document, which took 20 hours to draft due to multiple changes, were signed by German General Alfred Jodl.

The Nazi German surrender formally came into effect on 8 May 1945, setting the date on which we commemorate and celebrate VE Day each year.

Interestingly, there was another German surrender shortly after 8 May.

Not to be outshone by the Western Allies, Soviet leader Josef Stalin demanded a German leader surrender to the Red Army. This took place on 9 May 1945, with Field Marshal Wilhelm Kietel surrendering to the Soviets in war-torn Berlin.

How is VE Day Celebrated?

Image: British ladies dance with American servicemen in the celebratory streets of London on VE Day 1945 (© IWM (EA 65796))

Victory in Europe Day is celebrated in several ways.

Street parties, especially on big anniversaries like the 75th and 80th, are one of the most popular ways people celebrate VE Day. Across the country, people come together to celebrate the end of the war in Europe with food, drinks, dancing, and fun in streets up and down the UK.

Bunting, usually in the red, white and blue colours of the Union Jack, is hung across town and village centres too, making for a very pretty sight amongst the jubilation and celebration.

But VE Day is also a time of reflection and commemoration. Over 600,000 men and women of the British Empire lost their lives in the conflict. Many millions more were injured or scarred by their wartime experience.

Church services or commemorative events at war memorials and war cemeteries are very common on VE Day to remember so many lost in the world’s most devastating war.

How was VE Day celebrated at the time?

Image: Members of the African Pioneer Corps parade through Nairobi on Victory in Europe Day 1945 (© IWM (K 9491))

The Victory in Europe was met with a huge public outpouring of jubilation by the victorious powers.

In London, more than a million people came together to celebrate the end of six years of war. People flocked to places like Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, and Buckingham Palace to celebrate. Prime Minister Winston Churchill waved to ecstatic crowds from the Whitehall Balcony to join in the outpouring of goodwill.

Some revellers started early. On 7 May, the day before the German surrender was announced, pubs across the UK were full of excited patrons, ensured by the Ministry of Food that the country had enough beer for the huge celebrations to come. Some restaurants even put on special “Victory Menus” after years of rationing.

Similar ecstatic scenes took place in major cities around the world. Paris was illuminated, and the Champs-Élysées was flooded with people. Times Square in New York was packed with celebrators, while the fireworks over the Kremlin were “the most spectacular I have ever seen,” according to the Times’ Moscow correspondent.

However, it was not all japes and jollity. In Halifax, Canada, for example, returning sailors and soldiers rioted after looting liquor stores, resulting in millions of dollars’ worth of damage.

Image: A sombre commemorative ceremony takes place at a Royal Navy station in Australia (© IWM (A 29305A))

The celebrations in Australia and New Zealand were comparatively muted. While the Aussies and Kiwis stationed in Europe joined in the festivities, the moods at home in both nations were still sombre.

The New Zealand Herald summed up the national sentiment: “The feeling of victory was in the air, but no one was inclined to let off steam without official authorisation. In 20 years’ time, school children will be asked to define the word anti-climax, and the answer will be “March [sic] 8, 1945”.

Why? The war in Asia was still raging and significantly closer to home for the citizens and military personnel of Australia and New Zealand. It would be a long three and half months before the two could fully celebrate the end of the Second World War.

Was Victory in Europe Day the end of the Second World War?

While VE Day marked the end of the fighting in Europe, the war was still not over.

Millions of British, Indian, Australian and American soldiers were still engaged in deadly combat with a fanatical enemy across Asia and the Pacific between May-August 1945.

The forces of Imperial Japan would keep on resisting until the dropping of the atomic bombs in August 1945.
Victory in Japan Day, VJ Day, is marked on August 15, when Imperial Japan finally surrendered. This marks the end of the fighting in the Second World War.

It’s also important to note that, just because the fighting was over, the hardships in Europe were not. Rebuilding, resettling and re-establishing peace and prosperity in Europe was a long, costly procedure.

And while church bells across the continent pealed out in victory, many heard their chimes ring hollow. Nearly every family in the belligerent nations had lost loved ones. The scale of devastation and mourning was immense.

That’s why VE Day is as much about commemoration as it is about celebration.

The end of the Second World War in Europe

How many people were killed in the Second World War?

Image: At Minturno War Cemetery, a single British serviceman salutes his fallen comrades (© IWM (CNA 3563))

Estimates vary, but the Second World War was the deadliest conflict in human history. Around 3% of the world’s population of 2.3 billion lost their lives in the war, either in the military service, from disease and illness, or as civilians caught up in the fighting.

The total is estimated to be anywhere between 35 and 85 million deaths worldwide. The death total in Europe is thought to be up to 20 million, according to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. 

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates 667,086 casualties of the Second World War. 

This number includes all those who fought in the armed forces of the British Empire, including service personnel from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa, as well as territories in East and West Africa and other nations under British control at the time of the Second World War.

Also included are those servicemen and women people of other nationalities who served in the British Empire’s military service, for example, Polish, Free French, and Czech pilots in the RAF.

We also commemorate the members of the Merchant Navy who died in the conflict.

What’s more, we commemorate over 69,000 Civilians in the Civilian Roll of Honour who died as a result of enemy action, such as victims of the Blitz. 

VE Day is a time to reflect on the loss of so many people from across the globe. 

How are the war dead of the Second World War in Europe commemorated?

Image: The headstones at Reichswald War Cemetery, each commemorating a WW2 serviceman who sadly never got to experience the Victory in Europe

Those WW2 war dead who served in the armed forces of the British Empire are commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Service men and women whose remains were recovered are buried in our purpose-built war cemeteries across the world. Their graves are marked with iconic CWGC headstones or with private grave markers or memorials where conditions require. 

Sadly, not every fallen service person could be identified. If their bodies were recovered, they would still have a headstone, marked with the inscription “known unto God”.

In war, service personnel often go missing. They may have died at sea and their bodies lost to the deep, been shot down over enemy territory and never recovered, or simply disappeared among the chaos and confusion of the war in Europe.

Those with no known war grave are commemorated on Commonwealth War Graves Commission war memorials.  Unidentified burials would also be commemorated on a war memorial, until such time as they can be identified, although many sadly will never be due to time and circumstance.

You can find a list of CWGC cemeteries and memorials here. Use the filters to discover which are located in Europe.

Typically, the latest casualties of the war in Europe are buried in Germany, such as Becklingen War Cemetery and the Rheinberg War Cemetery. 

With Canadian forces primarily focused on the liberation of the Netherlands in the final days of the war, their latest casualties of the European war are located in Holten Canadian War Cemetery.

All our war cemeteries and memorials are meticulously cared for by our maintenance and horticulture teams to provide fitting resting places and commemorative sites for those who delivered the victory in Europe.

Learn more about how we care for our sites here.

Stories of War dead of the push towards VE Day

Here is a small selection of the thousands of Commonwealth servicemen who died in the final battles of the war in Europe. Sadly, they never got to see Victory in Europe day, but their sacrifice helped ensure the final defeat of Nazi Germany.

Captain John Alderson MC

Image: Captain John Alderson

John Alderson was born on 24 December 1915 in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India to John and Dorothy Alderson. He had an older brother, Arthur, and two sisters, Joan and Barbara.

He attended Westminster School as a King’s Scholar between September 1928 to July 1934 and was a very keen sportsman. John e was part of the Colts Cricket XI between 1929 and 1931 and Cricket First XI and football XI between 1932 and 1934. He also served in the Officer Training College, becoming a Sergeant in 1933.

On leaving school, he worked for a firm of Lloyd’s Insurance Brokers.

He married Diana on 21 September 1939 at St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate, London and they lived in Harpenden, Hertfordshire.

He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Seaforth Highlanders on 14 January 1940, promoted to Lieutenant on 14 July 1941 and attached to No.3 Commando leading No.6 Troop. He was again promoted to Temporary Captain on 13 March 1944 and appointed Regimental Intelligence Officer later that month.

On D-Day, he landed with No.6 Troop on Sword Beach, moving through Ranville and onto Amfreville, where they engaged the enemy on 8 June. John was wounded in the knee during this and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for his actions, his citation reading:

"On the morning of 8th June 1944, this Officer was holding a position astride the Le Plein - Languemare Road with one Officer and forty-seven men. The Troop was attacked by a company of German Infantry which established itself in front of the position.

“Captain Alderson attacked with great determination leading the assault with a T.S.M.G. He himself accounted for a number of the enemy and his men were so inspired by his leadership that they carried on after he was wounded and cleared the entire wood which remains in our hands.

“Besides approximately 15 enemy killed there were 36 prisoners. Owing to Captain Alderson's skill and courage our own losses were no more than one killed and nine wounded. This success was largely due to Captain Alderson's fine leadership."

John re-joined his unit on18 March 1945 at Smakt, Holland. On 7 April 1945, they crossed the River Weser in support of No.45 Commando and took part in a night march to Leese to capture a V-2 production facility assisted by tanks on 8 April 1945.

John was wounded by a sniper early on in the operation and evacuated by ambulance, sadly succumbing to his wounds later that day.

He was buried at Bohmte and reburied on 27 August 1947 at Rheinberg War Cemetery, Germany.

Private Clarence Alvin Trimm

Image: Private Clarence Trimm

Clarence Alvin Trimm was born the 18th of January 1924 at Montreal, the son of James McDonald, a jeweller, and Isabella Sheppard Trimm, both of whom originated from British Guiana (Guyana). Clarence had a brother, Randolph, and a sister, Carmen.

When war broke out, Clarence was 15 and tried to enlist but was refused due to his age. He was, however, determined to join up and even grew a moustache to look older, but his further efforts went unrewarded until May 10, 1943, when he was aged 19 and was able to enlist at Montreal. 

Posted to the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Armoured Division, he went overseas in December and in July 1944 landed with his regiment in France.

The regiment advanced across northern Europe, taking part in the liberation of the Netherlands and then continued into Germany. It was here, on the 27th of April 1945, with the end of the war in Europe just two weeks away, that Clarence was seriously wounded in action near Bad Zwischenahn.
 
He had received multiple bullet wounds to his lower abdomen and spine and, in spite of being operated on, died the same day.

Private Trimm was originally buried with twelve other Canadian casualties in a battlefield Cemetery at Friesoythe. After the war, the remains of over 1,300 Canadian casualties were brought together for burial in Holten Canadian War Cemetery, Holland. 

This included the casualties at Friesoythe, who were exhumed and buried at Holten on the 9th of March 1946. Today there are 1392 Canadian casualties of the Second World War here, of which 1382 are identified.

Lieutenant Robert MacGregor DCM MM

Image: Lieutenant Robert MacGregor

Robert MacGregor was born to Mr and Mrs F. MacGregor of Elgin, Scotland in 1919.

He was a pupil of New Elgin Public School, Moray, Scotland, joining the regular army in 1937. He was a Lance Corporal in the Royal Tank Regiment at the outbreak of the Second World War and displayed first-class leadership and was noted as having a tactical ‘fifth sense’.

During his service he was part of ‘A’ Squadron and steadily rose through the ranks, eventually gaining a commission. He was one of the Desert Rats, fighting in Egypt, North Africa and Italy, being awarded the Military Medal for his actions in the desert on 1 September 1942, his citation read:

“On 1st Sept. 1942, Sgt. Macgregor commanded a Light Tank Troop which was sent out on a wide recce to the west, along the Southern slopes of the Bare Ridge. An enemy column, which included 10 tanks, moved north between the patrol and the Regt.

“Sgt. Macgregor by first class leadership, and displaying great gallantry fought his way back to the Regt. without loss. By his vigorous offensive action the enemy were deceived as to the strength of the force attacking him and took cover which they retained for the remainder of the day. 

“This N.C.O. has displayed conspicuous courage and devotion to duty throughout the battle and has set an example to all with whom he has worked.”

The 1st Royal Tank Regiment were then sent to Normandy, advancing up through Belgium and Holland. On 30 September 1944, Robert was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his actions:

“On 30 Sept. 1944, S.S.M. Macgregor was in command of a troop of tanks which was ordered to attack Middlerose village (MR 3942 Sheet S’Hertogenbosch) in conjunction with a section of carriers and a platoon of infantry.

 “As soon as the advance started the enemy brought down heavy observed shellfire on the attacking troops and after 300 yards the infantry and carriers were brought to a halt by M.G. fire. 

“Realising that the whole attack was in danger of being held up and knowing full well the risk attached to advancing in such close country without infantry support, S.S.M. Macgregor moved forward with his troop, destroyed the M.Gs holding up the infantry and one A.Tk. gun which he met face to face at 50 yds range and reached the centre of the village. 

“The infantry then came up and S.S.M. Macgregor moved to a position from which he could shoot the enemy withdrawing from the village and observe the enemy’s main position. He remained in this position under continuous shellfire and mortar fire and sniping for seven hours directing artillery fire on the enemy guns.

“During this action S.S.M. Macgregor’s troop destroyed 2 A.Tk. guns and 2 M.G.s and took 20 Pws, besides killing a number of enemy and forcing 200 to withdraw from the village. 

“This W.O.’s coolness, courage and judgement were entirely responsible for the success of the action and had it not been for his leadership and handling of the situation both his own troop and the infantry would have undoubtedly suffered severe casualties without reaching their objectives.”

Robert was highly regarded by all in his troop and had been recommended for the Military Cross (MC) just before his death. He was killed on 9 April 1945 when a tank gun in his troop was accidentally discharged into the back of his tank.

He was buried at Diepholz Cemetery, Germany and was re-interred at Becklingen War Cemetery on 31 August 1946.

Experience VE Day 80 with Commonwealth War Graves

If you're like Harvey and have family that served in the World Wars and are commemorated by Commonwealth War Graves, join us for the For Evermore Tour: an exciting nationwide interactive exhibition.

Come and join us as we mark the 80th Anniversary of VE and VJ Day to learn more about your family, local, and national history. We've thousands of moving, inspirational, and stirring casualty stories - and we can help you discover and tell your own.

Visit our VE Day 80 to learn more and find all our events happening near you!