As part of the 30-day mourning period, Roosevelt's successor Harry Truman ordered that American flags around the country should remain at half-mast, and he dedicated the first VE Day to Roosevelt. was still mourning the loss of President Roosevelt, who had died after suffering a stroke less than a month earlier on April 12. Related: The Flying Bombs of Nazi Germany With public morale at a low point, it seemed imperative that VE Day should not pass without some sort of national event." "Elsewhere, rationing and shortages added to people's woes, and there was a sense of war-fatigue on the one hand and a growing awareness of the horrors that had been perpetrated in Nazi-occupied Europe.
"For the previous nine months, the Germans had been launching V1 and V2 rockets on London and the Southeast with lethal effect," Caddick-Adams told All About History. (Image credit: Crown Copyright) (opens in new tab) Two small girls waving their flags in the rubble of Battersea, snapped by an anonymous American photographer. News of the surrender was announced in Moscow on May 9. The event was chaired by Zhukov, with Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel representing German forces and Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder standing in for S.H.A.E.F. This second surrender ceremony took place on the night of in the Karlshorst district, Berlin. Stalin demanded changes to the original treaty and insisted that a second ceremony be held in Berlin, with the Soviet Union represented by its foremost commander, Marshal Georgy Zhukov. Related: Translated text reveals life Inside Stalin's labor camps Stalin responded angrily to the news of the surrender, asking (in reference to Susloparov): "Who the hell is this famous Russian general? He will be punished harshly," according to journalist and historian Michael Dobbs' book "Six Months in 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman-From World War to Cold War" (Alfred A. However, the Soviet authorities in Moscow did not accept the surrender document. Ivan Susloparov signed on behalf of the Soviet Union.Īt the time, Susloparov had not received approval from his superiors, but he ratified the agreement anyway. Walter Bedell Smith represented S.H.A.E.F. Alfred Jodl signed this Act of Military Surrender on behalf of the Nazi regime Gen. (Image credit: Office of War Information) (opens in new tab)Īccording to Martin Gilbert's book "Winston S. The German instrument of surrender, signed on May 8, 1945.