V-E Day commemorates the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied forces in 1945, ending World War II in Europe. With their power-mad Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler, dead by his own hand, German military leaders signed surrender documents at several locations in Europe on May 7, capitulating to each of their victorious foes. Germany’s partner in fascism, Italy, had switched sides in 1943, though many Italians continued to fight alongside their German comrades in Italy.

V-E Day stands for Victory in Europe Day. In the Soviet Union it was called simply Victory Day and still goes by that name in states of the former USSR. Some early reports in the West also called the day V-Day, but V-E was more accurate, as the war still continued in the Pacific Theater. Today in France the day is called World War II Victory Day.

V-E Day was observed on May 8, 1945 in Great Britain, Western Europe, the United States and Australia, and on May 9 in the Soviet Union and New Zealand.

For more information with Victory in Europe day, you can visit HistoryNet.com.

(May 7th, 2015). V-E Day 1945: The Celebration Heard ’round the World. Retrieved from http://www.historynet.com/v-e-day-1945-the-celebration-heard-round-the-world.htm.