On May 8, 1945, World War II in Europe ends as the German surrender goes into effect. Benito Mussolini, leader of the fascist government of Italy, was previously captured and executed on April 28 with his body hanged upside down alongside other Italian fascists in Piazzale Loreto in Milan. The remaining Italian fascists and German troops in Italy surrendered the following day. Meanwhile, Soviet forces advanced further into Berlin and Allied forces took city after city in western Germany. With no hope escape and fearing capture, Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker on April 30 and his body was taken outside and burned. German forces in Berlin surrendered to the General Vasily Chuikov of the Red Army while Army Group Vistula to the north of Berlin surrendered to the British on May 2. Over the next few days, the remaining German forces across Europe surrender group by group in the wake of the fall of Berlin. On May 7, Chief of Staff for the German High Forces High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW) General Alfred Jodl, acting as representative for Chief of the OKW Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel, signs an unconditional surrender document as the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF). The next, Keitel and other German officials met with SHAEF representatives and Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgi Zhukov to sign an official surrender document in the presence of representatives of all Allied forces, officially ending the war in Europe. The surrender went into effect shortly before midnight on May 8, though differences in time zones lead to the date being May 9 in the Soviet Union. Small pockets of Axis resistance continued for the following days with the last battle, the Battle of Odžak between Yugoslavia and the Independent State of Croatia, ending on May 25. A small detachment of German troops manning a weather station on Svalbard were the last German forces to surrender when they surrendered to Norwegian seal hunters on September 4.
The end of World War II in Europe is still commemorated to this day in much of Europe. In Russia and many Eastern European nations, May 9 is a national holiday known as Victory Day.
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4 years, 6 months ago
09 May 2020 05:14 CEST
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