50 Fun Facts About VE Day

How did Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, with their parents' permission, mark VE night in London?

Mingled incognito with the crowds: Elizabeth later recalled being 'terrified of being recognised' as lines of strangers linked arms and swept the sisters along.

How long did Hitler and Eva Braun live as husband and wife in the Berlin bunker before both died?

Less than 40 hours was all the marriage lasted: they wed in the small hours of 29 April in the bunker's map room, and both were dead by the afternoon of 30 April.

To whose memory did Truman dedicate the victory, with US flags kept at half-staff for 30 days of mourning?

Franklin D. Roosevelt had died on 12 April, less than a month earlier; Truman, who turned 61 that day, said his only wish was 'that Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day'.

Why do Russia and several former Soviet states celebrate Victory Day on 9 May rather than 8 May?

Moscow was already past midnight when the surrender took effect late on the evening of 8 May Central European time, so the Soviet government announced victory on the 9th.

In France, where 8 May is a public holiday, the date '8 mai 1945' names at least 523 of what?

Streets: a 2018 count found at least 523 'Rue du 8-Mai-1945' across France's 36,700 communes, the local equivalent of English parishes.

Germany's first surrender was signed at 02:41 on 7 May 1945 in a schoolhouse in which French city?

Reims hosted the signing in the red-brick Collège Moderne et Technique that served as SHAEF headquarters; the building is now the city's Surrender Museum.

The UK does not give VE Day an annual day off, so how did the government mark the 50th and 75th anniversaries?

Moved the May bank holiday: in 1995 and again in 2020 the early-May Monday off was shifted to 8 May itself, which in 2020 was a Friday.

Which New York landmark saw the biggest US VE Day celebrations, then its largest-ever gathering on VJ Day?

Times Square was where the VJ Day news arrived on the One Times Square 'zipper' ticker, whose six asterisks stood for the six branches of the US armed forces.

On which street of ministries did Churchill, straight from the Palace balcony, declare 'This is your victory'?

Whitehall was where Churchill, having left the Palace, told the throng 'In our long history, we have never seen a greater day than this' and that everyone, man or woman, had done their best.

In which bay, aboard a US battleship, was Japan's formal surrender signed on 2 September 1945?

Tokyo Bay was the setting, aboard the battleship USS Missouri, where Japanese officials signed the Instrument of Surrender on deck; Truman then declared 2 September the official US V-J Day.

Emperor Hirohito's radio broadcast announcing Japan's surrender fell on which date, the UK's official VJ Day?

15 August 1945 is also Japan's 'memorial day for the end of the war', while the United States marks its official VJ Day on 2 September, when the surrender document was signed.

Which field marshal took the German surrender for Denmark and north-west Germany in a carpeted tent on 4 May 1945?

Bernard Montgomery took it at 18:30 in a carpeted tent at his tactical headquarters on the Timeloberg hill near Lüneburg, where the delegation sent by Dönitz had arrived by car the day before.

Roughly how many people celebrated in public across the United Kingdom on VE Day, 8 May 1945?

Over 1,000,000 people turned out across the country, with London's throngs massing along the Mall to the Palace to call for the King.

Which British islands, freed by the Royal Navy on 9 May 1945, still mark that date with a public holiday?

Jersey and Guernsey were reached on 9 May by HMS Beagle and HMS Bulldog respectively; Sark followed on 10 May and the garrison on Alderney only gave up on 16 May.

Whom did Hitler's will name Reich Chancellor, a post he held for barely a day before his own death?

Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister, took the title on 30 April and died in the same bunker complex on 1 May; the will named Bormann as Party Minister in the same breath.

What else was 20 April 1945, the day Soviet guns began shelling Berlin and did not stop until the city surrendered?

Hitler's 56th birthday was the day the 1st Belorussian Front's artillery opened up on the capital; the weight of Soviet shells in the battle exceeded all the bombs Western Allied aircraft had dropped on the city.

Which capital saw the last major military operation of the war in Europe, fought from 6 to 11 May 1945?

Prague's own uprising began on 5 May, and the Soviet offensive to relieve it ran three days past VE Day; the Army Group Centre troops facing it were trying to fight west to surrender to the Americans.

Sent to seek a west-only surrender, which general instead signed Germany's full capitulation on 7 May 1945?

Alfred Jodl signed only after Eisenhower threatened to close Allied lines to surrendering Germans and resume bombing; at Nuremberg the tribunal sentenced him to death.

How did President Truman's 9 am radio address describe the German surrender, with Japan still fighting?

A victory only half won was Truman's phrase; Churchill struck the same note in his own broadcast, allowing Britons 'a brief period of rejoicing' while Japan 'remains unsubdued'.

What sentence did the Nuremberg tribunal hand the grand admiral who had succeeded Hitler as head of state?

10 years in Spandau Prison was the sentence; he served every day of it, was released on 1 October 1956 and titled his memoirs 'Ten Years and Twenty Days'.

At what Central European time did the surrender text order all German forces to cease operations on 8 May 1945?

23:01, one minute past 11 pm, was written into both surrender texts, so the Berlin act was dated 8 May even though the retyped final copies were not ready for signing until after midnight.

At what time on 8 May 1945 did Churchill's broadcast allow Britons 'a brief period of rejoicing'?

3 pm was the broadcast's hour; Churchill tempered the rejoicing by reminding listeners that Japan 'remains unsubdued', then headed to the Palace balcony and a second speech.

What did NKVD troops throw down beside Lenin's Mausoleum at the end of the 24 June 1945 Victory Parade?

Captured German standards, including the banner of Hitler's SS bodyguard regiment, were flung down next to the mausoleum by a special NKVD division at the end of the longest and largest parade the Soviet capital had ever staged.

Which chief of the German armed forces high command signed the definitive Berlin surrender on 8 May 1945?

Wilhelm Keitel kept the OKW post only because the new head of state could not reach Manstein on 2 May; he balked at the Berlin text and had to settle for a verbal assurance instead of the extra 12 hours he asked for.

Which news agency's Paris bureau chief broke the 36-hour embargo on the surrender, making it front-page news on 8 May?

Associated Press man Edward Kennedy was stripped of his accreditation and eventually fired; in 2012 the agency's president apologised, calling it 'a terrible day for the AP'.

In which Canadian port did VE Day celebrations on 7–8 May 1945 turn into a looting rampage by thousands of servicemen?

Halifax's naval commander had let more than 9,000 sailors ashore for the night; a Royal Commission under Justice Roy Kellock laid the blame squarely on naval command.

Which French city marks 8 May twice, for VE Day and Joan of Arc lifting its siege the same day in 1429?

Orléans celebrates both on the same day; Joan of Arc, France's patron saint, had the English siege lifted during the Hundred Years' War.

What is the 9 May march begun in 2012 called, in which Russians carry portraits of relatives who served in the war?

Immortal Regiment processions were dreamed up by three journalists who noticed fewer veterans each year; since 2012 they have been held in cities as far apart as Washington, Dushanbe and Berlin.

The EU's Europe Day shares 9 May with Russia's Victory Day; which 1950 statement does it commemorate?

The Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 gives the EU its Europe Day, celebrated for 'peace and unity in Europe', so the bloc and Russia mark the same date for very different reasons.

Whose 1938 Buckingham Palace balcony appearance did George VI echo by inviting Churchill out beside the royal family?

Neville Chamberlain had been waved onto the balcony after returning from Munich with the 1938 agreement; seven years on, a throng shouting 'We want the King!' got Churchill the same spot.

From which city's radio station did Germans first hear, on the night of 1 May 1945, that Hitler was dead?

Hamburg's Reichssender interrupted its programme to announce the death and introduce the new head of state, who claimed Hitler had died a hero defending the capital.

Which country moved its official Victory Day from 9 May to 8 May in 2015, breaking with a date kept since 1945?

Poland's Sejm voted the change on 24 April 2015, ahead of the 70th anniversary, after the Institute of National Remembrance argued the 9 May date had been imposed in line with Russia.

What grace period, ostensibly so far-flung units could be told, did the Germans win before the surrender took effect?

48 hours was demanded by Hitler's successor when he authorised the signing, but Eisenhower back-dated the clock to the start of talks, so the pause was partly spent before the ink dried.

In which year did the Russian SFSR make 9 May a non-working day, two years after Ukraine's SSR had done so?

1965 was the 20th anniversary, and only then did Soviet Russia give workers the day off; if 9 May fell on a weekend, a Monday was granted in lieu.

On which date, barely two months after VE Day, did Britain vote in the election that turned Churchill out?

5 July 1945 was polling day, but the count waited until 26 July so servicemen's votes could be shipped home; Labour's 146-seat majority then sent Attlee to Potsdam in Churchill's place.

What did East Germany call 8 May when it first marked the day under Walter Ulbricht's government in 1950?

Day of Liberation, Tag der Befreiung, was the name until 1975, when it became Tag des Sieges; reunified Berlin revived 8 May as a one-off regional holiday for the 75th anniversary in 2020.

In which port near the Danish border did Hitler's successor run a rump government until its arrest on 23 May 1945?

Flensburg's Mürwik naval academy housed the three-week cabinet, which the Western Allies simply ignored until British troops rounded it up.

In which Dutch town's Hotel de Wereld did German forces in the Netherlands capitulate to a Canadian corps commander?

Wageningen's mayor still lights a fire outside the hotel on the night of 4–5 May, and the actual document was signed a day later in a university auditorium because nobody had a typewriter.

Which country, home to many immigrant Red Army veterans, made 9 May an official day of commemoration in 2017?

Israel's 2017 Knesset decision left schools and businesses open as usual; thanks to immigrant Red Army veterans, the country by then hosted the largest Victory Day celebrations outside the former Soviet Union.

In which country was the last battle in Europe fought, ending on 25 May 1945, more than two weeks after VE Day?

Yugoslavia's Battle of Odžak pitted Partisans against Croatian forces, whose remaining soldiers escaped into the forest when it ended.

Which Soviet photographer staged the 2 May 1945 flag-raising over the Reichstag with a flag sewn from three tablecloths?

Yevgeny Khaldei's picture ran in Ogonyok on 13 May; before publication a watch on one soldier's right wrist was edited out of the image.

Because Eisenhower outranked Zhukov, which RAF air chief marshal signed the Berlin surrender for the Western Allies?

Arthur Tedder, Eisenhower's deputy at SHAEF, signed because the Supreme Commander technically outranked the Soviet marshal presiding; the French and American generals present signed only as witnesses.

Which Labour minister, urged by Churchill to share the applause, replied 'No, Winston, this is your day'?

Ernest Bevin then conducted the throng in 'For He's a Jolly Good Fellow'; within three months he was Foreign Secretary in the government that replaced Churchill's.

Which SHAEF chief of staff, later the head of the CIA, signed the 7 May surrender on Eisenhower's behalf?

Walter Bedell Smith, known as Eisenhower's 'hatchet man', went on to serve as ambassador to the Soviet Union and then as Director of Central Intelligence from 1950.

Whose unauthorised Soviet signature on the 7 May surrender gave the Kremlin its pretext to demand a repeat ceremony?

Ivan Susloparov had been seconded to SHAEF, but no confirmation of his authority had arrived; six hours after the signing came word that the act was unacceptable and must be repeated in Berlin.

Which German admiral alone attended all three May 1945 surrender signings: the tent, the schoolhouse and Berlin?

Hans-Georg von Friedeburg signed for the navy in Berlin after negotiating the Lüneburg surrender and witnessing the one in France; he became a British prisoner on 23 May 1945 and died the same day.

Where in Italy was the partial surrender of German forces there signed on 29 April 1945, taking effect on 2 May?

Caserta's capitulation became the template: its military-only wording replaced the long-agreed EAC text when the general surrender was drafted a week later.

In which country did the encircled German Courland Pocket hold out until 10 May 1945, two days after VE Day?

Latvia's Courland Pocket gave up two days after the ceasefire deadline; the German garrisons in Dunkirk and La Rochelle had surrendered the day before.

In which Vienna plaza has the Mauthausen Committee staged Austria's VE Day 'Festival of Joy' every year since 2013?

Heldenplatz hosts the festival in cooperation with the Austrian government and the City of Vienna; on the eve of the 75th anniversary in 2020, Vladimir Putin addressed Austrians live on ORF.

What did a 5 May 2025 presidential proclamation designate 8 May as, with no federal holiday attached?

Victory Day for World War II was the wording of President Trump's proclamation, issued three days before the 80th anniversary of the surrender.