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VE Day

It's 70 years since World War II ended in Europe

Victory in Europe (VE) Day was declared after Germany’s unconditional surrender in Berlin on 8 May, 1945.

SEVENTY YEARS AGO today, 8 May 1945 was declared Victory in Europe Day bringing the Second World War in Europe officially to a close.

Hitler having committed suicide on 30 April in Berlin, Germany’s surrender was officially approved by his successor, Admiral Karl Donitz.

The act of military surrender was signed at Reims in north-east France on 7 May, and then in Berlin on the following day.

The war would carry on for another four months until Japan officially surrendered on 2 September, but VE Day meant at least that an end was finally in sight.

Here’s some of the scenes that unfolded around the globe after a halt was finally called to six long years of terrible war.

churchill British prime minister Winston Churchill salutes the gathered crowds at Whitehall Wikipedia Wikipedia

World War Two - UK & Commonwealth - Home Front - VE Day - London - 1945 Huge crowds throng Trafalgar Square in London PA Archive / Press Association Images PA Archive / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

WWII VE Day Harry Truman US president Harry S. Truman (standing) delivers the news of Germany's surrender to White House reporters AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

PA-8681657 Two men climb a lamp post in London's west end during the celebrations AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

PA-8668505 Crowds mass at the Arc de Triomphe on VE Day, 1945 AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

PA-8654153 The British royal family and Churchill salute crowds from Buckingham Palace (Queen Elizabeth, then Princess, is on the far left) AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

PA-8658315 Grand Central Station, New York, VE Day AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

EISENHOWER VE DAY Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander Allied forces, makes a V for victory after the surrender at Reims AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

surrender The signed document of surrender from Reims Wikipedia Wikipedia

US Police US Military Policemen reading about the German surrender in the newspapers Wikipedia Wikipedia

WWII BRITISH GUIANA VE DAY 1945 Sir Gordon Lethem, governor of British Guiana, announces Germany's surrender to the public from government buildings in Georgetown AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

WWII VE Day The Statue of Liberty, New York, illuminated for the first time in 4 years on VE Day, 1945 AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Read: This is what Dublin Bay used to look like

Read: PICTURES: Survivors of the Lusitania remember ‘murder by savages’

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