by Dom Califano
VE day, or Victory in Europe Day, is a day celebrated by many on May 8th to commemorate the victory of Allied and Soviet troops in their defeat of Germany in World War II. This timeline will tell some of the major events leading up to the defeat of Germany.
April 16th: Soviet troops start their attack on Berlin, the German Capital City
April 20th: American troops capture Nuremberg
April 21st: The Ruhr Pocket is captured by Allied Forces
April 24th: The Soviet Army completes it’s encirclement of Berlin
April 27th: Mussolini is killed by resistance fighters and publicly hanged upside down
American troops reach Genoa, though most of the city was already captured by Resistance Forces
Soviet Troops capture the airports within Berlin, stopping supplies from being flown in
April 29th: Hitler designated Karl Döenitz as his successor
April 30th: Hitler and his wife take their own lives in the Führerbunker
May 2nd: The Battle of Berlin ends in Soviet Victory
Yevgeny Khaldei takes the picture shown and is named “Raising a Flag Over the Reichstag” the picture is a symbol of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany
Allied Spring Offensive in Italy ends with the surrender of German troops in Italy
May 3rd: British troops capture Hanover
May 4th: German troops in North Western Germany, The Netherlands, and Denmark surrender which goes into effect at 8AM on May 5th
Innsbruck, Salzburg, and Berchtesgaden is captured by American troops
May 5th: 350 thousand Axis troops surrender in German-Occupied Norway
The Bratislava-Brno offensive begins by Soviet and Romanian Troops
May 6th: Breslau is captured after a three month siege of the city by Soviet Troops
May 7th: Alfred Jodl and Hans-Georg signs unconditional surrender, Germany has capitulated to Allied forces.
May 8th: Victory Day in Europe is celebrated by Western Allies, and at 11:00PM the German Instrument of Surrender is signed, signifying the end of the 3rd Reich.
At 9 AM (Local Time) Truman announces the German surrender in the Oval Office and declared May 13th to be a national day of prayer
At 12:30 PM (local time) Karl Döenitz announced surrender to the German People in a speech broadcast
At 3 PM (Local time) Churchill announces German surrender in a radio broadcast
The Independent State of Croatia is dissolved and reincorporated into Yugoslavia
May 9th, Stalin issues his VE Order in the Soviet Union, congratulating Soviet troops on defeating the German army
As the German Reich surrendered, the Western Allies and Soviet Union celebrated their triumph over evil. Germany is split up into four occupation zones controlled by the French, British, Americans, and Soviets. Poland annexes Silesia, Pomerania, Pozan, as well as the southern portions of East Prussia and Russia, then known as the Soviet Union, takes the northern part. The Soviet Union makes puppet-governments in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. These actions by Stalin angered the United States, which began the Cold War. While Austria was allowed to reunite in 1955, Germany officially reunited quite recently in October of 1990 with the fall of Communism at the end of the Cold War.