On 25 April 1945, American and Soviet troops link up at Torgau on the Elbe, north-east of Leipzig.

On 3 May 1945, the US Army newspaper The Stars and Stripes announces the unconditional surrender of the German and Italian forces in Italy and part of Austria.

During the night of 7 to 8 May 1945 in Reims, Admiral Karl Doenitz, who succeeded Adolf Hitler at the head of the Reich, and General Gustav Jodl, Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht, sign the unconditional surrender of the Nazi troops. On the 8 May, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, triumphantly announces the news on British radio.

On 8 May 1945, in Berlin, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signs the Act of Unconditional Military Surrender of the German Armed Forces.

On 8 May 1945, in Berlin, Field Marshal Keitel signs the Act of Unconditional Military Surrender of the German Armed Forces.

In a radio broadcast on 8 May 1945, the US President, Harry S. Truman, announces to the American people the end of the Second World War in Europe.

On 8 May 1945 in Reims, the German military High Command signed the unconditional surrender of the Reich. On the same day, General de Gaulle announces the end of the war to the French people in a broadcast speech.

On 8 May 1945, the French newspaper Le Monde announces that Admiral Doenitz has ordered the unconditional surrender of all German forces.

On 8 May 1945, the daily newspaper L’Humanité, mouthpiece of the French Communist Party, comments on the surrender of Hitler’s Germany.

On 8 May 1945, the French daily newspaper Le Monde leads with the surrender of the German armed forces.

At the end of the Second World War, the immense arsenal of the Wehrmacht — such as these cannons manufactured by Krupp — is destroyed by the Allies.