Event    From 8/5/1945  To 8/5/1945

VE Day

"Victory in Europe Day" actually lasted 2 days. Throughout Britain street parties were held. In the centre of London people celebrated by gathering in crowds in Trafalgar Square and surrounding streets.

On 1 May 1945 the BBC announced Hitler's suicide. On 7 May at 19.40 programmes were interrupted and Churchill made the announcement: German armed forces had surrendered unconditionally on 7 May. Hostilities in Europe ended officially at midnight, 8 May 1945. Victory in Europe celebrations to be on 8 May and 9 May. 

Sources: The BBC, International Churchill Society.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
VE Day

Commemorated ati

Dwight D Eisenhower - Kingston

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander, allied forces Europe, Genera...

Read More

Last V2 rocket in Kingston upon Thames

The plaque says that 8 people were killed but has the names of only five: fou...

Read More

The Island mural

This mural repays some examination. Firstly, looking at the buildings in the ...

Read More

Victory in Europe Day - Woolwich 1

The quotation is one of several variations on the same theme. Possible origin...

Read More

Victory in Europe Day - Woolwich 2

This tree was planted by Frank Lerner on 8th October 2011 to mark Victory in ...

Read More

Show all 6

Other Subjects

First gay rights demonstration

First gay rights demonstration

The first gay rights demonstration in Britain took place in Highbury Fields when about 150 members of the Gay Liberation Front held a torchlight rally against police harassment. Louis Eakes of the ...

Event, Gender Issues

1 memorial
Nightingale Badge - Old

Nightingale Badge - Old

The badge was awarded to nurses who qualified from the Nightingale School at St Thomas's Hospital. Designed by Dame Alice Lloyd Still (who was matron at St Thomas's), the four arms of the cross sym...

Event, Medicine

1 memorial
Trident air disaster

Trident air disaster

Flight BE548 crashed within 3 minutes of taking off from Heathrow. It came down in a field near Staines. 188 died.

Event, Tragedy

1 memorial
Holocaust / Holocaust Memorial Day

Holocaust / Holocaust Memorial Day

Events for this day (27 January every year) are organised by The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust which exists so that we learn the lessons of the past to build a better future now. It is responsible f...

Event, History, Tragedy, Austria, Germany, Poland

15 memorials
Olympic Games - 1948

Olympic Games - 1948

The 1948 Summer Olympics were the first Summer Olympics held since the 1936 Games in Berlin. The second time London had hosted, 1908 being the first. The 1948 Olympics came to be known as the "Aus...

Event, Sport / Games

1 memorial