Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies on this day in 1945. The writing had been on the wall for the Germans for a long time, with some realizing even as early as two years earlier with their defeat at Stalingrad that they were unlikely to achieve total victory. Germany offered on May 6 to cease hostilities only on the Western Front, where they had fought primarily against the U.S., Britain, and France. The plan was to continue fighting in the east to buy millions of Germans enough time to escape to Western Europe. Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower responded by upping the ante.
Eisenhower made an offer the Nazis couldn’t refuse: Give up the entire war effort, and your men can flee and recover what was left of their lives in Western Europe. Keep fighting in the east, and your citizens would find any routes of escape blocked, leaving everyone at the mercy of the Soviet-led forces closing in. With Adolf Hitler dead, their military isolated and in tatters, and civilian morale broken, Germany had no choice but to sign.
Germany achieved one significant concession, convincing the Allies to allow two days to pass before the agreement’s terms took effect. That allowed over a million Germans to move west to areas controlled by those countries, escaping the brutality of the advancing Soviets.
You may have noticed, though, that this is not the date celebrated as Victory in Europe Day. That’s because it took a day for the Allies to accept the formal surrender. The Soviet Union’s representative at the talks had not actually been authorized to sign the document. They demanded a second surrender in Berlin, which Eisenhower agreed to. This strengthened the terms of the deal, with the new document also requiring the German military not only to cease hostilities but to give up all its weaponry.
