Sunday · September 27, 2026

Edited daily

American history, reported as it happened

Made for the 250th

The events of May 8 · Read the full edition → · More from May 8 →

19451776 Club

Germany signs the instrument of surrender; the war in Europe is over

The remnants of Hitler's military machine lay down arms as Allied commanders accept the unconditional capitulation of all German forces.

In the dying embers of World War II, the fate of a fractured nation hung in the balance. The German Instrument of Surrender, signed on May 8, 1945, marked the definitive end of Nazi Germany's reign of terror. With the stroke of a pen, the remnants of Hitler's war machine were silenced, and a new era of global power dynamics began to unfold…

1776 Club

This story is held for members.

Members read every story of the day — and tomorrow's, and the next.

Join the 1776 Club

$17.76 your first year · then $39.99/yr · cancel anytime

More from May 8

Coddington founds Newport; a new settlement opens on Aquidneck Island for those driven out by the Antinomian Controversy

The colony takes shape as Coddington plants a settlement built around the promise of religious freedom in Rhode Island.

Taylor's army beats a Mexican force north of the Rio Grande; a war is now underway

American troops hold their ground in the first major engagement of the border dispute, with the armies still in the field and the outcome of the wider conflict far from settled.

Six Flags opens the world's first modern looping coaster; the Great American Revolution launches at Magic Mountain

The ride debuts in the park's Bicentennial summer, sending riders through a complete vertical loop for the first time on a modern steel coaster.

Carrier aircraft do all the fighting as Allied forces move to block a Japanese thrust into the South Pacific.

Read this as a member →

Read the full May 8 edition →Everything that happened on May 8 →

More from The World Wars

Colby signs the paper: women's suffrage is now the law of the land

No ceremony, no witnesses, just a secretary of state's signature at his home in Washington.

Four generals form a council to rule Germany; the German Army ceases to exist

Zhukov, Eisenhower, Montgomery and de Lattre de Tassigny sign in as Berlin's new governing body and outlaw the old uniform on the same day.

MacArthur steps onto the tarmac at Atsugi, alone but for a corncob pipe

The newly named Supreme Commander arrives on an airfield American troops had held for only two days.

Aboard the Missouri in Tokyo Bay, Japan signs its surrender; the war is over

Foreign Minister Shigemitsu puts his name to the document at dawn; the Japanese delegation is gone within the hour.

The Daily Record · free by email

Tomorrow's edition in your inbox — one featured story, one quote, and today's flag status. Free, every morning.

The full experience

Read every story, narrated, in the app.

Take this story with you.

The complete daily edition, the deep-cut narration, and a library that's yours — the 1776 Club lives in the app.

Your membership comes with you — every event, narrated, with flag alerts, CarPlay, and your saved library.