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• Paul Giesler passed away. ww2dbase [Paul Giesler | CPC]
• Britain marked VE (Victory in Europe) Day with scenes of great public celebration and services of thanksgiving. In France, the German garrisons in coastal strongholds finally surrendered. In Berlin, Germany, Marshal Zhukov accepted the German surrender, which was to take effect on 11 May. Also on this date, German troops in Czechoslovakia surrendered. ww2dbase [Germany's Surrender | TH]
• Every gun present at Okinawa, Japan, including naval guns, fired one round at noon at the Japanese in celebration of V-E Day. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | CPC]
• Crown Prince Olav of Norway returned to Oslo aboard a British Royal Navy warship on the same day that the city was declared liberated. ww2dbase [AC]
• US 83rd Infantry Division became part of the US XIII Corps. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Bernhard Rust committed suicide. ww2dbase [Bernhard Rust | CPC]
• Karl von Le Suire was captured by Soviet troops, thus ending his role as the commanding officer of German XXXXIX. Gebirgskorps. ww2dbase [Karl von Le Suire | CPC]
• Hartwig von Ludwiger stepped down as the commanding officer of 21st Mountain Corps. ww2dbase [Hartwig von Ludwiger | CPC]

• With the surrender of Germany and the ending of hostilities, USS Bogue’s Second Barrier Force was dissolved and most of the ships, including Bogue, made for New York. ww2dbase [Conclusion of the Battle of the Atlantic | Bogue | DS]

• Field Marshal Robert Ritter von Greim, Head of the Luftwaffe since Hitler's dismissal of Hermann Göring in the last days of the collapsing German Reich, was captured by the Americans in Austria. ww2dbase [Robert von Greim | AC, CPC]
• Hubert Lanz surrendered to US Army troops in Austria. ww2dbase [Hubert Lanz | CPC]

• Canadian sailors looted shops in during VE-Day celebrations in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. ww2dbase [Halifax, Nova Scotia | CPC]

• Most aircraft of the Japanese 5th Kokugun in China began to withdraw to Korea. By the end of the month, over 10,000 personnel would successfully reach their new bases. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Soviet troops liberated Theresienstadt Concentration Camp; about 30,000 prisoners were present at the camp at the time. ww2dbase [Discovery of Concentration Camps and the Holocaust | Theresienstadt Concentration Camp | Terezín, Cechy | CPC]
• German Field Marshal Ferdinand Schörner escaped Prague, Czechoslovakia for Austria. ww2dbase [Prague Strategic Offensive | Prague | CPC]

• A special medical commission of Soviet 1st Byelorussian Front headed by Lieutenant Colonel Faust Shkaravsky performed an autopsy on the two bodies retrieved near the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, one of which was suspected to be that of Adolf Hitler's. He noted that a part of the skull on one of the bodies was missing, but the cause of death of that person was more likely cyanide poisoning. ww2dbase [Reich Chancellery | Adolf Hitler | Berlin | CPC]
• Lieutenant Robert C. Little of US 12th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron became the last pilot to shoot down a German Luftwaffe aircraft in combat over the Western Front when, shortly after 2000 hours, he destroyed an attacking Focke-Wulf Fw 190 aircraft whilst on patrol over the Danube River. ww2dbase [AC]
• A German pilot landed a Ju 290 aircraft at München-Riem airport in southern Germany and surrendered to US troops. The aircraft carried women auxiliary personnel of the German Luftwaffe. ww2dbase [Ju 290 | München, München-Oberbayern | CPC]
• Ferdinand Schörner effectively lost his position as the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army as Germany surrendered, but he continued to led his men to fight Soviet forces toward American controlled areas. ww2dbase [Ferdinand Schörner | CPC]

• Landing ship No. 124 was completed and was transferred to the Japanese Army. ww2dbase [No. 101/103-class | CPC]
• USS Portland returned to her station off Okinawa for shore bombardments. ww2dbase [Okinawa Campaign | Portland | Okinawa | DS]
• Heinrich Pahl stepped down as the commanding officer of UIT-24 while at Kobe, Japan. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | Kobe, Hyogo | CPC]

• 92 German ships of various sizes departed Libau, Latvia with 18,000 German refugees onboard, sailing for Denmark and Germany. It would be the final convoy out of Latvia. ww2dbase [East Prussian Offensive | Libau | CPC]

• The crew of USS Segundo held a celebratory dinner at Saipan, Mariana Islands. ww2dbase [Segundo | Saipan | CPC]

• USS Nashville crossed the equator southbound while transiting from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii to Seeadler Harbor on Manus Island. Due to the large turnover in personnel, 500 slimy pollywogs were initiated into the Ancient Order of the Deep. ww2dbase [Line Crossing Ceremony | Nashville | DS]

• Allied convoy RA-66 arrived at Clyde, Scotland, United Kingdom. ww2dbase [Arctic Convoys | Clyde, Scotland | CPC]
• A memorial service was held at the St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Westminster, London, England, United Kingdom for all those lost aboard the flight that also claimed the life of Peter Drummond. ww2dbase [Peter Drummond | London, England | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a leaflet dropping mission (nickels) to 13 cities in the Netherlands, France, and Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | RAF Thurleigh | Thurleigh, England | DS]

• USS Maryland arrived at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for repairs of extensive damage following being hit by a special attack aircraft off Okinawa. ww2dbase [Puget Sound Navy Yard | Maryland | Bremerton, Washington | DS]

8 May 1945 Interactive Map