The Fall of Berlin and Victory in Europe

In the spring of 1945 Germany collapsed under attacks from east and west. On 12 April Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry S. Truman. On 16 April the Red Army began its final offensive toward Berlin with an assault on the Seelow Heights, and by late April the city was encircled. On 25 April American and Soviet soldiers met on the Elbe River at Torgau. In his bunker in Berlin, Hitler took his own life on 30 April.

Berlin's garrison surrendered on 2 May, after street fighting in which old men and teenagers of the Volkssturm militia were thrown into battle. Germany signed an unconditional surrender at Reims on 7 May, effective on 8 May, and a second ceremony was held in Berlin at Stalin's insistence. Millions celebrated VE Day on 8 May, but the war in the Pacific continued, and Europe faced ruins, refugees and the expulsion of millions of Germans from the East.