Air Operations, CBI

• 3 308th Heavy Bomb Group B-24s attack a bridge and targets of opportunity along the Yellow River.
• 3 341st Medium Bomb Group B-25s and 4 14th Air Force P-47s attack a bridge near Singtai.
• 131 fighter-bombers attack numerous targets across southern and eastern China.

• 14 V Bomber Command B-25s attack rail targets between Cap Batangan and Cap Varella.

Air Operations, East Indies

• In a 17-hour, 2,600-mile round-trip mission, 10 868th Heavy Bomb Squadron SB-24s attack the Bingkalapa airfield on Java and port facilities at Soerabaja.
• 42nd Medium Bomb Group B-25s and XIII Fighter Command P-38s attack a Japanese Army headquarters and artillery positions on Tarakan Island.
• P-38s attack Bintula, Kudat, and Ranau.

Air Operations, Japan

• 41 313th Very Heavy Bomb Wing B-29s attack airfields at Ibusuki, Kanoya, Oita and Usa on Kyushu.
• 3 B-29s are lost.

Air Operations, Philippines

• V Bomber Command B-25s and A-20s, and V Fighter Command fighter-bombers attack various targets and support US 6th Army ground forces on Luzon.
• 1st Marine Aircraft Wing PBJs, SBDs, and F4Us support the US X Corps on Mindanao.

Air Operations, Ryukyus

US Navy and Marine Corps aircraft support US 10th Army ground forces on Okinawa and attack airfields in the Sakishima Islands. A VBF-12 F6F downs a P1Y 'Galaxy' bomber 20 miles from Task Force 58 at 1100 hours.

Battle of the Atlantic

• Two merchant ships, the Avondale Park and the Sneland, sunk by U-2336 off the Firth of Forth are the last U-boat victims of World War II.
• U-320 is sunk by an RAF Catalina off Bergen and is the last U-boat sunk by Allied forces in the war.

Eastern Front

Troops of the 1st Belorussian Front reach the Elbe north and southeast of Magdeburg. In Silesia the resolute defense of Breslau finally comes to an end after 82 days, and the city is taken by the 1st Ukraine Front. 40,000 Germans are captured. In Czechoslovakia fighting still continues north of Olmütz and in the town itself. On the Frische Nehrung, in East Prussia, the remaining German forces still hold out against the Russians near the village of Vogelsang.

Army Group Center is rapidly crushed as the Ukrainian fronts advance. In East Prussia fierce fighting rages at Vogelsang.

European War Zone

At Rheims, at 1:41a.m. Adm Hans Friedeburg and Gen Alfred Jodl sign the unconditional German surrender at Gen Eisenhower's HQ. British, French, Soviet and American representatives are all present. Operations are to end at 2301 on May 8 (1 minute past midnight May 9?).

Occupied Czechoslovakia

The Vlasov army is rejected by the Czechs. Vlasov flees Prague to reach US lines.

Okinawa

The fruitless American attacks on the Shuri line positions continue; the 1st Marine Div, on the right flank, tries unsuccessfully to seize Height 60.

In the center, the 77th and 7th Divs maintain pressure but make scarcely any progress in the direction of Shuri village and Yonabaru. Units of the 7th Div complete the liquidation of Japanese units that infiltrated into the Tanabaru area. South of the town of Kochi a strong Japanese position is holding up the advance of other units of the 7th Div, which confine themselves to improving their positions on Kochi Ridge.

Philippines

On Luzon in the US XI Corps sector units of the 145th Inf attack southeast of Mount Pacawagan toward a ridge near Guagua, but are firmly repulsed by the Japanese. The US 43rd Div advances some 4 miles in the direction of Ipo.

Fighting continues on Mindanao and Negros.

Western Front

Allied forces occupy Emden and Wilhelmshaven and move into eastern Holland and Denmark. Hungarian Prime Minister Szalasi is captured by the US 7th Army near Salzburg. The Hungarian Crown Jewels are found in a railway carriage.

Images from May 7, 1945

Alfred Jodl, center, signs the instrument of surrender ending Nazi Germany's involvement in World War II in Rheims on May 7, 1945

Germany's Surrender

Times Square, New York City – 7 May 1945

Times Square

Crowds gathered in celebration at Piccadilly Circus, London during VE Day in 1945.

Piccadilly Circus, London

Eager soldiers pulling copies of 'Stars and Stripes' from the press of the London Times at 9 pm on 7 May 1945, when an extra edition was put out to announce the news of Germany’s surrender. The headline reads 'Germany Quits'.

Germany Quits

3.7-inch guns of 60th (City of London) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment fire a salvo to celebrate the Allied victory in Europe, May 1945.

Celebrating the Allied Victory in Europe

Civilians ride on a Daimler armoured car of the 1st Royal Dragoons as it enters the town of Hadersleben in Denmark, 7 May 1945.

Entering Hadersleben, Denmark

Churchill with the Chiefs of Staff at a luncheon at 10 Downing Street, 7 May 1945. Seated are Sir Charles Portal; Sir Alan Brooke; Sir Andrew Cunningham. Standing are Major General L C Hollis (Secretary to the Chiefs of Staff Committee) and General Sir Hastings Ismay (Chief of Staff to the Minister of Defence)

Churchill with the Chiefs of Staff

The schoolhouse in Reims, France used by Eisenhower as the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF). This is also where the first German surrender was signed on May 7, 1945

Schoolhouse in Reims, France