When Did World War 2 End? The Two Surrenders and the Paperwork

Short answer

• The war in Europe ended with Germany's unconditional surrender, signed at Reims on May 7, 1945, effective May 8: VE Day in most of Europe and the United States, and May 9 in Russia, because the second signing ceremony in Berlin ran past midnight Moscow time.
• The war against Japan ended in the field with the Emperor's surrender broadcast on August 15, 1945 (August 14 in the United States), and formally with the signing aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, the date the United States marks as VJ Day.
• The legal state of war ended later still: the United States terminated its state of war with Germany in October 1951, and the peace treaty with Japan took effect on April 28, 1952.
• China commemorates the victory on September 3, the day after the Missouri signing, and Japan and Russia have never signed a peace treaty from this war.

World War 2 did not end on one day. It ended in stages: Germany surrendered in May 1945, Japan announced its surrender in August and signed the formal document on September 2, 1945, and the legal paperwork that closed the war dragged into the 1950s. One peace treaty arising from the war has never been signed at all. This article walks through each ending in order, explains why different countries keep different dates, and separates the day the fighting stopped from the day the war legally ended.

The End in Europe: Reims, Berlin, and VE Day

By the spring of 1945, Germany was being crushed from both sides: Soviet forces were fighting through Berlin while American, British, Canadian, French, and other Allied forces advanced from the west. Adolf Hitler died by suicide in his Berlin bunker on April 30, 1945, leaving Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz at the head of a rump government based at Flensburg. Dönitz hoped to surrender piecemeal to the Western Allies while fighting on against the Soviets. The Allies insisted on one thing: unconditional surrender, everywhere, at once.

The first signing: Reims, May 7

In the early hours of May 7, 1945, in a red-brick schoolhouse in Reims, France, that served as General Dwight D. Eisenhower’s headquarters, General Alfred Jodl, chief of staff of the German armed forces high command, signed the act of military surrender. The time was 02:41 Central European Time. All German forces on land, at sea, and in the air were to cease operations at 23:01 on May 8, a delay of nearly two days that Dönitz had negotiated so the order could reach far-flung units, and so more German soldiers could reach Western lines.

A Soviet officer, General Ivan Susloparov, signed for the USSR at Reims, but he had not been able to get instructions from Moscow, and he added a clause allowing a second, more formal ceremony if any Ally requested one. Joseph Stalin did request one. He objected that the surrender of Germany should be ratified in the conquered capital, Berlin, before the Soviet high command that had borne the largest share of the fighting in Europe.

The second signing: Berlin, May 8 (and May 9)

So the surrender was signed again, late on May 8, at Karlshorst in Berlin, in a ceremony chaired by Soviet Marshal Georgy Zhukov. Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel signed for Germany. By the time the ceremony ended, it was past midnight in Moscow. Two dates were therefore born from one surrender: May 8, kept as VE Day (Victory in Europe Day) in Britain, France, the United States, and most of Europe, and May 9, kept as Victory Day in Russia and several other former Soviet states. Neither is wrong; they record the same event from different time zones and different signing ceremonies.

The fighting that outlasted the deadline

The ceasefire time of 23:01 on May 8 was an order, not a switch. Across a shattered continent, news arrived late or was resisted. German forces in Czechoslovakia fought on around Prague, and the Battle of Slivice, often described as the last major battle of the war in Europe, ended only on May 12. The German garrisons of the Channel Islands, the only British soil occupied during the war, surrendered on May 9, with the garrison on Alderney holding out until May 16. Farthest of all, a German weather station party on the Arctic island of Svalbard, out of radio contact, did not surrender until September 4, 1945, two days after the war itself was formally over. They are generally counted the last German unit to lay down its arms.

The End in Asia and the Pacific: August and September 1945

Germany’s surrender left Japan fighting alone, and the war in the Pacific had months to run. Its end came in a compressed, violent sequence.

On July 26, 1945, the United States, Britain, and China issued the Potsdam Declaration, demanding Japan’s unconditional surrender and warning of “prompt and utter destruction” if it refused. Japan’s government did not accept it. On August 6, an American B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. On August 8, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, tearing up their neutrality pact, and Soviet forces invaded Japanese-held Manchuria just after midnight. On August 9, a second atomic bomb fell on Nagasaki. That night, Emperor Hirohito broke a deadlock in Japan’s leadership and accepted the Potsdam terms, with a condition preserving the imperial institution, which the Allies accepted in substance.

August 14 or 15? The announcement

The Emperor’s surrender rescript was recorded on August 14 and broadcast to the Japanese public at noon on August 15 Japan time, the first time most Japanese had heard their Emperor’s voice. Because of the time difference, it was still August 14 in the United States when President Harry Truman announced Japan’s surrender at the White House. Both dates were celebrated as VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) in different places: August 14 or 15 in 1945 itself, depending on which side of the Pacific you stood. Britain settled on August 15. The United States, however, ultimately fixed its official commemoration on the formal ceremony that followed.

The formal surrender: USS Missouri, September 2, 1945

On the morning of September 2, 1945, the battleship USS Missouri lay anchored in Tokyo Bay, and on her deck the war was ended in law as well as in fact. Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed the instrument of surrender for the Emperor and the Japanese government, followed by General Yoshijiro Umezu for the Imperial General Headquarters. General Douglas MacArthur then signed as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, followed by representatives of the United States, China, Britain, the Soviet Union, Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The ceremony took about 23 minutes. MacArthur closed it with the words: “These proceedings are closed.”

September 2 is therefore the most defensible single answer to “when did World War 2 end”: the date of the formal, signed surrender of the last Axis power, which the United States observes as VJ Day. China takes a different view of the same event, marking September 3, the day after the signing, as its Victory Day, a date set in 1951 and still observed with major commemorations.

Why the Dates Differ by Country

Collect the dates together and the pattern is simple: each country marks the moment the war ended for it.

• May 8: VE Day in Britain, France, the United States, and most of western Europe, the day the German surrender took effect.
• May 9: Victory Day in Russia and several former Soviet republics, because the Berlin ceremony ended after midnight Moscow time, and because the Eastern Front’s enormous losses gave the Soviet commemoration its own weight.
• August 14/15: VJ Day as first celebrated in 1945, the announcement of Japan’s surrender, August 15 in Asia and August 14 in America.
• September 2: VJ Day in the United States today, the date of the formal signing aboard USS Missouri.
• September 3: China’s Victory Day, the day following that signing.

There is no single “correct” date to argue for. There is a correct date for each question: fighting in Europe, May 8; the Soviet reckoning, May 9; the news in the Pacific, mid-August; the legal formality, September 2.

The Slow Legal Ending: 1946 to 1990

Between the surrender ceremonies and actual peace treaties lay years of occupation, division, and Cold War. The legal end of the war came in pieces.

President Truman proclaimed the cessation of hostilities on December 31, 1946, but a proclamation is not a treaty. Because Germany was divided and occupied, no peace treaty with it was possible; instead, the Western Allies ended their states of war by statute. The United States did so by a joint resolution of Congress approved on October 19, 1951, which Truman proclaimed on October 24: the state of war between the United States and Germany was terminated, six years after the guns fell silent. Britain and France took similar steps the same year.

For Japan, the settlement was the Treaty of San Francisco, signed by 49 nations on September 8, 1951, and effective April 28, 1952. It formally ended the state of war between Japan and the signing Allied powers, ended the occupation, and restored Japanese sovereignty. The Soviet Union attended the conference but refused to sign. In 1956, Japan and the USSR issued a joint declaration that ended their state of war and restored diplomatic relations, but because of the unresolved dispute over the Kuril Islands, which Japan calls the Northern Territories, Japan and Russia have never signed a Second World War peace treaty, a diplomatic loose end that survives into the present.

Germany’s final settlement waited for the Cold War to end. The Two Plus Four Treaty of September 12, 1990, agreed by the two German states and the four wartime occupying powers, settled Germany’s borders and status ahead of reunification and is generally treated as the functional equivalent of the peace treaty that 1945 never produced.

The Men Who Did Not Get the News: Holdouts

For a handful of Japanese soldiers, the war’s end date was later still. Cut off on Pacific islands, some refused to believe surrender reports, leaflets, and even letters from their families, which they took for enemy tricks. Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, an intelligence officer on Lubang Island in the Philippines, continued guerrilla operations for nearly 29 years. Found by a Japanese traveler, Norio Suzuki, in February 1974, Onoda would still not surrender until his former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, was flown in to relieve him of his orders in person. Onoda laid down his arms in March 1974. The last confirmed holdout came after him: Private Teruo Nakamura was discovered on Morotai Island in Indonesia and surrendered on December 18, 1974. For those men, World War 2 lasted into the mid-1970s.

How the End Is Commemorated

The surviving dates on the calendar reflect the history above. France keeps May 8 as a public holiday. The United Kingdom marks VE Day on May 8, with major national commemorations on round anniversaries. Russia holds its Victory Day on May 9, centered on a military parade in Moscow’s Red Square. The Netherlands observes Remembrance Day on May 4 and Liberation Day on May 5. The United States commemorates VJ Day on September 2, the Missouri date, although it is no longer a federal holiday. China marks September 3 with official ceremonies honoring its veterans of the war against Japan. Germany itself observes May 8 as a day of liberation from Nazism, a framing adopted by its first postwar presidents and now official in Berlin, where it is a public holiday.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official date World War 2 ended?

For the world war as a whole, September 2, 1945, when Japan signed the instrument of surrender aboard USS Missouri, completing the surrender of all Axis powers. The war in Europe had ended earlier, on May 8, 1945.

Did World War 2 end in 1945 or 1952?

Both, in different senses. All fighting between the major powers ended in 1945, and the surrenders were signed that year. But the legal state of war was closed out by later instruments: the United States ended its state of war with Germany in October 1951, and the peace treaty with Japan took effect on April 28, 1952. Historians date the war 1939 to 1945 (1937 to 1945 for the war in China), because those later acts were legal housekeeping, not warfare.

Why does Russia celebrate Victory Day on May 9 instead of May 8?

Two reasons. The definitive surrender ceremony in Berlin ended late on May 8, after midnight Moscow time, so in the Soviet Union the surrender fell on May 9. And Stalin had insisted on the second, Berlin ceremony in the first place, so the Soviet commemoration attached to that signing rather than to Reims.

When did Germany surrender?

Twice, in effect: at Reims on May 7, 1945, at 02:41, effective at 23:01 on May 8, and again at Karlshorst in Berlin late on May 8. Both documents were unconditional surrenders of all German armed forces to all the Allies at once, which is what distinguishes them from the partial surrenders of German armies in Italy and the northwest in the preceding days.

How long did World War 2 last?

Counting from Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 to the Missouri signing on September 2, 1945: six years and one day. Counting from Japan’s full-scale invasion of China in July 1937, as Chinese historiography does, the war lasted about eight years.

When did the last soldier of World War 2 surrender?

The last confirmed Japanese holdout, Teruo Nakamura, surrendered on Morotai Island, Indonesia, on December 18, 1974, more than 29 years after the formal end of the war. The most famous holdout, Hiroo Onoda, had surrendered nine months earlier, in March 1974.

Conclusion

When did World War 2 end? In Europe, on May 8, 1945, unless you were standing in Moscow, where it was already May 9. In the Pacific, the news came on August 14 and 15, and the signature that made it formal was set down aboard USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. In law, the endings trailed on: 1951 for the American state of war with Germany, April 1952 for peace with Japan, 1990 for Germany’s final settlement, and never, so far, for a Japanese-Russian peace treaty. The cleanest single date is September 2, 1945. But the full answer is the more interesting one: the largest war in history took months to stop fighting, years to stop being legally unfinished, and, in one island dispute, remains so.

Keep reading: Due Process, the Bill of Rights and the 10th and 14th Amendments: Explained in Plain English

Keep reading: Why Did Japan Attack Pearl Harbor? Causes and Consequences

Sources & references

• U.S. National Archives (archives.gov): Records and teaching resources on the German surrender, VE Day, and the Japanese surrender aboard USS Missouri, including the text and photographs of the September 2, 1945 instrument of surrender.
• Harry S. Truman Library and Museum (trumanlibrary.gov): Proclamation 2950, Termination of the State of War with Germany (joint resolution approved October 19, 1951; proclaimed October 24, 1951); Truman's August 14, 1945 announcement of Japan's surrender.
• U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian (history.state.gov): Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, on the termination of the state of war with Germany; Potsdam Conference records.
• Library of Congress (loc.gov): World War II surrender coverage and primary source sets, including newspaper reporting of VE Day and VJ Day.
• Imperial War Museums (iwm.org.uk): VE Day and VJ Day collections and explainers, including the Reims and Berlin signings and British commemoration dates.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica (britannica.com): Cross-checks on the German Instrument of Surrender (Reims, 02:41 on May 7, effective 23:01 on May 8; Karlshorst signing late on May 8) and the Treaty of San Francisco (signed September 8, 1951, effective April 28, 1952).