Unconditional Surrender of Germany: 7- 8 May 1945

On 7 May 1945, two German officers, Admiral Hans von Friedeburg and General Alfred Jodl, surrendered unconditionally to Lieutenant-General Walter Bedell Smith, the Chief-of-Staff for the Supreme Allied Commander, American General Dwight D. Eisenhower. The following day, 8 May, Marshal Zhukov, commander of the Soviet armies on the Eastern Front, and General Tedder, Deputy Commander of the Allied Forces in the West, ratified the surrender. The surrender was effective at midnight on 8 May 1945.