On Tuesday, 8 May 1945, from Paris to London, throngs of people flooded into the streets in a spontaneous celebration when the news of the German surrender flashed across the airwaves. In Holland, church bells rang across the country in gratitude for the Canadian troops that had helped liberate their country.

As Churchill said, "We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing...", since the war in the Pacific was still raging, as it would for another three months, until it too, was finally over.