VE Day: the most iconic photos from history
Today marks 70 years since victory in Europe was announced. These pictures reflect the sheer jubilation that hit the nation...
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VE Day 70th anniversary
A kiss in Times Square, New York, signifies the switch from hostility to happiness.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
Big Ben was also illuminated, providing a striking backdrop in front of which celebrations commenced.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
A Victory Special cover of Picture Post magazine, devoted to celebrating an end to the six-year-long battle across the continent and the world. The issue was published on 19th May 1945.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
The crowds awaiting Churchill were staggering, everyone keen to involve themselves in the life-changing celebrations.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
Troops gathered for a victory parade underneath the Arc de triomphe in Paris, as France also felt the delight of this new liberation.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
Elated Londoners danced in Piccadilly Circus.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
Children sat down to a very VE Day related tea party - a table shaped like a V - in Brockley, South London.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
The festivities went international, with the Statue of Liberty being illuminated for the first time in years aside from D-Day, as a soldier and his lady-friend gaze up in awe.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
After years of blackout, floodlights were used to light the building tops near St Paul's as part of celebrations about their new liberation.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
Even the injured were keen to celebrate. Patients who had sustained wounds on the frontline in France and Italy shared festivity with the nursing staff at Horley Military Hospital.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
Office workers in Boston celebrated VE Day in their own, alternative style: home-made confetti.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
The jubilance in the air was unavoidable, with family, friends, and strangers alike joining forces to sing together in the streets.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
Any concept of health and safety went out the window juring the jubilations in London.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
British Prime Minister of the time, Winston Churchill took to the balcony of Buckingham Palace along with Queen Elizabeth, King George VI, our current Queen, Princess Elizabeth (left) and her sister, Princess Margaret.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
In Germany, General Stumpf, Marshall Keitel and Admiral George Hans Friedburg signed an act of surrender, signifying the official end to the war.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
As the bugle was played on the Western Front on the border of Germany and Czechoslovakia, it was a sign of cease-fire, and the fighting stopped for good.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
The London Evening Standard's 8th May 1945 edition, in which it announced the official end of the Second World War.
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VE Day 70th anniversary
Groups played instruments, adding to the atmosphere of the ongoing VE Day celebrations.
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