A Day That Shook The World: Monty accepts the German surrender

(Hulton Archive/Getty)

On 4 May 1945, the German armed forces in Western Europe formally surrendered to Field Marshall Montgomery.

As soon as the last of the signatures was committed to paper, messages were sent by morse code to allied units on the front lines, comfirming that all German hostilities by land, sea and air were to cease at eight o'clock the following morning.

The Second World War in Europe was over.

Watch original footage from the signing ceremony in this British Pathé video, above.