THE final days of Nazi Germany are revealed in a series of shocking photos as the world remembers Hitler’s defeat on VE Day.

Today commemorates a milestone 75 years since the end of World War II and the date remains a special time in UK's history.

Victory in Europe officially took place on this day, May 8 1945, when fighting finally ceased marking the end of Adolf Hitler’s war and sparking celebrations around the world.

Allied forces triumphantly announced the surrender of Germany in Europe, heralding the beginning of the end of the Second World War – a conflict that stretched over six years and cost millions of lives.

The day before, at 2.41pm on May 7, 1945, Germany surrendered.

Hitler had committed suicide a week earlier leaving Grand Admiral Donitz of the German army to admit defeat.

It was not until August that Japan surrendered after the US dropped the first two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Documents of surrender were officially signed on the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

BERLIN IN RUIN

These captivating photographs show the final days of Nazi Germany as the once formidable force was left in tatters.

Taken across the German capital of Berlin, devastating scenes show train stations hit by bombing raids.

Others show once-bustling streets taken over by half-buried army tanks as British vehicles eerily drive by.

One snap reveals the carnage of what was once Potsdam Station, after being hit by four heavy bombing raids, two by the RAF and two by the US Air Force.

Other German landmarks lie in devastation.

A First World War British Mark V tank stands abandoned outside the bomb damaged ruins of the Berlin Cathedral and the Konzerthaus Berlin concert hall is also seen marred by explosives.

One stretch of water is photographed in the ruins of post war Berlin where an underground station lies beneath.

The station was used as a hospital in the last days of the war but was SS purposely flooded by the SS, killing all within, in a last fanatical effort to hold back the advancing Russian Army.

In one of the last photos to be taken before the war ended, a victory banner flutters over the war-torn ruins of Berlin in May 1945 as Allied soldiers look on.

And in another poignant snap, Corporal Russell M. Ochwad, of Chicago, mocks Adolf Hitler by making the Nazi salute on the balcony of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

A British and Russian soldier stand on each side of him while American and Russian soldiers cheer on in the months after German defeat.

The Second World War saw over sixty million deaths from the Allied Powers, and twelve million fatalities from the Axis Powers between 1939 to 1945.

The political structure across the world was changed after World War Two with the formation of the United Nations (UN) by way of encouraging and monitoring international stability.

This year the Queen will commemorate the 75th anniversary with a televised address to the nation.

It will be broadcast on the BBC at 9pm – the exact moment her dad, King George VI gave a radio address 75 years ago.

The address to the nation will be followed by a nationwide singalong to Vera Lynn and indoor WWII-themed street parties.

Planned public celebrations have been cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown.

But families are being urged to put up celebration bunting indoors and join together singing WWII song We'll Meet Again by Dame Vera Lynn – in a nationwide celebration inspired by Clap For Carers.

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