Never-before-seen spy letters reveal GCHQ role in VE Day before end of war
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Spy letters show secret orders sent ahead of VE Day
- Newly declassified documents reveal GCHQ's key role in disseminating news of Germany's unconditional surrender on VE Day.
- A letter from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, to GCHQ, timestamped 8:30 am on May 7, 1945, instructed Allied forces to “cease all offensive operations”.
- The documents highlight the excitement among GCHQ staff upon receiving news of the surrender, with annotations revealing their eagerness to share the information.
- Another document, dated May 4, 1945, shows that GCHQ staff were among the first to know about the impending war's end.
- GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler expressed pride in the agency's contribution to ending WWII.