Overview

• GCHQ has declassified secret documents detailing its role in disseminating the VE Day announcement in May 1945, 80 years after the event.
• The cache includes a letter from Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower instructing Allied forces to cease offensive operations on May 7, 1945, under strict press embargo.
• Annotations on the letter, such as 'and u can jollu well RD TT plse,' highlight the excitement of intelligence operators tasked with transmitting the historic message.
• A May 4, 1945, directive from GC&CS director Sir Edward Travis prohibited any celebratory telegrams without his approval, underscoring strict wartime protocols.
• GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler commended the agency's wartime predecessors, emphasizing their significant role in shaping the end of hostilities in Europe.