On 8 May, an Allied military mission arrived in Oslo to deliver the conditions for capitulation to the Germans, and arranged the surrender, which took effect at midnight. The conditions included the German High Command agreeing to arrest and intern all German and Norwegian Nazi party members listed by the Allies, disarm and intern all SS troops, and send all German forces to designated areas. At this time there were no fewer than 400,000 German troops in Norway, which had a population of barely three million.

Thanks to Imperial War Museum we can enjoy watching these amazing photographs just after Norway liberation in 1945.

A line of German 7.5cm anti-tank guns at Solar aerodrome, Stavanger. [© IWM (BU 9764)]

Storeroom at Solar aerodrome, Stavanger, holding some of the estimated 30,000 rifles taken from German forces in Norway after their surrender. [© IWM (BU 9763)]

A line of Messerschmitt Bf 110 night fighters at Solar aerodrome, Stavanger, Norway, 1945. [© IWM (BU 9759)]

An officer of a Highland regiment inspects a German Molch (Salamander) one-man submarine at Solar aerodrome, Stavanger, Norway. [© IWM (BU 9761)]

A collection of German military equipment including artillery pieces, searchlights, tanks and lorries at Solar aerodrome, Stavanger. [© IWM (BU 9766)]

Captured U-boats at Trondheim, 19 May 1945 [© IWM (BU 6378)]

A Type VII and a Type IX submarine alongside each other outside the submarine pens at Trondheim after the war. [© IWM (BU 6382)]