Information AboutElbe Day |
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The first contact was made between patrols near Strehla when First Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue crossed the River Elbe in a boat with three men of an intelligence and reconnaissance platoon. On the East Bank, they met forward elements of a Soviet Guards-rifle-regiment under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Gardiev . The same day, another patrol under Second Lieutenant William Robertson with Frank Huff , James McDonnell and Paul Staub met Soviet Lieutenant Alexander Silvashko with some soldiers on the destroyed Elbe bridge of Torgau. On April 26 , the commanders of the U.S. 69th Infantry Division of the First Army and the Soviet 58th Guards Division of the 5th Guards Army met at Torgau, southwest of Berlin . Arrangements were made for the formal ''"Handshake of Torgau"'' between Robertson and Silvashko in front of photographers the following day. Statements were released simultaneously in London , Moscow , and Washington that evening reaffirming the determination of the three Allied powers to complete the destruction of the Third Reich . EXTERNAL LINKS
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