HISTORIC EVENT NORTH OF LEIPZIG

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 99, 28 April 1945, Page 5

HISTORIC EVENT NORTH OF LEIPZIG

PREMATURE JUNCTION BETWEEN AMERICANS AND RUSSIANS

8.0. W. and N.Z.P.A.—Copyright—Rec. 11.30 a.m.

LONDON, April 27. The historic link-up of the war has taken place. An announcement from 10, Downing Street states: "General Eisenhower reports contact has been established between his ground forces and those of our Soviet allies. The commanders of a United States division and a Russian Guards division met at Torgau, 30 miles east-north-east of Leipzig and 40 miles north-east of Dresden on Thursday at 4 p.m. Mutual exchange of Allied prisoners of war was discussed. First contact between the patrols took place at 4.40 p.m. on Wednesday, when a first lieutenant and three men of an intelligence and platoon of a United States division met the forward elements of a Russian Guards division." For some days there have been indications that the link-up was imminent or had already taken place. United States First Army troops had been listening on field radio receivers to Soviet officers giving orders to their troops and Russian-speaking American troops had been standing by in armoured scout cars, while the Russians had sent into the forward lines liaison officers to work with the Americans.

The link-up cuts Germany in half, with the northern ports and naval bases north of the cut and Hitler's "southern redoubt" below the line. The announcement of the link-up was followed by statements from Mr. Churchill, Marshal Stalin and President Truman. General O. M. Bradley, in an Order of the Day to the Twelfth Army Group, said: "Marshal Koniev's armies have come to you from the ruins of Stalingrad and Sebastopol and across the scorched cities of the Ukraine. In two years they smashed 1400 miles through the German Army to drive the enemy from Russia and pursue him to the Elbe. Their achievements have been made more full of meaning by your own deeds. Across 3800 miles of the ocean supply line you forced the coast the enemy for years had been preparing against you. Within four months since landing you destroyed whole armies. Recalling that the Twelfth Army Group had advanced 700 miles from the beaches, General Bradley added: "The people of America had great faith in you. You justified that faith, as you will in the battles that follow." The first link-up between the Americans and Russians occurred by accident at Riesa on Wednesday, says the British United Press correspondent with the First Army. An American patrol of 20 men failed to receive orders to halt the advance and walked into the Russian lines. American headquarters radioed the patrol ordering it to halt five miles beyond the Mulde River, but the message was never received, and the patrol went on 23 miles to the point where they met the Russians. None of the Americans spoke Russian, but the lieutenant walked toward the Russians and thrust out his hand. One or the Russians grasped it warmly. A correspondent says history may record the official link-up at Torgau, but the men of this patrol have their own ideas about that. They immediately flashed the news of the meeting back to their division, after which a lieutenant-colonel, accompanied by an interpreter, flew to the Russian lines, where he arranged the formal meeting for Thursday.

THE AMERICAN SAID "HULLO" An unshaven lieutenant from California and a Russian private met on the girders of a blown-out railway bridge spanning the Elbe River near Torgau at 4.40 p.m. on Wednesday as a prelude to the formal meeting between the commanders, says Reuters correspondent. The officer, Lieutenant W. Robertson, of Los Angeles, commented: "I did not know what to say to him, but I pounded him on the back and shook his hands a couple of times and said; 'Hullo' in English." The lieutenant's first conversation with a Russian officer was conducted in German through an American naval officer who had been a German prisoner and was makm his way to the American lines, when he encountered the patrol. The American's patrol, consisting of himself and three P" passed through 20 miles of uncleared German territory. At first they had difficulty in convincing the Russians that they were allies because the previous day the Germans had waved to the Russians and then fired on them. Lieutenant Rt >b e * s °" broke into a chemist's shop in order to get red, white " colouring matter, with which he made a ragged Stars and gripes on a piece of white cloth. This improvised flag he waved from a tower on the bank of the river at Torgau.

The Russians sent up coloured flares, and two big parties moved to the bridge, where Lieutenant Robertson found himself surrounded by Russian infantry. One maa offered, him a bottle of ™ne aid a can of sardines. The leader of the Russian patrol was Lieutenant Sylvashko, who, with a Russian major and captain, accompanied the Americans back to the American lines, where they met the divisional commander and his staff and more than 50 war correspondents. A party to celebrate the link-up went on to midnseht Afterwards Lieutenants Sylyashko and Robertson posed for photographers, shaking hands with the flags of the two countries behind them. , A British United Press correspondent, describing the scenes at Torgau on Thursday, says "It looked somethmg like a county fair with Russian soldiers singing and playing balalaikas. Vodka was' being passed around. Nobody understood the other fellow was saying, but everyone was naving a good tim«. Some Russians were showing the Americans how their guns worked by firing them into the Elbe. Never during the war have s " ch ene ! beeif enacted as at Torgau. The R-issians and Americans slapped each other on the back and gave each other bear-like hugs. They sat in the warm sunshine drinking champagne from beer mugs.