"BIG THREE" SPEAK

Evening Star, Issue 25470, 28 April 1945, Page 7

"BIG THREE" SPEAK

GUMAX TO GREAT FEATS

ANOTHER STEP NEARER FINAL VICTORY HITLER'S LAST HOPES EXTINGUISHED (Roc. 11 a.m.) RUGBY, April 27. The Allied link-up some 60 miles south of Berlin has been immediately signalised by an order of the day from Marshal Stalin to the accompaniment of Moscow's biggest gun salute. The order, which for the first time omitted the usual concluding words, " Death to the German invader," said: "Troops of the First Ukrainian Command, and British and American troops, by blows from the east and west, have cut the front of the German troops arid have linked up in the centre of Germany in the area of the town of Torgau. German troops in Northern Germany have thus been cut off from German troops in Germany's southern area. To mark this victory, and in honour of the historic event, to-day Moscow, the capital of our native land, will in the name of the country salute the valiant troops of the First Ukrainian Command and our Allies, the British and American troops, with 24 salvoes from 324 guns. Long live the victory of freedom-loving peoples over Germany."

In a special message Marshal Stalin said: " In the name of the Soviet Go-

vernment I address you, commanders and men of the Red army and of the armies of our Allies. The victorious armies of the Allied Powers, waging a war of liberation in Europe, have routed the German troops and have linked up on the territory of Germany. Our task and our duty are to complete the destruction of the enemy and force him to lay down his arms and surrender unconditionally. The lied army will fulfil to the end this task and this duty to our people and all freedomloving peoples. I greet the valorous troops of our Allies who are now standing on the territory of Germauy shoulder to shoulder with the Soviet troops, and who are full of determination to carry out their duty to the end."

LONG-AWAITED HOUR

President Truman, in a message on the same occasion, said: “AngloAmerican armies under the command of General Eisenhower, met Soviet forces where they intended to meet—in the heart of Nazi Germany. The enemy has been cut in two. This is not the hour of final victory in Europe, but that hour draws near—the hour for which all the American people, all the British peoples, and all the Soviet people have toiled and prayed so long.

" The union of our arms in the heart of Germany has a meaning for the world which the world will not miss. It means, first, that the last faint, desperate hope of Hitler and his gangster Government has been extinguished. The common front and the rommon cause of the Powers allied in this war against tyranny and inhumanity have been demonstrated in fact, as they have long been demonstrated in determination. Nothing can divide or weaken the common purpose of our

veteran armies to carry on victoriously to the final _ Allied triumphs in Germany. The junction of our forces signalises that the collaboration. of our nations in the cause of peace and freedom is'effective collaboration which can surmount the greatest difficulties of the most extensive campaign in military history, and succeed. Nations which can plan and fight shoulder to shoulder in the fact of such obstacles as distance, language, communications, as we have overcome can live and work together in the common labour of organisation of the world for peace. " Finally this great triumph of Allied arms and Allied strategy is such a tribute to the courage and determination of the late President Roosevelt as no words could even speak, and that could be accomplished only by the persistance and the courage of the fighting soldiers and sailors of the Allied nations. But until our enemies are finally subdued in Europe and in the Pacific there must be no relaxation of effort on the home front in support of our heroic soldiers and sailors. As we all know, there will be no pause on the battle fronts." LONG JOURNEY ENDING.

Mr Churchill ' said: "After long journeys, toils, and victories across land and oceans, and across so many deadly battlefields, the armies of the great Allies have traversed Germany and joiued hands together. Now their task will be the destruction of all the remnants of German military resistance, the rooting out of Nazi power, and the subjugation of Hitler's Reich. For these purposes ample forces are available, and we meet in true victorious comradeship and with the inflexible resolve to fulfil our purpose and our duty. Let us all march forward upon the foe."