Where the Two Armies Met

The town is the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met forces of the Soviet Union coming from the east during the invasion of Germany on 25 April 1945, which is now remembered as "Elbe Day". Units of the American First Army and the Soviet First Ukrainian Front met on the bridge at Torgau, and at Lorenzkirch (near Strehla), 20 miles to the south. The unit commanders met the following day at Torgau for an official handshake. This marked the beginning of the line of contact between Soviet and American forces, but not the finalized occupation zones. In fact the area surrounding Torgau initially occupied by U.S. forces was later, in July 1945, given over to Soviet forces in compliance with the Yalta agreement. After the war, in 1949, a film called the Encounter at the Elbe was released from Mosfilm about this meeting of the two armies.

A building facade in Torgau that had all its windows turned into paintings by a local artist.

This is actually Russian Army graffiti carved onto a wall left over from the Soviet occupation

Hartenfels Castle in Torgau is simply a magnificent structure.  Learn more here: <Hartenfells Castle>.  

View of the gardens of Hartenels from the street above.

James Holland begins a detailed lecture beginning with the Battle of the Bulge and the breakthrough from the Remagan bridge.  

Mr Holland detailed Stalin’s overwhelming desire to occupy Berlin ahead of the Americans. Eisenhower did not feel Berlin was essential to victory.

Russian made monument to the meeting of the two armies.  US Flags are  nearly covered by the Soviet Flags on the top.

Little bias here as well, I think.

Heavily weathered kiosk at the monument showing the downed bridge at Torgau where the two sides met.

Mr Holland relating the amazing story of 2d Lt Wm Robertson’s meeting with the Russian Army.  It seems he came into town in a jeep unaware of the flare colors agreed to by the command staffs.  The Russians put up a red flare and Lt Robertson found some cloth and paint and made a pseudo American Flag.  Waving it as he drove out on the bridge in the face of an entire armies guns.  It worked and the Two Armies Met thereby ending NAZI rule in Europe.

The agreement was the Russians would light one color flare, the US another color. Lt Robertson knew nothing of this!  He somehow painted a US flag on cloth and drove out on the bridge facing the guns of the Russians.  The photo above is the result!

Culminating moment of the entire trip:  a group photo of everyone on this journey (except, of course, for me as I took the shot!)

              As we sailed into Prague we had champagne and goodbyes on the ship.