When G.I. Joe met Red Ivan on the banks of the Elbe on April 25 of 1945, it spelled the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany:
“The U.S. – Soviet meeting split Germany into three fast-shriveling islands of resistance centering around the North Sea ports, Berlin and the Alpine redoubt in Southern Germany and Austria…For the red Army it was the triumphant conclusion of a 1,400-mile fighting journey from Stalingrad; for the Americans it was the end of a 635-mile road from the Normandy beachheads.”
“Berlin is shattered and burning. By week’s end the Russians had driven into the center of the devastated city from all directions. Moscow reports said the Nazis had withdrawn into a four-squar-mile area in the Tiergarten sector, which includes several government buildings. The great Tempelhof airport had been captured, depriving Hitler of his last escape route…”
Click here to read about the Soviet – U.S. link-up on the Elbe.
More about the Soviets in Berlin can be read here…
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