Yury Rubtsov - Elba Meeting: 70 Years After - Strategic Culture Foundation - on-line journal > Elbe Meeting: 70 Years After > Strategic-Culture.org - Strategic Culture Foundation:
The first contact between American and Soviet patrols occurred near Strehla (Torgau, Leipzig area) after First Lieutenant Albert Kotzebue of US 69th infantry division 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 of the First Ukrainian Front, 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 a Soviet patrol commanded by Lieutenant Alexander Silvashko on the destroyed Elbe bridge of Torgau. The picture of smiling officers («Handshake of Torgau») went around the whole world.
