April 25 1945 – Soldiers from the Soviet Union and United States Meet at the River Elbe
*Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons Almost seven years after the Nazis rolled into Poland, combat in the European theater of World War II came to a halt at the River Elbe on April 25, 1945. Just outside the town of Torgau in eastern Germany, elements of the United States Army’s 69th Infantry Division and the 5th Guards Army of the Soviet Union came face to face following a long campaign of rolling back Adolf Hitler’s conquest of the continent. Less than two weeks later, the Allies would celebrate victory in Europe. When British and American soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day attacks of June 6, 1944, the tide began to turn against the German plans for world domination. Early successes pushed President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King to organize the Second Quebec Conference the following September — an opportunity to solidify the plans for post-war Germany. The three leaders, quietly wondering about the intentions of the Soviets, hashed out the details for occupying the vanquished Nazi nation and laid out an agreement for a transition to the Pacific Theater for the defeat of Japan. Late in 1944, Hitler ordered several tank divisions into the Ardennes Forest, catching the Allied troops around Bastogne off guard at the Battle of the Bulge. Believing he could force the British and Americans to negotiate peace with a lightning assault on the Western Front, the Nazi leader anticipated a quick victory to provide his men the morale boost and strength in numbers to halt the Soviet advance in the east.