Elbe Day

Elbe Day has never been an official holiday in any country, but in the years after 1945 the memory of this friendly encounter gained new significance in the context of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.

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 Gordeyev.

The Soviet, American, British and French governments released simultaneous statements that evening in London, Moscow, and Washington, reaffirming the determination of the Allied powers to complete the destruction of the Third Reich.

Monuments at Torgau, Lorenzkirch, and Bad Liebenwerda commemorate the first encounters between U.S. and Soviet troops on Elbe Day.

Joseph Polowsky, an American soldier who met Soviet troops on Elbe Day, was deeply affected by the experience and devoted much of his life to opposing war.

In an arranged photo commemorating the meeting of the Soviet and American armies, 2nd Lt. William Robertson (U.S. Army) and Lt. Alexander Silvashko (Red Army) stand facing one another with hands clasped and arms around each other's shoulders. In the background are two flags and a poster.
General Nikolay Makarov with Admiral Mike Mullen and Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak at Arlington National Cemetery during the Elbe Day commemorations in 2010.
At the 2015 commemoration of Elbe Day, Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak bows his head after laying a wreath at the Spirit of the Elbe marker in Arlington National Cemetery .