In April 1945, American troops advanced through a collapsing Germany, uncovering the horrific atrocities of the Mittelbau-Dora and Buchenwald concentration camps. As hundreds of thousands of German soldiers surrendered to avoid the Red Army, civilians and liberated forced laborers struggled to survive amidst ruins and severe shortages. The historic “East Meets West” link-up between U.S. and Soviet forces at Torgau on the River Elbe on April 27 definitively sealed the fate of the Nazi regime. This symbolic junction marked the imminent end of the war in Europe and the beginning of a new international political era.
37:26 Handshake of Torgau – Elbe Day on April 25, 1945
