Going down to the wire - we need your help. Please donate to Newstalgia and keep it alive. April 27, 1945 - the historic link-up between the Russian Army and the U.S./British Armies at the Elbe River, less than 75 miles away from downtown Berlin.
April 27, 2012

Meeting-at-the-Elbe-2.jpg
Meeting at The Elbe. The war in Europe would be over soon.


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News on this day in 1945 was entirely about the historic linkup of Soviet and Western-Allied forces at the Elbe River, effectively cutting Germany in half and sealing the fate of Hitler's "Thousand year Reich". It would be a matter of days, and with bulletins racing in, with reports cutting in and flying on top of each other, it was clear the war in Europe would be over soon. Still, there was caution, and it was stressed over and over in the course of the newscasts that this was not to be considered the end of the war in Europe. Fighting was still intense. With overwhelming numbers of displaced, refugees and former Nazi officials fleeing to safety managing to clog the roads leading to Berlin.

As the reports kept coming in, the later bulletins placed Russian troops, within blocks of the Chancery in Berlin, seizing the Deutches Bank building. So there were conflicting reports with some saying the allies were 75 miles away from the heart of Berlin, and later reports of fighting going on in the streets of Berlin. No one knew for sure and Allied censorship of news reports made it difficult to get an accurate picture of just far along everything was going.

And that's what the news sounded like from 11:00pm-12:00 midnight via NBC and WEAF in New York for April 27th, 1945.

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