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whether from the perspective of actual military strategy or political factors, the meeting between the soviet and british armies a week later was more obscure than the meeting between the soviet and american armies on the elbe river at the end of world war ii. as the contradictions between the eastern and western camps had become public at the end of the war, the meeting was undercurrent, but the officers and soldiers of the two armies who participated in it really enjoyed a few days of rare leisure time, leaving behind many fragrant anecdotes with a strong smell of alcohol.

eisenhower's wishful thinking

by mid-april 1945, with the allies advancing rapidly on the european battlefield, nazi germany was doomed to fail. now, the most important thing facing eisenhower, the supreme commander of the allied forces on the western front, was no longer how to destroy the german army, but what strategy to adopt in order to gain as much benefit as possible on the european continent after defeating germany. to this end, he ordered the british 21st army to reach the baltic coast as quickly as possible at all costs. eisenhower planned to take denmark and schleswig-holstein in one fell swoop.Schleswig-Holstein), on the one hand, to divide and encircle the german troops in this area, and on the other hand, to promptly support the german troops from mecklenburg in the east (Mecklenburg) to avoid the soviet red army's front and the crowds of refugees, and more importantly, to prevent the soviet army from entering denmark. the key to this plan was whether the allied forces could cross the lower elbe river in time and reach the baltic port of wismar in the eastern part of the schleswig-holstein peninsula (Wismar), a city that was once an important city in the hanseatic league era. according to the consensus reached by all parties at the yalta conference, wismar is located approximately 35 miles within the planned soviet occupation zone.

figure 1. the city of wismar attacked by allied air forces

to some extent, eisenhower's plan was contrary to his usual strategy, because according to the principles of the us military regulations, the essence of war is to concentrate all forces to attack the enemy and achieve military victory, rather than taking risks for purely political purposes. for this reason, eisenhower had previously abandoned the plan to attack berlin and gave the political honor of capturing the capital of nazi germany to the soviet red army. and for the same reason, he gave up the fight for prague. however, instead, he concentrated his forces to attack austria, preventing the nazi remnants from making a final resistance. and, more importantly, his plan to let the british army march to the baltic coast was almost completely based on political considerations.

by april 30, the battle of berlin was drawing to a close, and the struggle for spheres of influence between the two allied camps finally came to light. for various reasons, the soviets asked eisenhower to explain his plan. in response, eisenhower said that the purpose of doing so was to clear the german resistance west of wismar on the baltic coast and establish a line south to schwerin (Schwerin), southwest to wittenberg on the elbe river (Wittenberge, located in magdeburg (Magdeburg) is located to the north, rather than to the south (it is not uncommon for towns of the same name to appear in europe) and about 23 miles downstream is demitz (Doemitzthe soviet union accepted eisenhower's statement, but the soviet troops did not slow down the attack speed towards the elbe river basin north of berlin.

march to the sea

on the allied side, following eisenhower's order, general bernard montgomeryBernard Montgomery) immediately reorganized the 21st army under his command.Henry Crerar) will capture oldenburg (Oldenburg), emden (Emden) and wilhelmshaven (Wilhelmshaven), and by mills dempsey (Miles Dempsey) would capture bremen (Bremen), and cleared the cuxhaven peninsula (Cuxhaven peninsula) to secure a bridgehead to the lower elbe and capture lübeck (Lubeck), to achieve the goal of "taking the schleswig peninsula as soon as possible". on the flank, it roughly follows the route of wismar-schleswig-dalsau (Darchau) line, located north of the elbe river (this section of the river flows roughly east-west).

on april 26, the british 2nd army had reached the elbe river between wittenberg and the coastline. on the right wing, facing lauenburg (Lauenburg) was deployed in the direction ofVIII Corps)'s troops, facing hamburg (Hamburg) was the 12th army, while on the left the 30th army took cuxhaven. however, no intact bridge had been captured so far.

figure 2. a destroyed bridge over the elbe river near the port of hamburg

another day passed, on the 27th, after learning that the soviet army had officially launched the battle to attack berlin on the 25th, eisenhower immediately sent a telegram to montgomery urging him to speed up the attack on the elbe river and the baltic sea. montgomery didn't care about this, because he was already satisfied with the results of his troops' rapid breakthrough of the elbe river defense line in the previous month. but on april 3, eisenhower separated the us 9th army from his 21st army, which greatly weakened the 21st army's offensive capability. in order to make up for the impact of the departure of the 9th army on the combat effectiveness of the 21st army, on april 20, eisenhower transferred the us 18th airborne army. the army has three divisions under its command, including the famous 82nd airborne division, the 8th infantry division and the 7th armored division. however, at this time, the unit was in the ruhr area 250 miles away (Ruhr), it will take some time to deploy.

in the code-named operation "enterprise" (Operation Enterprise) was carefully planned as the highlight of the ii corps's offensive across the elbe. the eighth army would storm the river, and after that, the british twelfth army and the u.s. xviii airborne corps would enter the bridgehead and hold it, providing cover for follow-up troops, eventually capturing hamburg, and then clearing resistance in various areas further upstream, covering the flank of the eighth army as it attacked northwards to the baltic coast.

the initial crossing would take place at lauenburg, about 40 miles upstream from hamburg. the first group would be led by the 15th scottish division (15th Scottish Division) and the 1st commando brigade (1st Commando Brigade) troops, which are mainly responsible for establishing a stable landing site on the other side of the river after crossing the river. after building the bridge, the subsequent 11th armored division and the 6th airborne division will also enter the bridgehead position and then attack lübeck. after that, continue to attack eastward. once the 6th airborne division crosses the elbe canal, it will meet with the us 18th airborne corps scheduled to attack the baltic coast.

according to the original plan, the crossing of the elbe river was to begin on april 30 or may 1. however, due to the rapid collapse of the german army on the western front, montgomery moved the date forward to april 28 or 29 on the 26th. for the same reason, the commander of the 18th airborne corps of the us army, ridgway (Ridgway) also said that rather than waiting another six or seven days to cross the british-controlled bridge, it would be better to cross the blackhead bridge 10 miles upstream before sunrise on april 30.Bleckede) cross the river. dempsey agreed with ridgway's plan.

crossing the elbe

at 2 a.m. on april 29, the 8th army's assault began. in the heavy rain, the 1st commando brigade boarded the "buffalo"buffalo, the american lvt series) amphibious armored vehicles, began to force a crossing from the opposite side of lauenburg. at the same time, the 44th brigade was at altrenburg (2 miles west)Artlenburg) began to cross the river. almost immediately afterwards, the 11th corps of engineers, royal engineers (11 AGRE) began to inflate the rubber boats and build a bridge. despite the desperate resistance of the german army, heavy artillery and mortar shells kept falling on the positions, and even several jet bombers bombed the bridge, but in the end, within 9 hours, a 9-level pontoon bridge was built in lauenburg.

figure 3. a group of british "buffalo" amphibious armored vehicles loading bren machine gun vehicles

figure 4. allied armored forces are crossing the pontoon bridge on the elbe river near altrenburg

that night, the 18th airborne corps began its assault at blacked. just before the assault began, ridgway was racking his brains over how to get his troops into position on time. the 8th division had arrived from the ruhr, but was assembled near the lauenburg area close to the british army, ready to execute the order at the beginning; and the 82nd airborne division was not optimistic either. the two battalions of the 505th parachute regiment under its command had arrived at the scheduled departure position, but the rest of the troops, along with the entire 7th division, were still on the way. in order to speed up, ridgway ordered the two battalions of the 82nd airborne division to go directly into battle, and he drew four battalions from the 8th division for reinforcement.

this was a complete gamble, but this time, ridgway won. at 1 a.m. on april 30, the 505th parachute regiment boarded assault boats and established a bridgehead on the opposite bank after crushing the sporadic resistance of the german army. in the next few hours, two groups of u.s. combat assault engineers, the 1130th and 1143rd engineers, began to build a heavy bridge on the bridge. during the day, the germans bombarded the construction site fiercely. although the progress of the project was affected, after 13 hours of construction, the 1,184-foot-long bridge was finally put into use before dark.

almost at the same time, at the british bridgehead, the 8th corps had built a second pontoon bridge at altrenburg. due to traffic congestion and other reasons, the 11th armored division was not able to cross the river until the evening, followed by the 5th division. during this period, the 3rd parachute brigade also crossed the elbe river at lauenburg. however, due to traffic congestion, the brigade could only cross the river in batches, and the tanks were placed at the front. according to ridgway, many paratroopers turned their maroon berets over. since the color of the beret lining was similar to the black beret of the armored soldiers, they crossed the bridge among the armored soldiers. the rest of the 6th airborne division followed closely and took the area east of the bridgehead as planned.

on the following day, may 1, both landing sites were expanded. at blacked, four battalions of the 8th division and reinforcements from the 82nd airborne division attacked the enemy in front of them, and soon the german defenses began to collapse. the 3rd parachute brigade from lauenburg was at boizenburg (Boizenburg) and then moved east. at night, the us artillery continued to bombard boizenburg.

by the end of may 1, the two anglo-american bridgeheads had been extended to a depth of six miles and were connected. other bridges were also being built one after another. the british 7th armored division at gstaadGeesthacht) crossed the river, while the us 7th armored division successfully crossed the river at dalshaw.

on may 2, news came from berlin, which had already been captured, that hitler had committed suicide. as soon as this news came out, the fighting spirit of the german soldiers immediately disappeared. the allied forces advanced all the way, encountering almost no resistance along the way. on this day, the british 7th armored division arrived at the outskirts of hamburg and discussed surrender with the negotiators sent from the city. the 11th armored division captured lübeck with almost no resistance, and the 5th division cleared the remaining german troops in the area behind the 11th division. at the same time, the 82nd airborne division, with the support of a combat team of the us 7th armored division, reached ludwigslust to the east.Ludwigslust), and then followed the elbe river southeast to demitz, and then guarded the right wing of the 21st army on the demarcation line agreed upon by eisenhower and the soviets. as for the us 8th division, it advanced about 45 miles northeast and captured schwerin. at the same time, the royal scots dragoon guards (Royal Scots Greys)'s sherman tanks, the 6th airborne division also cleared the road to wismar.

speed ​​race

although according to the original plan, nigel porter (Nigel Poett) commanded the 5th parachute brigade as the spearhead of the attack, but as the commander of the 3rd parachute brigade, james hill (James Hill) apparently had his own view that his troops would enter wismar first. so, on the morning of may 2, right after the start, the two brigades began to move along different routes towards gadbusch, about 20 miles southwest of wismar.Gadebusch) because there is only one road from this town to wismar, whoever arrives here first will also be the first to reach wismar.

figure 5. hill (first from right) giving a speech to officers of the 1st canadian parachute battalion

to win the competition, brigadier general hill ordered fraser eddyFraser Eadie) led the charge with the 1st canadian paratrooper battalion. eddie also deployed accordingly, ordering stan waters (Stan Waters) commanded b company to take the "sherman" tanks of c squadron of the royal scots dragoon guards as the spearhead of the attack. as eddie later recalled, "i was sitting in my jeep, following stan waters and his tanks. he was from calgary (Calgary), his cowboy instinct prompted him to ride the tank at full speed, and at 9 o'clock in the morning, we arrived at wittenberg. "another canadian paratrooper also had a similar memory: "i never thought that a sherman could go 60 miles per hour. "after wittenberg, the group fought all the way to lutzow (Lutzow), here, the armored soldiers refueled their tanks and continued to accelerate forward. although they encountered a small amount of resistance, the artillery fire of the "sherman" eventually silenced the resistance.

figure 6. soldiers of the 1st canadian parachute battalion waiting to be transported to the french front in june 1944

figure 7. canadian 1st parachute battalion's march to wismar

although the 3rd and 5th paratroopers were blocked by the refugee tide on the road, the 3rd paratroopers won in the end, as british tanks and canadian paratroopers on board roared past the road to gadbusch. the war log of the royal scots dragoons recorded this:

"from this time on, and for the rest of the day, a large stream of german prisoners was moving forward, while we continued to move in the opposite direction. these people were riding in their own vehicles, and there was even a panzer iii tank among them."

figure 8. german prisoner column near wismar

also describing the incident, canadian paratroopers wrote:

"all resistance had collapsed because the germans wanted us to advance as far and as fast as possible. they were counting on us to take more territory, which would leave less for the russians to take. thousands of german soldiers lined the roads and poured into the villages, cheering us on, even though many of them looked like a mob."

after a long march, on the afternoon of may 2, the canadians and scots finally saw the city of wismar at the end of the road, and then they entered this picturesque medieval city. at the roadblocks in the city, they encountered some resistance, but under the attack of the paratroopers of company b and the scottish "sherman", these resistances were also disintegrated. shortly after entering the city, eddie learned from a former canadian prisoner of war who was restored to freedom that the defenders here had retreated. just after crossing wismar, the canadian paratroopers quickly occupied several bridges in the town to the east, and the troops of each company dispersed after that to look for other possible remaining armed personnel. at the port, they found 9 german naval destroyers and 5 submarines. unfortunately, these paratroopers were unable to do anything with the fire sticks at hand, and could only watch them leave the port and go away. but in general, the german army basically did not organize a decent resistance, except for a few tanks against the northern hafeld (Haffeld) of the dornier aircraft factory (Dornier)'s hangar was bombarded.

figure 9. german air force soldiers surrendering to the british 6th airborne division in the city of wismar

the 3rd paratrooper brigade eventually won the competition, and eddie, who had made great contributions to this, was naturally not treated unfairly. he was soon nominated for various honors. on may 20, ridgway personally awarded him a silver star medal (Silver Star）。

when tommy met ivan

by around 3 p.m., the remaining troops of the 3rd parachute brigade also arrived here one after another. the 6th airborne division marched about 40 miles that day, which was also the longest advance of the royal scots dragoon regiment in this war.

about an hour later, while c company of the 1st canadian parachute battalion was guarding the bridge in the town to the east, they encountered the first soviet force to attack here. it was a soviet patrol, an officer and his driver drove over in a jeep. he seemed unaware of the other allied troops until he encountered the roadblock set up by the canadian army. the battalion clerk later wrote, "he was far away from his unit and was surprised when he met us, as this was originally their final destination."

upon learning the news, brigadier general hill immediately sent out the 9th battalion commander napier crookendon.Napier Crookenden) to communicate with the soviet side. in order to facilitate the work, hill also assigned two russian-speaking sergeants to accompany cruckenden. cruckenden and his party took a jeep to the east, carrying a large white flag with them to avoid being mistakenly hit. soon, they met the vanguard of the soviet armored forces. cruckenden explained his identity to them and asked to see their chief officer. while he was talking to the soviet officer through an interpreter, another soviet armored force with infantry had passed them and was heading all the way to wismar. seeing this, cruckenden immediately called the soviet officer to jump into the jeep with him, and then galloped all the way to try to keep up with the troops. after a fast drive, they finally caught up with the team. the soviet officer nervously held his arms and drove the jeep from the trail to try to overtake the tank. finally, when they were already in the suburbs, they finally stopped. and right here, a canadian artillery crew had set up a 17-pound anti-tank gun, with the muzzle pointed at the road ahead.

cruckenden also figured out the origins of the soviet troops in front of him. they were under the command of konstantin rokossovsky (Konstantin Rokossovsky) of the 17th army of the 2nd belorussian front under marshal von der leyen. soon, the soviet officer and cruckenden were taken to the headquarters of the 6th airborne division.