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7. The Russians, and VE-Day
Contact with the Red Army and the end of the fighting – these were two occurrences so long
anticipated, so much discussed, that when they finally happened practically together even their
cumulative effect was anti-climactic.
XII Corps Headquarters and divisional liaison planes had been scouting boldly ahead of the
ground forces for some time, hoping to sight some Russian activity. Rumors of Russian tactical aircraft
deep within our lines had been running around with the usual cheerful irresponsibility of such reports;
the Patton Legend picked up a new angle when it was said that the general himself had been shot at in
error by a Russian plane while flying over Nurnberg in an L-5. But few if any XII Corps personnel could
be found to swear to firsthand observation of a red star on the wing of a plane.
The conscious race of various XII Corps units to be first to meet the Russians had been going on
for a couple of weeks, hampered only by restraining lines and stop-movement orders from higher
authority. At one time, with the 11th Armored Division jammed up against its restraining line in Austria,
it looked as though the Corps forces advancing freely into Czechoslovakia would make the first contact.
But these too, ran into a Third Army restraining line on 6 May,* and it was a patrol from the 11th
Armored Division that represented XII Corps and Third Army in their first meeting with Marshall
Stalin's legions.
Details of the contact with Red Army units probing westward from Vienna are quoted from 11th
Armored Division's I & E pamphlet history:
"At 1550, 8 May, Troop A, 41st (Cavalry Squadron) commanded by Lt Kedar B Collins, Albany,
Georgia, met a patrol of the Soviet Seventh Guards Division first unit of the Third Army to link up with
the Red Army.
"The meeting took place in the midst of battle. The Soviet patrol of seven tanks was following
the trail of its planes to strafing and bombing a German column of SS Panzer troops. In the face of the
Soviet advance, the American patrol, consisting of an armored car and three peeps, was almost taken
under fire.
"Sgt John L. Brady, riding in the lead jeep, leaped up and shouted: 'We are Americans!' Lt Gene
Allenson, Coral Gables, Florida, and Lt Richard L Lucas, Mount Carmel, Illinois, shot up flares to
identify their nationality. The Red Army troops replied with their flares and jumped out to join the
Americans. First Yank to meet the Soviet patrol was T/4 Frank H Johnson, Reno, Nevada, who was
greeted by Lt Fyedor A Kiseyev. T/Sgt Clarence L Barts, Chicago, at the time of the meeting, was
mistaken for a German. The Red Army soldiers demanded his pistol. When they learned he was an
American, they hugged and kissed them.
"Others who took part in the historic junction of the victorious armies were Cpl Theodore
Barton, Brisbane Australia, a released PW who acted as interpreter; Pfc Robert P Venderhagen, East
Detroit, Michigan, T/Sgt Joseph P McTighe, Louisville, Kentucky, Cpl Will Richmond, Trenton, New
Jersey, Pfc Michael Tancrati, Springfield, Massachusetts, Sgt Marvin H Estes, Montrose, Colorado, T/5
Andrew Florey, Medford, Oregon.