Commemorative placard depicting General Blanchard, CINCUSAREUR (R) and Army General Ivanovskiy, CINCGSFG (L) appropriately inscribed “In Commemoration of Our Meetings.”
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On 27 Apr 79, USMLM hosted the annual reception commemorating the meeting of US and Soviet troops on the Elbe River in April 1945, virtually ending organized German resistance in World War II. The evening also recognized the thirty-second anniversary of the signing of the Huebner-Malinin Agreement, establishing USMLM. The course of the evening saw Army General lvanovskiy, CINCGSFG, declare that the Torgau Celebration must, in fact, he held annually so as to bring about increased mutual understanding between the military representatives of the Soviet Union and the United States. That statement agreed with the position of General Blanchard, CINCUSAREUR.
Other US General Officers attending were: LtGen Bellis, Vice CINCUSAFE, MG Haldane, COS USAREUR, MG Atkeson, DCSI USAREUR, MG Benedict, USCOB, and BG Grist, Dep J-3 USEUCOM. Soviet General Officers also included COL GEN Grinkevich, COS GSFG, LTG Yashkin, Dep to CINCGSFG for Opns/Tng, LTG Kushnikov, Chief Engr GSFG, LTG Kudrik, Dep CG 16 Air Army, and MG Vorobey’ev, DCSI GSFG. A total of nine other Soviet officers from HQ GSFG, SERB, and SMLM-F attended.
In special commemoration of the occasion, USMLM provided large pictures of a previous meeting between General Blanchard and Army General Ivanovskiy appropriately inscribed “In Commemoration of Our Meetings.” Both CINC’s signed the pictures, each keeping one as a memento of their five previous meetings.
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