Daily LIFT #1674

American soldiers swim across the Elbe to greet their Soviet allies. A still from the 1949 Soviet film "Meeting on the Elbe". -- Daily LIFT #1674

From the Soviet Press, 1949:

The Soviet film Meeting on the Elbe, which was released last spring, has had a significantly enthusiastic welcome from the press and public wherever it has been shown throughout the Soviet Union.

 Its reception is significant as the film is a call for peace and friendship between the peoples of the USSR and the United States. The audience’s reaction mirrors the feeling of the Soviet people.

The film opens with the offensive of Soviet troops on German territory in the spring of 1945. As Soviet Army units enter the town of Altenstadt, the River Elbe, flowing through the city, is seen. On the opposite bank, American troops appear.

The scene is historically accurate, portraying the meeting of the two allied armies as soldiers of both forces cheer and embrace. Some of the American soldiers swim across the river to greet their Soviet comrades-in-arms. Americans and Russians dance together on the banks. The scene is one of great happiness and friendship.

The common folk everywhere expected a quick and enduring peace when this historic junction of the two armies was effected. The soldiers expected it, and so, in the film, did Major Hill, an American officer and one of the principal characters in the picture.

The film shows, however, that those in the United States who prefer war to peace were already at work.