>>18535044Yesterday, Hero of the Soviet Union, Lieutenant General Zakhvataev, invited the commander of the 3rd American Army, General George Patton, to visit him, whose troops joined our guardsmen in the vicinity of Linz.
Already in the first hour of the meeting of the forward detachments, American soldiers greeted our guardsmen with exclamations of "Stalingrad!", Obviously knowing that they had joined with the fighters who had come to Austria from the banks of the Volga, from the walls of Stalingrad.
Ours answered:
— Normandy! Metz! Munich! Nuremberg! Linz!
The Americans responded:
— Chisinau! Budapest! Vein!
This is how the allied armies got to know each other, naming the fields of famous battles.
Americans and Soviet guards celebrated Victory Day together. American tankers presented our self-propelled gunners with a banner.
On a picturesque forest clearing near the walls of a medieval castle, standing menacingly on a high rock near the Danube, General Patton, our guard of honor, was waiting.
The guest's car approached, escorted by our fighters. Following her were the cars of officers and generals of the headquarters of the 3rd American Army.
At that moment, Marshal Tolbukhin, commander of the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, arrived at the meeting place, which came as a surprise to the guests.
General Patton - gray-haired, tall, with a brilliant bearing of an officer who has not left the ranks for 37 years - greets the guard of honor.
“I have heard a lot about the Red Army,” he says, “but I have never seen its soldiers. This is the first time I've seen you up close. I look into your eyes and understand why you win.
In response to these words, a dashing Russian “cheers” is heard in the alleys of the ancient castle.
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