My late father-in-law was in the 102nd (407th Infantry Regiment) stringing communications wire as the 9th Army worked its way east to the Elbe. The son of immigrants, he spoke Ukrainian fluently, which the Army found useful towards the end of the war. He then was "attached" -- hard to say what he meant by that, as he refused to talk much about this part of his service -- to a Soviet unit, to interpret for liaison personnel.

We have a snapshot of him, celebrating with about a dozen smiling U.S. and Soviet soldiers, each resting his arms across the shoulders of the men on either side. On the back of the photo, he wrote that the event was pre-VE Day, at the castle at Heinrichshorst, Angern.

We'd like to learn more about his interaction with the Soviet forces (as I said, HE would never talk about it much, if at all). As a start, I was wondering about the meeting in the photo -- might there be any accessible records to indicate which personnel / units were present for the Americans and the Soviets? Would the Soviet forces in the immediate area have been Belarussian or Ukrainian? Might his service record say anything specific about this part of his service?

I'm a newbie in this area, any help would be much appreciated; thanks.

That´s a hard one, must say.

Hope though that someone can help you here....

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