It will ultimately be used to justify sending American troops into Bavaria rather than advance on Berlin on a narrow front.
Yeah, it’s a pretty good propaganda diversion when you can divert a Patton.
I’m not so sure the “National Redoubt” wasn’t a convenient excuse. I think the paramount interest Ike had on Berlin was not shedding American blood to capture a city we would have to turn over to the Soviets anyway. Let the Soviets shed their blood.
Plus, I give Ike credit for having a good view of the bigger picture. Every American spared death by calling off the Berlin operation is an American who can die in the Tokyo one.
Not that it mattered that much, since Roosevelt and Eisenhower had already determined that we weren’t going to Berlin.
Maybe it was inevitable, considering the realities on the ground, but it was a reality that led to any German trapped east of the Elbe paying a fearful price. Especially the women.
Maybe they “deserved” it, maybe not. Only God Himself knows that, really.
But I can’t help feeling sorry for them anyway.
Among them was my father, in 20th Armored.