In a surge of enthusiasm, General Patton crossed the Rhine on March 22, 1945, getting the jump on Lord Montgomery of the British forces, and once across, he began what was meant to be the dash to Berlin. The Allied High Command got on the horn and said, “STOP! STOP!”, so Patton halted this swift advance, but he also vowed to smash all his radios and proceed unilaterally right into Berlin. This hesitation assured that the Soviet Army would reach Berlin first, but had Patton beaten their advance, East Germany never would have happened as a separate nation from West Germany,
Patton’s backup plan was to rearm the captured and surrendered German soldiers, and now supported with the US logistics, they would lead the march to Moscow.
It might have worked. The Soviet Union was never that much of an ally of the US anyway.
> had Patton beaten their advance [to Berlin], East Germany never would have happened as a separate nation from West Germany <
That’s is an interesting scenario, but I don’t think it could have actually happened. Had Patton captured Berlin, he would have been ordered to withdraw. And he would have been replaced had he disobeyed.
Europe was pretty much carved up by then. And Berlin was not to be in the American sphere of influence.
It is worth noting that it was the Red Army that captured Vienna in April of 1945, after a very brutal fight. But Austria was not to be in the Soviet sphere of influence. So the Red Army withdrew.
Not sure if that would have worked, we were in Czechoslovakia, but had to get out and let the Soviets in.
Even half of Austria was occupied by the Soviets, until Austria agreed to be neutral and not join NATO.