Patton lemented in his memories that he had to slow down to let the Russians gain more ground first. Roosevelt didn't have to allow such a large "Soviet" sphere of influence.
"Roosevelt didn't have to allow such a large "Soviet" sphere of influence."
Exactly. The reason he did, is because he was a huge fan of "Uncle Joe" Stalin.
Even if the decision was made to stick to unconditional surrender and not work with the resistance to take Hitler OUT and Germany on the side of the Western Allies, there was NO reason for American troops to slow down to let the Soviets get to Berlin first; nor to have to backtrack out of areas Americans held in order to comply with the Yalta boundaries.
It is a travesty: the German people welcomed the American conquerers, but were in dread of the Soviet advance. After the war, "German guilt" precluded any wide-spread publicity -- but recent histories show that women in the Soviet occupied East and Berlin were raped repeatedly by the Soviet invaders; some gang-raped; some raped up to thirty times; some committed suicide to avoid further such inhumane violations. Of course, conventional historical wisdom would tell us: they were Germans, so they "deserved" it. Sigh . . .