There was physical suffering too. As we know the winter just ending was harsh. The Germans deliberately withheld food from the Dutch still under occupation. The Dutch call it the Hunger Winter.
Yes, I’d read of that. It’s what prompted my inquiry. Surely SHAEF was well aware of it, but I think history vindicates the strategy—they minimized total theater suffering by their single-minded drive to achieve total victory over the German military as rapidly as possible.