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.
Yep.
That's an excellent point I've often pondered. It was disappointing to the troops, but by this time a lot are thinking they just might live through this war. Even if we took land in what had been earmarked the Soviet zone, Roosevelt and Churchill would not have attempted to renegotiate the Yalta settlement.
Even so, there were other compensations. One of my favorite scenes in Band of Brothers is sitting on Hitler's patio drinking Goering's liquor.