I agree with Ike’s decision to stop at the Elbe. We had already cut the deal on the partition of Germany. Any American soldier who died between the Elbe and Berlin would have died a meaningless and senseless death over dirt we were not going to keep.
And I have strong suspicion some of those deaths would have been to Soviet artillery fire based on a post I made yesterday or the day before. Again, for what purpose?
The issue is what FDR acquiesced to at Yalta. Once the Yalta deal had been cut, yes, it would have been an exercise in futility for our armies to counter the political decision already made.
My problem is with the political decision leading up to and at Yalta. I think it resulted in the suffering, misery, and death of millions at the hands of Stalin who, if you do a body count, was much more vicious than Hitler.
In my opinion, while not a giant of the 20th Century like Winston Churchill, Ike was very much underrated as both coalition commander and President.
I concur completely. The Allies were blessed to have the leadership we did, none of whom were perfect: FDR, Marshall, Ike, Churchill, and most of the the field commanders. It seems providential to me--imagine the result if our leaders had been misguided or ineffectual.
I had never seen that before. That was a chilling post and I have no reason to dispute it. After millions of Russian deaths, they felt very strongly they had paid in blood for the right to take Berlin.