Eisenhower and the Fall of Berlin
The Fall of berlin also saw the rise of myths surrounding supreme commander Dwight D. Eisenhower and sparked a conversation about his competence as a military strategist. In his book Ambrose addresses several of these myths and explains how they are not only not factual but an unfair assessment as a whole. One myth the book focuses heavily on is Eisenhower's refusal to take Berlin because he was to cautious which led to the russians eventually taking it, causing cold war tensions for years to come. However after reading through Ambrose's book I would have to agree that this myth is just that, a myth.
The first part of this myth to address is that if Eisenhower was overly cautious in his planning and strategizing
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The Truth is, Eisenhower didn't need to take berlin, as his plans focused on ending the war as soon as possible.3 Both US and British soldiers and civilians alike were tired of war and just wanted an end to it, and invading berlin would only postpone that and cost unnecessary American lives.3 He instead Kept his armies spread across the front, causing the germans to stay dispersed, and when more US forces linked up behind them from the south of france, Eisenhower effectively took out 200,000 german soldiers from the war without a fight.1 Meanwhile The Russians saw over 100,000 casualties while taking the city, only to give half of it to the allies two months later who had not lost a single life fighting for it.4 Eisenhower knew that no mater who took berlin, It would be split among the allies any way, so instead of rushing in for the glory he wanted to make sure the war ended as quickly as possible with as few US casualties as possible. It's as general Smith said “instead of wasting time and lives on ruined berlin, the allies had put an end to all german resistance in thirty three climactic days by the only means the nazis would accept. This... last great decision by the supreme commander insured the destruction of hitler's armies in the west.”