Patton in Berlin

I have frequently been told that General Patton and the western Allies could have pushed towards Berlin and captured it before the Soviets, but that Patton was stopped by Eisenhower. Is there any truth to this claim? Could the western allies actually have reached Berlin before the USSR without too high casualties? I've heard people argue both sides.
 
I have frequently been told that General Patton and the western Allies could have pushed towards Berlin and captured it before the Soviets, but that Patton was stopped by Eisenhower. Is there any truth to this claim? Could the western allies actually have reached Berlin before the USSR without too high casualties? I've heard people argue both sides.

My basic understanding is that it was possible, certainly (the Germans weren't about to stop them) but it would have been very bloody (look at the OTL attack from the East) and would have broken an agreement with Stalin that the Soviets would get to take the city. Remember occupation zones had already been agreed in principle, so FDR (naively or otherwise) and Truman (for when he was dead) and Eisenhower saw no need to waste American lives when Berlin would be fairly divided during the occupation anyway.

So yes, they could have, but the decision was taken, ironically enough, to keep Stalin happy. And above all, why spend 100,000 American and Commonwealth lives on a city that the Red Army will give you half of when they're done bleeding for it?
 
Patton got stopped at the Moselle River and before Metz.

At the Moselle River he got stopped due to his complete refusal to even pay half a mind to logistics and after running out of fuel and failing to steal any more feul meant for Hodges he simply couldn't go any further on.

Before Metz he rubbished the defences of the city then attacked it with no plan and no preparation on a wide front in peicemeal fashion and got cought up in a three or four month meantgrinder where he only achieved any objective when the Germans withdrew.

Beyond those two moments the simple fact is that Patton was never going to be sent to Berlin. The line of advance for the 3rd Army was never leading it to the German capital. Hodges' 1st US Army and Dempsey's 2nd British Army were the two advancing along that line, and Simpson's 9th US Army joined them. Patton was always being sent towards Austria.

And the Western Allied Army most likely to reach Berlin before the Soviets was Simpson's 9th US Army before it was transfered from 21st Army Group back to 12th Army Group and delayed in its advance by duties in clearing up the Rhur Pocket.
 

Cook

Banned
Patton was always being sent towards Austria.
The 3rd Army’s objective was Prague in Czechoslovakia. Patton reached Plzen, less than 100km from Prague when he was ordered to halt by Eisenhower and redirected south against Austria and the Bavarian Redoubt.
 
The 3rd Army’s objective was Prague in Czechoslovakia. Patton reached Plzen, less than 100km from Prague when he was ordered to halt by Eisenhower and redirected south against Austria and the Bavarian Redoubt.

But still the fact remains that he was never being sent to Berlin.
 
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