Berlin capture by Reds called Big Three plan
Americans scheduled to smash redoubt
Saturday, April 21, 1945
WASHINGTON (UP) – The final military plan agreed upon by the Big Three to knock out Germany calls for the Russians to capture Berlin while the Americans take on the tough job of reducing Hitler’s Bavarian redoubt, authoritative military observers believed tonight.
The British forces, in turn, are scheduled to continue north through Hamburg, and probably on to the Luebeck area on the Baltic to cut off Denmark.
This plan would give each county the assignment of cleaning the last fanatical Nazi resistance out of the area of Germany they reportedly will control after the war – Russia, the eastern part of the Reich; United States the south, and Great Britain the industrial northwest.
Americans hold back
It hourly appears more probable the observers said, that the Americans intend to hold back their full strength along the Elbe River line to permit the Reds to capture Berlin.
Such a decision would be based on good tactical principles. If both sides attacked simultaneously under separate leadership, the result might well be tremendous military waste, the observers said.
The function of the U.S. Ninth Army forces along the Elbe, it was believed, will be to prevent Gertman forces there from being turned to the defense of Berlin. But observers here were not looking for any large U.S. gains in this sector in the near future unless German resistance collapses more swiftly than is expected.
Meanwhile, U.S. troops to the south will be regrouped to carry through the Third Army’s thrust toward the Bavarian Alps.
Which task hardest?
Observers were in disagreement as to which would be the more difficult operation – taking Berlin or digging a strong force of, say, 25 divisions out of the Alps.
Berlin, they believe, will prove to be “hundreds of square miles of booby traps.” Even the fact that Berlin has been bombed to a rubble aids the defenders because smashed buildings make good defense positions.
The Bavarian redoubt is in the most rugged section of the Bavarian Alps, extending 200 miles from Lake Constance to Salzburg. The area is nearly 100 miles wide. Its unsurpassed natural defense positions may make it necessary to take the whole area a yard at a time.