Capture of Berlin won’t end war
2 or 3 more months of fighting predicted
By Boyd Lewis, United Press staff writer
Saturday, April 21, 1945
PARIS, France – The fall of Berlin and a junction between the eastern and western Allies will not mean the end of the European war.
V-E Day – which may not come until autumn – will be reached only after many more men have been killed or wounded in crushing the last German resistance on the continent.
The speed with which Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s armies reached their present positions seems to have caused some misunderstanding. It is unfair to troops in the field to expect that the war is nearly over and that only a few weeks of minor operations still remain ahead.
Without denying Gen. Eisenhower’s statement that the German Army has been whipped, responsible quarters pointed out today that there are still major operations ahead.
Before all resistance is ended, the Allies must smash the tough northern and southern redoubt areas; Denmark and Norway must be liberated; substantial German forces in Italy must be crushed; Berlin must be hammered down and the last fanatic within it killed or captured; the biggest and toughest German army still in existence – that opposing the Russians – must be cut to pieces and prevented from getting into any redoubt; and finally the grand assault on the southern or Alpine main redoubt must be pushed to a conclusion.
In my opinion, all that will not be a matter of weeks. I believe it will take at the very least two to three months, and some fighting may well stretch into the late summer or autumn.
The job will be done, but lots of men are going to be killed or wounded doing it.
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.