10 Interesting Facts On The Race To Berlin

10 Interesting Facts On The Race To Berlin

Maria - July 20, 2016

9. Agreement on How to Seize Berlin

10 Interesting Facts On The Race To Berlin

It was equally important for the Western Bloc to capture the German capital of Berlin as it was to the Eastern Bloc. The achievement would have a huge political and symbolic importance to either of the groups. While Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union wanted his forces to carry out the exercise, Winston Churchill had the intention of stopping them.

Regardless of these differences, America’s General Eisenhower led the Capitalists to recognize they had more to gain by allowing Stalin to carry on with the plan; and they agreed to cooperate with him. The two groups, therefore, agreed on how they would execute the mission and settled on where their forces would converge near Dresden. The Soviet Union planned to put the attack on hold until May.

An earlier agreement with the Soviet was to let them have Berlin. If the US and its allies marched into this German capital, they would still hand it over to the Soviets in honor of their earlier agreement. According to General Eisenhower, Berlin was a political objective and not a military one as it was not worth the casualties that would come with it.

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