Did the Russian army liberate anything but their own lands for the most part? The deciding factor was not the Russian Army but Hitlers move to occupy Russia in 1941.
Just for some reading:
http://www.pattonuncovered.com/html/war.html <-- US Army ordered to halt.
http://www.pattonhq.com/textfiles/resign.html
Quote:
Following Third Army's hard-fought capture of Kassel, western anchor of the Thuringen corridor, Patton was visited by a British general for whom a briefing was staged in Third Army's famed war room. Afterwards, the obviously impressed English visitor asked Patton, "When do you expect to be in Berlin?"
"I can't say. But I can get there in a very short time if permitted."
"General Eisenhower has invited me to dine with him in Berlin after it's taken," boasted the British general.
"That will be very nice," dryly responded Patton. "But one thing is certain: General Eisenhower won't get there unless I get there first--but you don't have to tell him I said that."
When halted on 3 April, to enable U.S. First and Ninth armies to come up on line with the Third, its trip-hammer tank spearheads held positions 20 miles from Leipzig, 30 miles from Dresden, and 10 miles from Czechoslovakia.
At a meeting with General Omar N. Bradley, 12th Army Croup commander, Patton asked, "When do you expect to contact the Russians?"
"That's still uncertain," replied Bradley.
"Just disconnect me with any telephone hookup with SHAEF," urged Patton, "and I'll contact the Russians for you in a few days."
"I'm sure you would," laughed Bradley, but it isn't as simple as that. I wish it were. A lot of high-level politics are involved."
On 17 April, Patton was again given his head and final mission: shift the axis of Third Army's main attack-southeast to gain contact with Soviet forces in the Danube valley, and seize the eastern portion of the so-called "National Redoubt."
That long-reported Nazi stronghold proved to be a myth. Captured documents confirmed that it had been planned, but Patton's crushing victory in the Palatinate, followed by his daring slash across the Rhine and shattering rupture of central Germany, had aborted the Hitler-Himmler scheme to fortify the Alpine region into a last stand bastion.
VE-day found Patton's command post at Regensburg on the Danube, almost in the middle of Third Army's 185-mile front, extending from Karlsbad in Czechoslovakia to the Enns River in central Austria.
The next day, a group of correspondents called on Patton for a press conference. One asked why Third Army had not occupied Prague. Reconnaissance units reached the Czech capital, but bad been withdrawn to Pilsen.
"I'll tell you why we didn't take Prague," said Patton. Tensing, the newsmen readied for a hot story. "We didn't take it," he continued blandly, "because I was ordered not to."
"Who gave that order?"
"Ask SHAEF," smiled Patton. No further questions were asked.
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"promote the general welfare, not provide the general welfare"
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Last edited by Wagner; 01-18-2007 at 08:43 PM.
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