15 April 1945
Eisenhower’s Order to Halt at the Elbe
The rapid conquest of Germany in April led to a new disagreement in the Allied ranks. British commanders, especially Montgomery, argued that there was now nothing to stop the Allies from sweeping into Berlin, thus seizing the German capital before the advancing Soviet army could get there. Eisenhower, however, had other ideas. On March 28 he sent a message to the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin, informing him that the U.S.-British advance would focus on western Germany, and on April 15 he issued a new set of orders forbidding Allied commanders from crossing the Elbe River. Instead the British were to concentrate on taking the port cities of northern Germany, while U.S. forces were to head south toward the Danube.

Eisenhower’s decision was motivated by two factors. First, he knew that Stalin intended for his own troops to have the honor of capturing the German capital, and Eisenhower was unwilling to risk offending the Soviet leader. Second, he had received word from Allied intelligence that Hitler was planning on making a final stand in the Alps, and therefore wanted to concentrate his forces in the south. In any case, Montgomery was appalled, and to this day Eisenhower’s refusal to take Berlin remains one of the most controversial military decisions of the war.

History:
Central Europe

Campaign Map:
Reduction of Ruhr Pocket and Advance to Elbe and Mulde Rivers, 5-18 April 1945

Personal Accounts:
Rutgers Oral History Archive: Interview with Roy W. Brown
Rutgers Oral History Archive: Interview with Robert Kennedy

Photographs:
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, accompanied by Gen. Omar N. Bradley, and Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., inspects art treasures stolen by Germans and hidden in salt mine in Germany, April 12, 1945
The 90th Division discovered this Reichsbank wealth, SS loot, and Berlin museum paintings that were removed from Berlin to a salt mine in Merkers, Germany, April 15, 1945