Why didn't the Allies give the Germans more time to flee?
Why didn't the Allies give the Germans more time to flee?
I understand that in May 1945, the Allies gave Jodl 48 hours for all German armies and submarines to flee to Allied occupation zones. The obvious reasons for this being that Western Allied occupation was better that Soviet occupation. Since the Allied negotiators should have known this, why didn't they give the Germans more time to flee westward? I heard some units didn't make it.
- davethelight
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I don't think the allies would have wanted to let the war go on even a day longer than necessary by that stage, why prolong the death and suffering? And they certainly would not want to do it for the sake of the members of the German armed forces, they would have been right down on the list of priorities.
Re: Why didn't the Allies give the Germans more time to flee
Because they had no sympathy for Germany, the UK just finished almost 6 years of warfare.weiwensg wrote:I understand that in May 1945, the Allies gave Jodl 48 hours for all German armies and submarines to flee to Allied occupation zones. The obvious reasons for this being that Western Allied occupation was better that Soviet occupation. Since the Allied negotiators should have known this, why didn't they give the Germans more time to flee westward? I heard some units didn't make it.
And what do you mean the allies gave Jodl orders to flee to "Western" Allied zones? Can you point to a source for this? USSR was an ally.
I agree with the other replies...why on earth should the Western Allies care less about German armed forces fleeing West. I would imagine if I'd been with the British or the US armies I'd have been only too glad for the Red Army to fight/kill/capture German soldiers. Far less trouble than looking after even more POWs.
Actually the Western Allies gave a lot of Germans time to evacuate to the hands of relative sanctuary of the West, but only the Germans who were valuable to them. There was a reason. The Germans pocessed a lot of equipment that the Western Allies, especially the US, did not want to fall into the hands of the Soviets. Items such as the Type XXI submarine, The ME262 and the Komet etc were all valued items by both "East" and "West". The West didn't want the East to have them. With good reason too. Look at the effect the AK-47 has had on the world. A design taken from the Stg 44. Or the design of the MIG jet series. A design that owes a lot to the Soviet captured ME P1101 or the TA183 fighter concepts.
Tony
Tony