Breakout of the Gothic line

Tomcat · #1 (**permalink**) February 21st, 2008, 11:33 AM

OK what if the allies in Italy had broken straight through the gothic line, not giving the Germans time to retreat and dig in again and again but went straight through, do you think that the allies there could have reached Berlin before the soviets or would the Austrian alps have held them back from entering Germany

Hufflepuff · #2 (**permalink**) February 21st, 2008, 12:44 PM

I personally think that if the Gothic line was overrun as you said then the German army would have been effectively beaten in Italy, but there would have been little impact on reaching Berlin. It may have had an impact on the Yalta conference, where the Allies discussed the sharing of the breakup of Nazi Germany. The Americans would have liberated more territory for sure, so the Soviet Zone of occupation (later known as the iron curtain) would have been smaller. Militaristically though, I think the alps would have hindered the Allies' advance on Berlin from the south too greatly for them to take Berlin.

Tomcat · #3 (**permalink**) February 21st, 2008, 07:07 PM

Yeah I was think all the same lines about the alps

tikilal · #4 (**permalink**) February 24th, 2008, 01:46 AM

The supply and movement in Italy would not have supported such and advance and the reason that they did halt at the Gothic line was supply based. There is no soft underbelly in the Med. Look at how much the units in Italy moved in the last months of the war against almost no resistance, the terrain was the inhibitor.