[Richard T. Eger]

Dear Ed,

It looks like the Allies were trying to reach Prague first. I presume it was a question of postwar control. This isn't my area of expertise, so I don't know whether the division of all captured territories had been pre-decided. Obviously, the Allies raced forward in a number of areas eventually to be overseen by the Soviets, presumably to capture technical war booty, such as the V-2's at Nordhausen.

I have read further in the book regarding Patton's views on the KZ inmates and they weren't America at its finest. Frankly, I was shocked when I read them. These views could easily have played into a less than focused objective in capturing the KZ camps before the inmates were killed off enmass. Apparently, right up to the end, even as the war was clearly lost, some die-hard Nazi's were determined, as best as possible, to exterminate all Jewry within their grasp. The book says, in at least one perpetrator's view, that, if they killed them all off, there would be no postwar evidence of the attrocities, which is patently preposterous. One has to wonder whether the Allies were at all complicit in all this, that is, essentially looking the other way as long as possible. Patton's personal views would certainly suggest this possibility.

Regards,
Richard