After General Omar Bradley warned , however , that capturing a city located in a region that the Soviets had already received at the Yalta Conference might cost 100,000 casualties , by April 15 Eisenhower ordered all armies to halt when they reached the Elbe and Mulde Rivers , thus immobilizing these spearheads while the war continued for three more weeks . 21st Army Group was then instead ordered to move northeast toward Bremen and Hamburg . While the U.S. Ninth and First Armies held their ground from Magdeburg through Leipzig to western Czechoslovakia , Eisenhower ordered three Allied field armies ( 1st French , and the U.S. Seventh and Third Armies ) into southeastern Germany and Austria . Advancing from northern Italy , the British Eighth Army pushed to the borders of Yugoslavia to defeat the remaining '' Wehrmacht '' elements there . This later caused some friction with the Yugoslav forces , notably around Trieste
Yalta Conference
Yalta Conference
Race to Berlin