It's not every day that I go to nytimes.com and find something that'd be of interest to folks here. But this is an opinion piece by David P. Colley, author of a book called Decision at Strasbourg: Ike’s Strategic Mistake to Halt the Sixth Army Group at the Rhine in 1944, which outlines how Lt. Gen Jacob Devers could have crossed the Rhine in 1944, thus potentially shortening the war.
In short, his premise is that Devers' straight-laced, prim personality conflicted with Eisenhower, which is partially the reason why Devers didn't participate in the Normandy landings. Then, when Devers had the temerity to succeed in his Anvil landings on France's southern coast, Eisenhower ordered Devers to halt at the Rhine instead of using his bridging engineers to cross the Rhine and occupy the vacant German pillboxes.
If you're interested in something that would give you a heck of a POD to explore, I recommend checking out the linked article and the book.
In short, his premise is that Devers' straight-laced, prim personality conflicted with Eisenhower, which is partially the reason why Devers didn't participate in the Normandy landings. Then, when Devers had the temerity to succeed in his Anvil landings on France's southern coast, Eisenhower ordered Devers to halt at the Rhine instead of using his bridging engineers to cross the Rhine and occupy the vacant German pillboxes.
If you're interested in something that would give you a heck of a POD to explore, I recommend checking out the linked article and the book.