I do quite a lot of reading about WW2. There more than a hint of evidence that the western allies could have got to Berlin before the soviets but chose not to for political reasons. One being that the soviets would be faced with doing the dirty work in in decapitating national socialism and also cleaning up the mess that the allied bombing had caused. The soviets actually used ruthless methods in the clean up process in that the best rations were given to the people who were physically able to do the clearing up work with lower rations given to the elderly and disabled. All things that the other allies might have found difficult to do. Of course the other issue were the fanatical nazis who had to be dealt with and have 12 years of brainwashing removed, what better cure than wash our hands of it and let the soviets sort that out?