Why did Allied forces find so much destruction when they finally reached Germany?
1 Answer
Apart for the destruction caused in main urban areas by aerial bombing the most fanatical units of the German army carried a "scorched earth" campaign to try to slow down the invasion of Germany.
Explanation:
The main German cities such as Berlin, Dresden, Hamburg Frankfurt, Koln and other where regularly visited by day by US and by night by British bombers. This persistent bombing campaign caused huge widespread destruction and most of these cities looked like lunar landscape areas.
On the path of the leading Allied units entering Germany the most fanatical German units (SS mainly) operated to try to damage as much as possible roads, bridges, junctions, ports and any other structure that could help the invading army to get a foothold on their territory.
It is famous the case of the bridge at Remagen (on the Rhine river) that although set to explode remained miraculously intact and was used by the US army to penetrate into German territory.
