Natasha is correct.  Among the agreements reached at Yalta in February
1945 was one that set out areas of advance and zones of occupation for
the Allied armies then about to overrun Germany.  Most of what later
became known as the "Iron Curtain" countries (the term coined by Winston
Churchill in 1946) were in the Soviet zone.  The US First Army stopped
its advance generally along the line of the Elbe River at the end of
April, 1945.  The stop line for Patton's Third Army was set in the area
of the Czech-German border, though some of Patton's troops crossed the
border in early May and advanced to near Pilsen.  Patton later claimed
that his forces could have liberated Prague had he not been restrained.
In any case, when Germany capitulated on May 7, all Allied armies pulled
back to their agreed-on zones.   
 
Dean Bundy, CRM
Naval Research Laboratory

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