What if the Western Allies liberated Prague and Bohemia first, what changes politically postwar for Czechoslovakia?

[raharris1973]

What if the Western Allies liberated Prague and at least the Bohemian provinces of Czechoslovakia before the Soviets arrived there, with the Soviets only arriving first in Slovakia and the Moravian provinces?

Or what if the Western Allies liberated the Bohemian and Moravian provinces with the Soviets arriving first only in Slovakia?

1st of all, before somebody pipes up as the obtuse smart-ass who says, "the westerners would never bother doing that, all the spheres of influence were diplomatically agreed before the armies were marched in to place" I have to preempt that line of argument by saying - those spheres were decided before spring 1945, but they weren't set in stone before the winter of 1944, so have some flexibility in your imagination to allow subtle earlier changes allow this to happen.

Will the postwar Czechoslovakian government still go through with the Benes decrees expelling ethnic Germans? If so, would it soften them in any way? Would the western powers interfere or protest?

Will the Communists still win the plurality of government seats, control of the Army and Interior Ministry and Police, and thus be positioned to launch a successful coup for total power over over the state in the late 1940s?

Or will Czechoslovakia remain a multiparty democracy, a participant in the Marshall Plan, either neutral, or western aligned in the Cold War?

 

[stevep]

What if the Western Allies liberated Prague and at least the Bohemian provinces of Czechoslovakia before the Soviets arrived there, with the Soviets only arriving first in Slovakia and the Moravian provinces?

Or what if the Western Allies liberated the Bohemian and Moravian provinces with the Soviets arriving first only in Slovakia?

1st of all, before somebody pipes up as the obtuse smart-ass who says, "the westerners would never bother doing that, all the spheres of influence were diplomatically agreed before the armies were marched in to place" I have to preempt that line of argument by saying - those spheres were decided before spring 1945, but they weren't set in stone before the winter of 1944, so have some flexibility in your imagination to allow subtle earlier changes allow this to happen.

Will the postwar Czechoslovakian government still go through with the Benes decrees expelling ethnic Germans? If so, would it soften them in any way? Would the western powers interfere or protest?

Will the Communists still win the plurality of government seats, control of the Army and Interior Ministry and Police, and thus be positioned to launch a successful coup for total power over over the state in the late 1940s?

Or will Czechoslovakia remain a multiparty democracy, a participant in the Marshall Plan, either neutral, or western aligned in the Cold War?

If for whatever reason the western allies got pretty much all of Bohemia 1st and for some reason didn't have to withdraw, as they did from parts of the reason OTL I think they would stay there and it would survive as a democratic state. Its definitely going to be a primary target in the following cold war however but ironically makes the defence of western Germany a lot easier. Possibly as a result there might be a drive for neutrality for Bohemia/Czechia whatever you call it. Making it somewhat like Austria.

Suspect most of the Germans would be expelled although could be wrong here.