Michael Oliva
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Ronald Spiller, Chair & Advisor
Dr. Dennis Hickey, Member
Dr. Leo Gruber, Member
February 5, 2015
Patton from Birth to Legend
1
“I’m damn glad to be here.” –Gen. George S. Patton Jr.
The name, “Patton” in the American mind is one of a great, heroic general with his
familiar war face, his ivory handled revolvers and shiny helmet. Or his great, vulgar quotes and
speeches and statements, perhaps. Or the most thought of image from the 1970 film, Patton with
George C. Scott in full uniform in front of the American flag. Regardless, when the name Patton
is mentioned, it brings an image into our minds.
In the last seven decades since his death, General Patton has continued to inspire,
fascinate and intrigue the educated public and scholars alike. A great many authors and scholars
have written on Patton’s life, family, beliefs, character, his illness, challenges, achievements,
faults, audacity, his ordeal and his triumph. In addition to these, were his mistakes like slapping
two soldiers in Sicily and failures in his life such as the Hammelburg Raid; all both within and
beyond his control. Also about the culmination of Patton’s military career: The Battle of the
Bulge in December, 1944 and January, 1945.
Ever since his death in December, 1945 there has been many different areas and
discussions among historians as to who Patton was, what influenced him and how he became the
military hero of the Second World War he is today. There is a debate among historians as to
whether or not Patton was assassinated rather than dying of natural causes. This has been the
most recent trend about the death of General Patton among some scholars; mainly Robert K.
Wilcox, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard believe there was a plot conspiracy to assassinate the
general after the war. Most Patton historians as of now have not latched on to this idea, but the
debate continues. More important than his death was his legacy. His legacy to the US military
and to the world: historians Carlo D’Este, Alan Axelod and others address this.
2
This is not a story of General George S. Patton Jr. This is a story of the history of Patton,
the review of the many works written by Patton himself and by others; both during and after his
death. The story of Gen. George S. Patton is the story of fascination with an extraordinary man,
living in a period of American and World History where great changes and reforms took place
and where the entire course of human history had been changed. Or as Vincent Sheean had
written, “The combination of godliness, Virginia ancestry, California birth, great wealth, good
looks and strength, plus a passionate inherited patriotism, started George Smith Patton, Jr., of on
the creation of the half-legendary and half real character that he is today.”1
The Patton Family History
Let us begin at the beginning. The first Patton to come to America was Robert Patton
who had come from Ayrshire in the West of Scotland in 1770. He had married the daughter of
Continental officer Hugh Mercer, who was killed at the Battle of Princeton. According to the
family legend, Mercer was shot several times, clubbed and bayoneted several times before he
finally died. Several generations continued after American Revolution until the American Civil
War. According to Carlo D’Este , the Patton Family glory begins here.2 Ladislas Farargo, Carlo
D’Este, Martin Bluemenson and Alan Axelrod all agree as to Patton’s family history and its
contribution to his character and personality. Each write of Patton’s family and early years in
California and all are in mutual agreement on this part of Patton’s life.
Carlo D’Este, Michael Keane devote considerable length to the men in Patton’s family.
In their cases it is Patton’s father and his maternal grandfather Benjamin Davis Wilson. Keane
describes Patton inherits his grandfather’s, “physical characteristics- height, build and visage as
1
2
Vincent Sheean. “The Patton Legend.” Saturday Evening Post, (June 23, 1945), 9.
Carlo D’Este. Patton: A Genius for War. (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1995),
3
well as his temperament.”3 D’Este focuses mainly on Patton’s father and his father’s influence
on Patton. D’Este and others all overlook one small, but vital part of Patton’s family and that is
Patton’s relationship with his mother.
Farargo devotes little to Patton’s family and early life. In his work, he is focuses on
Patton the man, his challenge (his ordeal) and his success (his triumph). Axelrod focuses even
less than Farargo on Patton’s family, he focuses on Patton and Patton alone, with token mentions
of his family.4 Despite differences in the length of description of Patton’s family, all agree
Patton’s family was a major influence on him; so all the major Patton Historians and biographers
concur on the part of Patton’s family.
Patton’s Birth & Early Life
George S. Patton Jr. (III) was born on November 11, 1885, the son of George S. Patton II
and Ruth Wilson. His younger sister Anne was born two years later. Patton and his family grew
up in Lake Vineyard, just outside Pasadena, CA where the Patton’s and the Wilsons owned
14,000 acres of land. The family later moved to Los Angeles so his father could be nearer to the
family business.5
Both D’Este and Blumenson write similarly about Patton’s early life, as does Axelrod. In
Patton’s early years and beyond, he was closest to his father, who was the most profound
influence in his life. Patton’s second influence was his maternal aunt, Anne Wilson, known as
3
Michael Keane. Patton: Blood, Guts and Prayer. (Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing
Inc., 2012), 19.
4
Alan Axelrod. Patton: A Biography. (New York: Palgrave McMillian, 2006), 9-15.
5
D’Este, 34.
4
“Nannie.”6 Patton was not very close to his mother. There were at times strain on their
relationship, but they remained on good terms with each other for most of their lives.
Robert H. Patton, Gen. Patton’s grandson and family historian also writes of Patton’s
early life and addresses parts of Patton’s life others do not. He writes, Patton’s education for the
first twelve years of his life consisted of reading to him three to four hours a day by his aunt
during the day and by his father at night.7 Books they read to Patton were usually literature that
was likened to their own personal tastes, history and the bible.8
Patton’s Illness: Dyslexia
All through Patton’s life, he was inflicted with the unknown learning disability, Dyslexia:
a learning disability which inhibits the patient’s ability to read and write. The way Patton coped
with this was by memorizing all his lessons and material.9 By that time and beyond, he was
described as an avid reader and constantly writing published works in military journals. The
Road to West Point was to be long, hard and grueling, for Patton and his father especially for
Patton’s father.
VMI & West Point
With no opening appointments at West Point, Patton had been accepted and enrolled at
the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Virginia in 1903. While at VMI, he was
6
Martin Bluemenson. Patton: The Man behind the Legend. (New York: Berkley Books,
1985), 68.
7
Robert H. Patton, The Pattons: A Personal History of an American Family.
(Washington DC: Brassley’s Inc.,1994), 88.
8
Ibid.
9
D’Este, 46-47.
5
reported by the Dean of VMI as a model cadet.10 He was only to remain there for one year.
Papa’s campaign to get his son an appointment to West Point as hard, long and grueling as the
campaigns his son was to undertake. Eventually, Patton passed the required entrance exam for
West Point, received his appointment from Senator Bard and was accepted into West Point as a
Cadet.11
West Point for Patton was by no means easy. The military lifestyle was and is not
something to be adjusted to overnight. His classmates made fun of him, his academic work was
difficult, his dyslexia made his academic work much harder for him. Patton had to study twice as
hard as his classmates in order to make his grades passing. He was forced to repeat his plebe year
for failing mathematics. According to Blumenson, he flunked by less than one point.12 Patton
was to spend five years at West Point. Excelling in all areas of the academy, making his way up
to Cadet Adjutant his senior year, the second-highest position a cadet can receive.
Farargo writes Patton graduated from West Point in 1909 due to Patton having flunked
mathematics, he had to redo his plebe year.13 He adds, the adjustment to the Spartan life of the
army was difficult for Patton.14 While at West Point, he toiled through his studies and did his
best, making his way up to adjutant. Patton graduated 46 out of 103.15 He chose the Cavalry as
his branch of service. He was later assigned to Fort Sheridan, IL not long after.
Patton’s Family
10
Bluemenson, 76.
Bluemenson, 92.
12
Blumenson,
13
Ladislas Farargo. Patton: Ordeal and Triumph. (New York: Dell Publishing Co.,
1963), 60.
14
Ibid.
15
Axelrod, (2006), 24.
11
6
Like all men at the time, he met and fell in love at an early age to a young woman,
Beatrice Banning Ayr, known as “The Belle of Boston.”16 George and Beatrice met in California
in 1902, in their early years and they kept in correspondence from then onward. Their
relationship culminated with their marriage on May 26, 1910 in Massachusetts. Over the course
of their marriage they would have three children: two daughters Beatrice and Ruth Ellen Patton
and a son, George S. Patton IV, born in 1923.17
The Road to WWI
In the years before the outbreak of the First World War, Patton took part in a number of
events, both military and civilian. In 1912, the Olympics were held in Stockholm, Sweden.
Patton was accepted to represent the United States in the modern Pentathlon.18 Events in this
included fencing, pistol shooting, horseback-riding, swimming and long distance running. Events
in Mexico four years later were to give Patton’s career a boost.
The Mexican Punitive Expedition to Mexico was ordered by the United States
Government to send a expeditionary force to Mexico under the command of BG John Pershing
to find and capture the Mexican bandit, Francisco “Poncho” Villa, who had raided the border
town of Columbus, New Mexico on March 9, 1916.19 The punitive expedition to Mexico was
Patton’s first brush with real combat. Patton took part in the expedition only because he was
going as one of Pershing’s aides.20 This campaign was different in several ways. First, the
technology of war had changed so rapidly in this time period the cavalry during this expedition,
16
D’Este, 51.
Axelrod, (2006), 29.
18
Karl F. Hollenbach. Patton: Many Lives, Many Battles. (Virginia Beach, VA: Venture
Inward, 1989), 4.
19
Axelrod, (2006), 38.
20
Hollenbach, 4.
17
7
Patton rode in automobiles and not on horses. The highlight of the expedition for Patton was he
and a group of his men killed a number of Villa’s Lieutenants, including Cardenas. Patton
strapped them to the front of his car and drove back to Pershing’s headquarters. This act earned
Patton the nickname, “Bandito.”21
The expedition to Mexico was an operational failure. The US Army suffered many
mechanical and logistical problems. Most importantly, the army never captured Villa. There
were positive aspects: the army gained experience and training in this expedition, this was to
prove useful when the United States went to war in 1917.
World War I
On April 6, 1917, the United States entered the First World War on the Allied side.
Spiller writes, the story of America in World War I was the story of mobilization and coalition
warfare on a scale few could have imagined.22 It would be almost a year before the American
Expeditionary Force of more than three million men would arrive and be able to fight in combat.
During WWI, the birth of American mechanized warfare and American armor came into
being during this time and Paton was the father of it. He was assigned to command the armored
Tank Corps in France.23 Patton trained the men and established the basis for all of American
armor from this point in time onward. Some historians, particularly D’Este and Axelrod view
Patton as the father of American Armor. He spent the remainder of 1917 and most of 1918
training, maneuvering and retraining.
21
D’Este, 176.
Ronald L. Spiller. “The US Army Since 1900.” A Companion to Military History
Volume II, Edited by James C. Bradford, 360-377. (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 362.
23
Farargo, (1963), 86-87.
22
8
Patton engaged in the Battle of Argonne and the St. Mihel Offensive in September, 1918.
This was Patton’s baptism of fire, according to Steven J. Zaloga.24 He spend very little time at
the front, three days at the front according to Patton’s grandson Robert. He was wounded, saved
by his orderly Joe D’Angelo and taken to a hospital for treatment. According to Shane, Patton
and his tanks penetrated the German lines, then found himself and his tank crews alone. He went
back to the front line to get the infantry moving, called for artillery support and took out a
German pillbox himself, then ran back to his tanks.25 The armistice was signed not long after on
Patton’s 33rd birthday, November 11, 1918.
The Interwar Years
After the end of the First World War, Patton became a very depressed man. He was
demoted back to Capt., then inched back to major. The armored tank corps was discontinued.
The US Army was demobilized and was reduced to its pre-war strength and a reorganization of
the US Army began in 1918 and again in 1920.
Patton spent the next two decades doing mundane and unimportant things. His command
assignments he found boring. He spent the time and days horseback riding, playing polo, going
to parties, drinking too much and writing journal articles in the Army’s publication magazines.26
World War II
On September 1, 1939 Nazi Germany had invaded its eastern neighbor, Poland marking
the beginning of the Second World War. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany two
24
Steven J. Zaloga. George S. Patton: Leadership Strategy Conflict. (Oxford, UK:
Osprey Publishing Ltd, 2010), 12.
25
Shane, “These are the Generals,” 81.
26
Farargo, (1963), 106.
9
days later. President Roosevelt declared American neutrality and kept out of the war for another
two years. On December 7, 1941, the day of infamy, the Japanese struck the US Pacific fleet
base at Pearl Harbor. The United States declared war on Japan the next day. Three days later
Hitler and Mussolini declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941. When Roosevelt
and Churchill met on a war footing, it was agreed that the Allied Powers must defeat Germany
first.
October, 1942, the Allied invasion of North Africa, known as Operation Torch was the
first major allied landing for the United States in the European theater during WWII. Patton was
in command of the Western Task force, assigned to land in Morocco. This operation marked the
beginning of the Patton legend and given the nickname: “Old Blood and Guts.”27 As in the name
Patton would be in the public mind and spirit from this point, till the remainder of the war and
beyond.
Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily was the major allied operation on July 10, 1943.
During the operation, Patton with the command of the Seventh Army had made it his personal
objective to capture and secure Messina; a major port on Sicily, very close to the Italian
mainland.28 He also wanted to gain American prestige and self-respect and took it from his
British rival, FM Bernard Montgomery, whom Patton and Bradley found insulting.29 Ethier notes
Patton wanted a “cheap victory over Montgomery.” He wanted to assert American power in the
Sicily Campaign; so he pushed on doggedly.30 In the end, Patton made it to Messina ahead of
Montgomery by only a few hours. Patton had bestowed the American Army with self-respect
27
Ted Shane, “These are the Generals- Patton.” Saturday Evening Post. (February 6,
1943), 19.
28
Eric Ethier. “Patton Races to Messina.” American History. (April 2001), 40.
29
Ibid.
30
Ethier, 44.
10
and honor for the American people. It showed that the Americans were now major players and
even dominant in the war; not just playing a supporting role in the war.
Patton, as all great men have were flaws and failures. Patton was no different. During the
war, Patton made several costly mistakes that could have ended his military career. The first of
these mistakes were the slapping of two soldiers during the invasion of Sicily in July, 1943.31 For
this, he was made to apologize to his army for this action.
According to Alexander G. Lovelace, despite the initial criticism from all sides; the
media and the public remained supportive of Patton. 32 Most of the writers and journalists during
Patton’s time all wrote their works that were positive. Their true opinions may have been
suppressed due to the conditions and situation of the country in wartime.
Despite the media being supportive of Patton, Patton was criticized heavily for this.
According to Farargo, the first soldier that was slapped, PFC. Charles Kuhl Jr. at the time of the
incident was suffering from a fever of 102 degrees, chronic diarrhea and also had malaria.33 The
story was a tarnish on Patton’s career and he was unsure what would happen to him.
Patton would spend the coming months before the Normandy operation on probation and
involved in Operation Fortitude. The “Germans had rated Patton as the most dangerous general
on the allied side and were keenly interested in his movements.34 The allied command used this
knowledge to their advantage and fooled the Germans into believing a phony invasion was to
31
Province, (1983) 71.
Alexander G. Lovelace. “The Image of a General: The Wartime Relationship between
General George S. Patton Jr. and the American Media.” Journalism History 40, no. 2, (Summer
2014), 113.
33
Farargo, (1963), 318.
34
D’Este, 556.
32
11
occur at Calais with Patton leading the invasion. It was decided before the Normandy invasion;
Patton was to have the command of the US Third Army after the invasion.35
Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. The Americans, British
and Canadians stormed five coastal beaches codenamed: Gold, Sword, Juno, Omaha and Utah.
The landings except for Omaha went according to plan. The airborne forces were airdropped
everywhere, formed mixed units and accomplished most of the original D-Day objectives. Patton
did not take part in the actual invasion, but was given command of the United States Third
Army, which landed in northern France sometime after the D-Day invasion.
Patton and his Third Army had taken part in an operation of Bradley’s making, called
Operation Cobra. This operation was to break the axis defenses in Normandy with aerial
bombing and Patton was to break through the line and race across France.36 In the months after
the allied invasion and the battle of the Bulge, Patton’s advance into France was one of static
advance and idleness. The priority went to Gen. Bernard Montgomery and his British Army
group. Plus, Bradley and Eisenhower, Patton’s superiors were telling him to slow down. Patton
was forced to halt, but he advanced as far as he could, when he could. He and his army faced a
great shortage of fuel for his vehicles. The fuel that would have gone to the Third Army was
being sent to Montgomery’s Army Group. For the next few months, Patton’s army maintained a
static, gradual advance through eastern France until the early winter of 1944, when the Germans
made a counter-offensive.
December 16, 1944: The Battle of the Bulge. Hitler sends the remaining forces of his
western army in a winter offensive to capture the port of Antwerp and in hopes of cutting the
Allies off of its supplies and cause them to enter a separate peace with Germany. The German
35
36
D’Este, 574.
Kenneth Koyen. “General Patton’s Mistake.” Saturday Evening Post. (May 1, 1948), 1.
12
forces numbered 20 divisions, around 200,000 men. Many of these divisions fought at the Battle
of Kursk, eighteen months earlier.37 The central location of the battle was in the Ardennes
Forrest, where Hitler had his victory over France a few years earlier. It was this battle that the
vast majority of writers and historians focus on when writing of Patton. All agree that the Battle
of the Bulge was Patton’s finest hour and Patton’s calling of destiny.
David Zabecki writes that Patton had been gathering intelligence on the German plans
since November 1944. Claiming, “The Germans were up to something to the north opposite the
First Army.”38 Patton was one of the few military commanders to have direct access to Ultra, the
decryption of German code messages, but Patton never relied on Ultra, he relied more on his
intelligence officer, Col. Oscar W. Koch.39 According to Charles M. Province, before the Battle
began, Koch had been receiving messages of German forces building up in Western Germany
and had been transmitting messages to Patton just before the battle. The Americans knew the
Germans were up to something, but they did not know exactly what.40 Then the Germans
attacked on December 16, 1944. Patton and his staff immediately planned a response to the
attack.
Patton’s plan and objective in the Battle of the Bulge was to swing three divisions north
of his advance direction, 90 degrees north to Bastogne to relieve the 101st airborne division
trapped by German forces. He wanted to do this as fast as possible. Ike asked Patton how fast can
he be there, Patton replied he would be there in 48 hours.41 He ordered his division commanders
37
John Nelson Rickard. Advance and Destroy: Patton as Commander in the Bulge.
(Louisville, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2011), 25-26.
38
David T. Zabecki. “The Untold Story of Patton at Bastogne.” World War II,
(November 2007), 32.
39
Ibid.
40
Charles M. Province. The Unknown Patton. (New York: Bonanza Books, 1983), 56.
41
Zabecki, 32.
13
to swing all their forces north to hit the left flank of the German advance.42 The day after
Christmas, Patton’s forces entered Bastogne and relieved the 101st Airborne. Leo Barron’s thesis
is that Patton’s tanks had turned the tide of the Battle of the Bulge and helped force the Germans
back. From then onward, the Americans had the advantage.43 The fighting was to continue until
late January, 1945. Barron equates the Battle of the Bulge to that of Gettysburg and Vicksburg in
the American Civil War, calling the Battle of the Bulge, “a National sacrifice due to the
casualties.”44 After Bastogne, Patton had done his best to follow orders and to continue to fight
the Germans. Province also refutes Monty’s statements on how he had sent forces to and saved
the “unfortunate Americans.”45 By January 23, the German Ardennes Offensive was hopeless
and the Germans began to fall back to their defenses on the River Rhine.46
After the Battle of the Bulge, Patton steamed rolled into Germany. Patton and his army
crossed the Rhine River in March 1945. In a humorous gesture, he urinated in the Rhine River
and told his superiors about it. Patton continued to advance deep into Germany, doing this until
the war in Europe had ended in early May, 1945.
Patton’s second major blunder that took place during WWII was the raid of a POW camp
in to rescue his son-in-law, Col. Waters and other allied POWs. This was the Hammelburg Raid
on March 26, 1945. It was the only failure during Patton’s command of the Third Army during
WWII. Kenneth Koyen writes the Hammelburg Raid was never fully told to the American
people. There was a story in the Saturday Evening Post about the raid at the time, but it gave no
real detail of the raid or why it happened. The facts were “befogged in a top-secret
42
Zabecki, “Patton at Bastogne,” 35.
Leo Barron. Patton at the Battle of the Bulge: How the General’s Tanks turned the
Tide at Bastogne. (New York: NAL Caliber, 2014).
44
Barron, VII.
45
Province, (1983), 57.
46
Ibid.
43
14
environment.”47 This event do-doubt if told t the public would have tarnished Patton’s image
with the media and the people. Nevertheless, the event was quickly forgotten and historians have
mentioned, but largely ignored it or felt it unimportant. In his article, Koyen himself focused on
the men of the raid more than on Patton himself and treats his work as a tribute to the men of the
raid. Keane writes of the raid as well and does so in great detail. Keane writes of the raid as an
event that was spontaneously planned, carried out to the best of the men’s abilities, but did not
go according to plan.48 Koyen and Keane concur on this event in Patton’s career.
With the Hammelburg Raid a minor event in the advance into Germany. Patton and his
army pressed on, advancing all the way to the Czech border. The war ended not long after. The
war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945. The Germans had surrendered. The objective of
Unconditional Surrender was achieved in Europe. With the war in Europe over, what was Patton
to do? According to D’Este, Patton applied to be transferred to the Pacific, but gen. MacArthur
did not want Patton. With his options rapidly dwindling, Patton became the Allied Military
Governor of Bavaria.49
Post War & Patton’s Death
After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the allied powers divided Germany into zones of
occupation. Patton became the military governor of Bavaria. Prior to this, Patton came back to
the United States on a publicity tour. The American people received him with great reverence
and delight. Patton made several speeches in Los Angeles with General James Doolittle. Patton
was called back to Europe where he took over the reins of military government in Bavaria. His
47
Kennth Koyen. “General Patton’s Mistake.” Saturday Evening Post. (May 1, 1948), 18.
Michael Keane. Patton: Blood Guts and Prayer. (Washington DC: Regnery Publishing
Inc., 2012), 130.
49
D’Este,
48
15
ego and “big mouth” had caused the final straw with the press and Eisenhower. Patton had also
refused to let go of the former Nazis who held key positions in his administration of Bavaria. He
was not honoring or enforcing “De-nazification.” This infuriated Eisenhower and the media.50
The fact that the Nazi members were the most qualified people made it difficult for Patton.
Patton had also made the statement to the press that the Nazi Party was a political party not
unlike the Republicans and Democrats in the United States. This statement caused him to be
relieved of the command of the Third Army and was transferred to the Fifteenth Army; which
Patton himself described as “a paper army.”51 Patton became very depressed after this. He was to
command the Fifteenth Army until early December, 1945.
Upon his return from a hunting trip, Patton was driving back to his headquarters one
night; he was scheduled to fly back to the United States the next day. On December 9, 1945 he
was in a low speed car accident, where all men involved but Patton himself were unhurt. He was
taken to the hospital for his injuries, which included a broken neck. Robert K. Wilcox writes,
Patton did not die in a car crash, but was injured in one.52 He was to spend the rest of his days in
the hospital.
On December 21, 1945, Patton died of his injuries. The official cause of death for Gen.
Patton was heart failure. According to Axelrod, Patton had died in his sleep at around 18:00 or
6PM in the evening.53 According to Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, no autopsy of Patton’s
50
CITATION NEEDED.
Ladislas Farargo. The Last Days of Patton. (New York: McGraw Hill Book Company,
1981), 211.
52
Robert K. Wilcox. Target Patton: The Plot to assassinate General George S. Patton.
(Washington DC: Regnery Publishing Inc., 2008), 1.
53
Axelrod (2006), 168-169.
51
16
body was performed.54 He was buried in Hamm, Luxembourg the next day. After Patton’s death
on December 21, 1945, he was laid to rest in Hamm, Luxembourg in the American Military
Cemetery. Buried with those of the Third Army he had commanded in the Battle of the Bulge.
One American soldier, who was a witness to his funeral said later, “Patton didn’t die of an
automobile accident, he died of a broken heart when they took away his army.”55
Keane hints or notes Patton’s possible prediction of his own impending death. He writes
before his return to Europe, Patton visits his two daughters. He says to them casually,
Well I guess this is goodbye. I won’t be seeing you again. Take care of your little
brother, and tell John and Jim [their husbands] to take care of you.’ Both daughters were
shocked. Ruth Ellen rejected the notion that he would not be returning home alive. ‘Oh
come on Daddy, it’s crazy! The war is over.’ Patton replied, ‘Well, my luck is has run
out. Every shell that has struck near me, struck closer each time.’56
Patton felt after the end of the war in Europe, there was nothing he could do, nor did anyone
need him for anything. Keane’s notion only adds more fuel to the debate of the mystery
surrounding Patton’s death.
O’Reilly and Dugard also lend weight to the debate in regards to Patton’s death. They
note that during the Second World War, Patton had made and had many enemies in the USSR,
Great Britain, Germany and the United States. “Patton’s fiery determination to speak the truth
had many powerful men squirming, not only during the war, but after.”57
54
Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard. Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II’s
most audacious General. (New York: Henry Holt and Company LLC, 2014), 2.
55
This source was lost. I apologize greatly for the great inconvenience.
56
Keane, 222.
57
O’Reilly and Dugard, 2.
17
Since his death, there has been a layer of mystery surrounding Patton’s death.58 As we
have seen, mysterious deaths shall always come to give birth to conspiracies. Thoughts of
assassination began immediately after Patton’s death. Several historians have proposed that
George S. Patton was the target for assassination and even murdered. Ladislas Farargo was the
first historian to focus in his second work on Patton, his final days. Farargo in his second work,
Last Days of Patton, he writes of Patton’s final days. He concludes Patton died in his sleep of
natural causes pertaining to his injuries of the car accident.59 He writes that no autopsy was
performed for two reasons. One, there was no qualified pathologist available to perform an
autopsy on Patton at the time. Second, Beatrice Ayr Patton, Patton’s wife given the
circumstances, did not wish to have an autopsy done on her husband.60 For Farargo, Patton was
an ordinary man and he died of natural causes, refuting the arguments of those to come.
Robert K. Wilcox’s thesis on Patton is there was a plot to assassinate Gen. Patton. The
fact that Patton had many enemies both during and after the war makes the argument not very
farfetched. He is not alone in believing General George Patton was assassinated. In his work,
Wilcox writes of a man named Douglas Bazata and several OSS operatives participated in an
effort to assassinate General Patton to silence him because of his criticism of allied military
leaders.61
In addition to Wilcox’s thesis that Patton was the target for assassination, Bill O’Reilly
and Martin Dugard also lend weight to the debate on Patton’s death. They follow the same path
as Wilcox had taken in Patton’s death. They address dubious facts surrounding Patton’s car
58
Ladislas Farargo. The Last Days of Patton. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company,
1981), 1.
59
Farargo, (1981), 293.
Farargo, (1981), 293-294.
61
Wilcox, 25.
60
18
crash. Such as two major witnesses went missing, no criminal charges were ever made and no
accountability was ever reported.62 They argue that a former Army Intelligence officer in 1979
confessed that he planned and participated in the assassination of Gen. George S. Patton.63 Upon
Patton’s death, they argue no autopsy was conducted, he was placed in a casket and buried
immediately after.64 O’Reilly and Dugard conclude Patton was assassinated by a group of
military officials from the major allied powers and willing individuals to carry out the
horrendous act.65
Patton’s death is a mystery. Whether or not he was assassinated or an attempt to
assassinate him was ever made is all a matter of debate and personal conclusion. No one can say
for sure and this author shall make no attempt to try. There is one fact that is clear: Patton had a
lot of enemies, both during and after the war. There were many leaders, both military and
civilian that believed Patton was dangerous and a liability for them. This debate on whether or
not Patton was assassinated or whether there was a plot to assassinate General Patton will
continue and shall be the focal point for the historical debate in the future.
Patton the Man
General George S. Patton Jr. was an extraordinary man, but we must remember that was a
man, a human being like the rest of us. Every writer and historian has described Patton in one
form or another. The foremost Patton biographer, Carlo D’Este calls Patton, “A Genius for
War.”66 No writer or historian has ever refuted this statement.
62
O’Reilly and Dugard, 3.
Ibid.
64
O’Reilly and Dugard, 4.
65
Ibid.
66
D’Este, Prologue.
63
19
Steven J. Zaloga describes Patton as a “military intellectual, an avid student in military
history and a frequent contributor to military journals on a wide range of subjects.” 67
Robert Bly can summon up the whole of Patton the man. Bly writes, Patton was a man
who loved the battlefield, he was a warrior and a soldier.68
Axelrod writes, Patton was a soldier on the model of Julius Caesar, a man who could not
abide in a time of peace.69
Wilcox describes Patton as, “a warrior, military scholar, disciplinarian, and tactician who
achieved the rarest of military accolades: his battlefield enemies so feared him that their first
question in strategy sessions was almost always, ‘Where’s Patton?’”70
Province called Patton, “the best planner in the European theater of operations…his
knowledge of strategy and tactics was, to say the least, equal if not superior to that of any in the
high command such as Eisenhower.”71 Province’s statement on Patton being superior to that of
Eisenhower has caused fiery debate and discussion. What is clear is that Patton had an enormous
presence in the American media that equaled that of Eisenhower.
Vincent Sheean describes Patton in a radio broadcast and said in the interview, “‘Patton
was the most original, the boldest and the most modern talent’ in the field of operations.”72
Patton himself would have the last say if he were here today. Patton called himself, “The
best damn ass-kicker of the United States Army.”73 It is fair to say all historians are in agreement
67
Steven J. Zaloga. George S. Patton: Leadership Strategy Conflict. (Long Island City,
NY: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2010), 56.
68
Robert Bly, Iron John. (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2004), 152.
69
Axelrod (2006), 173.
70
Wilcox, 2.
71
Province, (1983), 61.
72
Hollenbach, 3.
73
Farargo, (1963), 315.
20
since no historian has ever questioned or refuted this. It is true that he disciplined, trained and let
his men to victory in North Africa, Sicily and in Europe.
The Patton Legend & Legacy
Over the past seventy years, there has been great debate and discussion among historians
on the “Patton Legend.” There have been thoughts that he may have been superhuman. The
legend of Patton was born during his lifetime in the media of the time; mainly in the Saturday
Evening Post and other wartime publications. The birth of the Patton Legend began during
WWII, in his lifetime; competing with other great military commanders such as Eisenhower,
Bradley and Montgomery. The media of the time portraying Patton as one of the greatest
generals America had during the war and arguably one of the greatest in American History.
Alexander Lovelace writes, Gen. Patton had emerged from World War II with a public
personality few could equal. He adds that under the image and nickname of “Old Blood and
Guts” was a sensitive, shy and pious man, racked by “self-doubt and depression.”74 Lovelace has
focused on Patton’s relationship with the press and how the press had contributed to the Patton
legend. Lovelace concludes, Patton’s relationship with the press was symbolic, Patton seeing
something to gain from it.75 Gain from it, he did. The media was Farargo disagrees with the
whole Patton legend.
Farargo concludes in 1963, Patton was an extraordinary man at the tactical level.76 He
was not legendary, nor is there any real legend surrounding him. He was both an extraordinary
and complex man living in a time of great conflict. Ladislas Farargo disagrees with the majority
74
Lovelace. “The Image of a General.” 108.
Lovelace, “Image of a General,” 118.
76
Farargo, (1963), 795.
75
21
of the other historians as to Patton as a man of legend. He doesn’t believe in the Patton legend.
He adds, if Patton had not had been born, the world would never had missed him.77 In 1981, with
Farargo’s second book, The Last Days of Patton, he takes a slightly different approach to
Patton’s death, but maintains his original view. Zaloga writes, Farargo wrote his second work,
“to challenge the zany conspiracy theories surrounding the general’s death.”78 It tells us there
conspiracy theories surrounding his death and debate over it was going on even before Wilcox’s
thesis came out in 2012. Even though thoughts of a plot were in debate, nothing was written until
Wilcox’s book. If Farargo wouldn’t have missed Patton, others would.
D’Este and the other major Patton biographers disagree with Farargo. Each took different
paths in their work, but all reached the same conclusion. Patton was a great man on all levels; his
success was universal. Axelrod concurs with D’Este. He writes Patton has transcended from man
into legend and bordering on mythic. He adds, “the mythic Patton all too readily overshadows
the historical Patton, a soldier and a leader of soldiers.”79
D’Este writes, “George S. Patton’s legacy is that he will lie for eternity in the midst of
men who died in what he regarded as a noble calling.”80 Axelrod goes into much more detail of
Patton’s legacy. He focuses more on Patton’s legacy to the US Army and to military
commanders and leaders. According to Axelrod, the central pieces of Patton’s legacy to the
Army are Command Presence, Tactics, the redefinition of Military Professionalism, updating the
“Cavalry Idea,” “Combined Arms Approach,” the Principle of Speed, Training and Leadership.81
77
Farargo, (1963), 795.
Zaloga, 61.
79
Axelrod (2006), 175.
80
D’Este, 804.
81
Axelrod, (2006), 175-183.
78
22
Von Hassel and Breslin write Patton’s main legacy are his military triumphs during WWII and
“as the best combat general the allies had.”82
General George S. Patton Jr. after seven decades continues to fascinate, inspire and awe
the general public, writers and historians alike. Patton was a man of history, where he had made
History and History had made him. Patton himself believed he was destined to be a soldier and to
lead men in battle; just as in all the past lives he had lived. Through his dogged will, courage and
audacity, he became the soldier he felt he was destined to become and through his raw
aggression, great courage, unparalleled audacity and bold action, he lead his army of men into
battle and achieved victory and proved a mighty foe against the enemy. The most feared military
commander of the US Army. This military commander has been and shall continue to be written
about by writers, military commanders and historians for years to come. A note for the future is
the historiography of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. will focus on the mystery and possible
conspiracy theories surrounding his death, as well as the view of General Patton from the
perspectives of his enemies. American historians will always have dominance in the
historiography of Patton; we shall in the future see British, German and other foreign historians
writing works on Patton in the future to come.
82
Augustino Von Hassel and Ed Breslin. Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny. (Nashville, TN:
Thomas Nelson, 2010), 181.
23
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