Patton (“Old Blood and Guts”) dies on this date (December 21) in 1945, after suffering severe spinal injuries and paralysis in a freak automobile accident that occurred on December 9 near Mannheim, Germany. He was buried Christmas Eve under a simple white cross in a military cemetery in Luxumburg alongside the graves of 6,000 U.S. servicemen, many of whom he led as commander of the U.S. Third Army… Les Lions dans leurs tanières tremblent en le voyant approcher (The lions in their dens tremble at his approach)… The above phrase was inscribed upon a medal, “The Order of Quissam Alaouite,” presented to General George S. Patton by the Sultan of Morocco soon after Patton helped lead allied forces to a successful landing (“Operation Torch”) and victories in the early battles of the North African campaign that began in November of 1942. As a citation it is was certainty fitting – and it reflects the view ultimately developed by most German generals, that Patton was the most capable, fearsome, and aggressive of the battlefield commanders within the Allied ranks… After successful landings and battlefield victories in both North Africa and in Sicily, most within the hierarchy of the Wehrmacht became convinced that Patton would surely spearhead the anticipated Allied invasion of mainland Europe – a mission which Patton’s superiors, for various reasons, were unwilling to place into his hands. Patton, among other things, was considered brash, at times reckless, and was anything but “politically correct.” Colorful, profane, egocentric, and brave to a fault, Patton’s superiors simply did not trust him to lead the invasion forces into Europe. Among other things, they “feared” their inability to “control” Patton once he was turned loose. However, the reputation he had acquired within the German military was not overlooked by the Allied High Command, and using it to their advantage, Patton was selected, as part of an elaborate ruse designed to fool the Germans, to serve as the “figurehead” commander of “FUSAG” (First U.S. Army Group), a completely fictional army the Germans were led to believe would comprise the bulk of the Allied invasion forces… Extremely detailed measures were taken as part of “Operation Quicksilver,” the designation of the campaign to fool the Germans as to the time and place the main invasion forces that were to land in Europe. Among other things, false radio traffic was created, fictional unit patches invented, and a host of other convincing details created, all of which, were carefully “fed” to the Germans over a period of months. It was, without question, the most elaborate and ambitious deception campaign ever devised – a “ghost army,” encompassing the grand illusion it existed with Patton highly “visible” as its leader. The campaign worked like a charm and it helped convince the Germans that the Normandy landings on D-Day were a “feint” and that the “real” invasion would come at Calais and would be led by Patton. As a result, key German forces were kept “in position” waiting for a landing that would never come – and the initial absence of these forces that could have been employed as a counter-attack to the Normandy landings, helped to ensure that the Allies achieved a foothold on the French mainland, from which they could not subsequently be driven… While he was not, much to his disappointment, allowed to lead the invasion of Europe, he was given command of the U.S. Third Army whose forces, among other things, helped secure the defeat of the German armies in the West during the critical “Battle of the Bulge,” a massive surprise counter-attack launched by the Germans December 16, 1944 in the Ardennes region, that caught the allies completely by surprise. Patton’s ability to quickly disengage his forces from their combat positions and pivot them northward in a dramatic and hard driving rush to relieve the beleaguered U.S. forces at Bastogne (who were surrounded by the Germans) not only saved those forces from likely annihilation or capture, but served to drive a pincer deep into the German advance that helped deliver a death blow to their attack that collapsed soon afterwards. As a military maneuver, Patton’s movement of the U.S. Third Army forces proved to be a battlefield and logistical triumph of stunning proportions – and one that could only have been carried out by an inventive, confident and hard-charging figure such as Patton… Patton, a controversial figure, is remembered not only for his successes on the battlefield, but also for a number of controversies and public relations “gaffes” (slapping a soldier suffering from battlefield trauma, and a number of diplomatically unhelpful comments that made it into the press, etc.). Regardless of his faults, this is true about Patton and is what should be remembered most: He drove his men “hard” but with a great deal of “effectiveness.” It is indisputable, that he was an inspirational figure to his men, and his enthusiasm and belief in aggressive tactics helped inspire and achieve important victories for the allies during WWII. Pictured below: 1) Patton as a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute; 2) Patton as an officer under General Pershing during WWI, where he developed an interest in “tank” warfare, from which he later devised the main doctrine of U.S. armored warfare and mobility; 3) Patton in Italy in 1943; and 4) Patton in full-dress regalia wearing all of his assorted allied decorations after the end of hostilities in 1945.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 15:45:49 +0000
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