Francis ‘Jeep’ Sanza, Patton’s driver in World War II, dies in Napa at 99

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | February 1 2018 | Sam Whiting

[rebelskid]

Lol... he didn’t have a bad word about degualle but did acknowledge that not a lot of people liked him 😁

[rebelskid]

Russians decided to grab the horses... 1st division got there fought for a bit and walked away with horses

[ryderann]

Thank you. In all my studies of WWII, I’ve never seen that he had anything to back up his massive ego. Whenever his name was mentioned, my Swedish mother would make an unpleasant noise that sounded like “ooof”... the worst insult ever.

[SunkenCiv]

Maintaining the initiative against the Reich remained his speciialty throughout. :^)

[colorado tanker]

Marshall's most urgent mission when he was appointed Chief of Staff was to clear out the dead wood that had accumulated in the senior ranks of the Army since WWI and advance leaders for a wartime Army everyone knew would be needed eventually. A young Lt. Col. named Eisenhower made it into Marshall's book.

Still, by the time of the Sicily campaign and planning for Overlord there were not enough officers capable of leading a field army effectively. That's why Ike saved Patton's bacon in Sicily by giving him a reprimand to head off having him ordered home. And Ike surely needed commanders. Hodges has always struck me as a mediocrity. Ike knew he would need a commander who could take the initiative and gain ground in the Normandy Breakout and he surely got that in Patton.

[SunkenCiv]

Marshall had also known he would need Patton and had waived his mandatory retirement, and let him more or less write the book on US armored warfare. In a way, Patton’s getting relieved prior to the invasion of Italy was a godsend to him. The terrain of Italy made the combat brutal and slow, and led to Churchill’s making one of his famous (or infamous) remarks about allied forces there.

Bradley had never got to combat in the first world war, though he sought it. He had a great head for logistics, and imho was more like a grocer than a general. He was competent, but only just. His most important quality was getting along with Ike and staying clear of as much risk as possible. In the movie “Patton” I thought Karl Malden for Bradley was particularly apropos casting, given his holier-than-thou approach to other characters KM had played.

diary entry:

https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/wc-trans215.html

NYT obit:

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1111.html

[dfwgator]

I also think having Patton serve as a decoy, went a long way towards fooling the Germans as to where the main invasion was going to be on D-Day.

[SunkenCiv]

After the war started, the allies' greatest asset was having Hitler in charge on the other side. :^) British intelligence built Double Cross, had the Man Who Never Was, and kept up the successful flim flam for years. Of course, the whole crap pile was riddled with Soviet-serving traitors, but for the years of the war they were on the same side anyway.

[colorado tanker]

Patton was assured there would be no reporters present at the Knutsford ceremony and speech. The persistent rumor to this day is that British intelligence leaked the speech to the media to reinforce the FUSAG deception operation. If so, what they did not appreciate is that the American left would erupt in fury at the omission of their glorious Soviet comrades.

[colorado tanker]

In commanding 12th Army Group Bradley was more of a diplomat than strategist. But by the end of 1944 even he was fed up with Montgomery.

[yarddog]

I think Montgomery is under rated, especially in the U.S.

The Germans typically rated him and Patton as the best Allied generals. Montgomery, Patton and MacArthur were all in heavy combat in WWI. Montgomery was shot through the body by a sniper. Eisenhower never saw combat.

After a year of recuperation he rejoined his outfit although he could have just sat out the rest of the war.