Why?
“October 1944 .... hesitating command of the Americans and the French…” Later he said “Within my zone, the Americans never once exploited a success.”
Wasn’t that about the time the 3Rd Army was running out of fuel?
Patton was the real deal and the Germans knew it. He only had a couple of minor foul ups. He sent a way too small column to capture the prison camp his Son-in-Law was in. The whole effort was a foul up from the get go.
Also Patton was held up a little longer than he though he would be at Metz.
I have seen an interview with a German General, I can’t be sure if it was Von Rundstedt but he was in an English prison at the time. He was asked who were the best Allied generals and he simply said Patton and Montgomery. Who he thought were the least effective were Bradley and Clarke.
Our major contribution to the European War was supplying the Red Army with the transport to out run the German Army to Berlin. Strategically our overall plan was sound, we would have been in a cul-de-sac in Nothern France if we invaded there before 1944. Late 1942 and 1943 we, with the Brits, cleared the Mediterranean front, knocking out Italy. creating a 3rd front there.
We were careful after D-Day for the reason that the Germans had interior supply advantage despite air superiority. Patton may have been correct that he could have punched passed the German west wall in September, but he still would have exposed the flank has the northern front was stuck. (The Bridge Too Far put paid to any more daring thrusts for the duration.)
But it was a political blunder that the Western Allies didn't press on in Germany and move farther East when it was wide open in April to create a military accomplished fact given Stalin reneging on earlier agreements.
One of Patton's major accomplishments with his so-called authoritarian leadership style, was that his Third Army suffered the lowest rate of casualties of any unit of similar size and combat engagement.
His "authoritarian" training, expectations and discipline saved lives and as one survivor of Bastogne told me personally they were all really glad to see Patton when they were relieved.. He never knew or mentioned anybody else. And he didn't get Patton's name from the Sunday papers or the movies, like this joker.
I have to ask, where are you going with this post? I mean it’s interesting, but there must be an agenda here.....which is fine....just wondering what it is.
Where did this garbage come from. What is the Chieftians Website?
Looks like a place for kiddies to play study of war and buy video games.
My father was attached to Patch’s Army and the 3rd Army and was camped accross a lake from Patton’s headquarters. His impression of Patton was not from some history book he was there and saw him regulary. Near Bad Tolz Germany & Bad Wiessee Germany.
He to this day has nothing bad to say about the “bull” Patton. And nothing good to say about the arrogant “Monty”.
At 19 my father carried a M1 across parts of Europe. He was an armorer, worked on Quad 50’s and Bofors.
At 87 he is still a tough cookie. We talk daily about the insanity of the Commie B_tards who are taking over our nation. The fire is still in his belly and his eye.
I can assure you that he would straighten you out about what George Patton WAS.
I believe that some folks would make the case that Patton basically used blitzkrieg tactics — and that he did blitzkrieg better than the Germans did blitzkrieg. Perhaps some Germans didn’t like to admit that.
One thing Patton did which I have not seen reported very much is he worked his staff extremely hard. He would make them produce a complete set of battle plans for 3 or 4 different scenarios.
Then when the combat began he already would have made provision for what happened and how to respond.
Excellent Post!!
I call bs. Monty was done in North Africa until he got our Shermans. When he did, he just frontally assaulted what was left of the Afrika Corps.
After D Day, Monty’s troops couldn’t keep up with the American advance either. Montgomery was a diva. As bad as MacArthur in the Pacific.
We went into France in June, 1944. By April, 1945 it was over. Less than a year. There was no hesitation on the part of the U. S. forces.
There are so many things wrong with the statements of the author of the article, it is hard to know where to begin with the debunking. Suffice it to note the whole them amounts to no more than a heap of stinking revisionist crap the author should be ashamed of presenting to the public. Contrary to the outrageous falsehoods of the author, Patton was very well known to the German Wehrmacht. In addition to his debut role as the American tank commander in the First World War, German panzer tacticians such as Guderian studied Patton’s books and other information on tank warfare and integrated the information into their own tactics used in CASE YELLOW and later in the early part of the Second World War.
The author also wrongly assumes the German general must have been talking about Patton’s Third Army, instead of the Seventh Army.
Excellent...most excellent. Thank You.
My neighbor served with General Patton, and has a couple of photos of the two of them.
I think what most concerned the Germans about Monty was the fact that his Army Group was fighting on the Northern European Plain, while Patton and the other American Armies were on the Allied right fighting over the rougher terrain of the interior. While having Patton on the right flank spearheading the breakout from Normandy was effective, it led to Third Army being in a bad position for leading the way to Berlin. If I were a German general, I would be more concerned with the forces on the flat ground closest to my capitol than the ones in the south where the natural and man-made obstacles were greater. I have wondered what would have happened if Eisenhower had been able to somehow shift Patton to the north so that Third Army would have had better terrain for rapid movements with armored formations. “What if” scenarios like that will keep armchair generals occupied for centuries.