Re: Patton's tactical genius:
Then how do you explain the near-disaster of the failed attempts to take the Brittany ports by Pattons forces?
Bradley has been blamed time and agin for the lack of progress on this front, but Patton was the Army commander and he didn't seem to show his usuall dash and drive over these objectives.
How would you explain the near-debacles at Metz and Verdun?
The truth is that Patton had eyes for only one prize: the Rhine. All of his "genius" was resevred for that objective alone to the detriment of his overall mission. Thousands of Allied soldiers died because of his fixation. the Allied supply situatio post-Normandy was exacerbated by patton's inability to take the Brittany ports, and was all the ammunition Montgomery needed to push his plan to take Antwerp (similarly unsuccessful, initially).
Patton fixated on the Rhine because that's where the glory was. As a strategic thinker, he was guided by his ego, not the realities of the battlefield.
What problems in Brittany? Patton was ordered to divert westward toward retreating German forces.
You seem oblivious to the fact that the Third Army came into existence only in early August and by the end of the month, it was denied gasoline as it sputtered to a halt in Lorraine - nevermind Metz.
The Third Army had to rethread metric sparkplugs as its supplies were being diverted to aliied forces to the North.
And he was ordered to cross the Rhine (finally) without the heavy support provided to the North.
And he was dazzingly successful.