THEATER.
Patton, George S., Jr. (1885-1945) general in World War II
George Smith Patton, Jr., was one of the most charismatic, effective, and controversial military leaders in American history. An active promoter of armored warfare in the 1920s and 1930s, he became famous for his aggressive and successful generalship of American armies in the World War II European theater.
George Patton was born in San Gabriel, California, on November 11, 1885, and educated at the Virginia Military Institute and the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which he graduated in 1909. In World War I, Patton served in the infant American Tank Corps, leading an American tank brigade. During the interwar period, he served in various commands and continued his professional development by attending military schools such as the Army War College where he was a leader in promoting and developing armored warfare and tactics. In 1932, Patton took part in dispersing the Bonus Army of World War I veterans that came to Washington, D. C., seeking assistance from the government during the Great Depression.
After an important role in the invasion of Morocco during the North Aerican campaign, Patton was given command of the U. S. Seventh Army in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. Visiting wounded soldiers during an inspection tour of local military hospitals, he slapped two soldiers suffering from battle fatigue because he felt they were malingering cowards. General Dwight D. Eisenhower temporarily removed Patton from command and directed him to apologize for his actions. When the incident was made public in the United States, Patton was removed from consideration for command of the Fifth Army in Italy, and it took Eisenhower’s influence to keep Patton in the war at all.
Patton was sent to England to take command of the Third Army, which went into France after the invasion oe Normandy. With the opportunity to restore his name, Patton conducted an astonishingly rapid advance of his mechanized forces across France that continued into Germany through the vital Saar region. Producing one of the most impressive advances in the history of warfare, Patton’s aggressive leadership also helped Allied forces turn the tide at the Battle oe the Bulge. He was promoted to full general in 1945.
At the conclusion of the war, Patton was appointed as the military governor of Bavaria but was relieved of command in October 1945 because of his leniency in the denazification of German officials and his hostile attitude toward the Soviet Union. In December, he was involved in a serious car accident, and he died later in the month.
See also tanks.
Further reading: Martin Blumenson, Patton: The Man behind the Legend, 1885-1945 (New York: Morrow, 1985); Ladislas Farago, Patton: Ordeal and Triumph (New York: Van Obolensky, 1963).
—George Michel Curry
World History
