General George S. Patton Jr. (1885-1945) was one of the U.S. military’s most illustrious commanders during the Second World War.
General Patton was born to a military family on November 11th, 1885, at Lake Vineyard, California. His family’s military connections stretched back to the American Revolution. Both his grandfather and father attended the Virginia Military Institute.
Patton would follow suit, and after completing the daunting “Ratline” the first year, he transferred to the more genteel U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was commissioned as a cavalry officer in 1909.
Patton first saw combat as an aide to General John J. Pershing during the 1916 expedition against Pancho Villa. On May 14th, 1916, Patton led the United States’ first motorized engagement, involving three scout cars at the battle of San Miguelito, where several of Villa’s lieutenants were captured.
Patton’s conduct during the First World War was exemplary. He organized and led the 304th Tank Brigade and was involved in the St. Mihiel Offensive in September 1918, where he was wounded in the thigh by a German machine gun while guiding his tanks down a road. He returned to battle at the Meuse-Argonne Offensive which ended the war in November 1918.
In the years between the first and the second world wars, Patton and his wife, Beatrice, started their family, and he became a leading cavalry and armored theorist for the Army.
Upon the United States entry into the Second World War, Patton commanded the 2nd Armored Division during the November 1942 Invasion of North Africa, known as Operation Torch, and was elevated to command the II Corps following the disaster at Kasserine Pass in February 1943. Following the North African campaign, Patton led the U.S. 7th Army during the invasion of Sicily in July 1943, Operation Husky. That was where he was suspended from command for striking two shell-shocked soldiers in field hospitals.
When Patton was released from suspension, he was assigned to the United Kingdom to lead the fictional 1st U.S. Army Group. Operation Fortitude was a deception scheme, with the creation of phantom armies to draw enemy focus toward Nazi-occupied Norway and Calais, France, and away from Normandy. Patton’s assignment as commander of this ghost army was based on Allied intercepts of German communications that lauded Patton’s fighting abilities. During this time Patton was actually marshalling the arrival of the 3rd Army and preparing for the attack on Normandy, Operation Overlord.
Following the success of the D-Day invasion on June 6th, 1944, Patton led the U.S. 3rd Army in the Normandy breakout in August 1944. Then, in early December, as part of General Bradley’s 12th Army Group, the 3rd Army was ready to breach the southern Siegfried Line when the Germans launched a major counterattack through Luxembourg and Belgium in the Ardennes region on December 16th. Hitler’s goal was to reach the port of Antwerp and cut off Allied supplies. Patton and his staff anticipated this German action days in advance and had plans in place, ready to initiate when they were given permission. That enabled Patton to turn the axis of his advancing army 90 degrees in a mere 48 hours. Patton and three full divisions moved north. The 4th Armored Division was placed farthest west in the direction of Bastogne, the 26th Infantry Division took the center toward Schumannseck, and the 80th Infantry Division was the farthest east and came through Ettelbruck.
As Patton moved north through France with the 80th Division to stop the German advance toward Antwerp, they found the German army front line at Ettelbruck. Command Headquarters were set up at Chateau Biertreng just 2 kilometers south of Ettelbruck.
Patton stayed at the chateau for several days during the Battle of the Bulge. The battle in Ettelbruck began on December 17th. Much of the town was destroyed during this battle. Ettelbruck was liberated on Christmas Day. Patton’s forces reached the crucial military target of Bastogne on 26 December and combined with the weight of other Allied counterattacks, reduced the German salient – the bulge – by late January 1945.
Allied forces suffered 83,000 casualties, including at least 8,600 killed. The German losses were even greater, making the Battle of the Bulge one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.
Following the victory in Europe in May 1945, Patton held various commands and appointments but often collided with General Eisenhower and Allied High Command over his de-Nazification policies, his antisemitic remarks and his inflammatory comments toward the Soviet Union. Patton’s final assignment was commander of the U.S. 15th Army charged with writing the Army’s official history of the war in Europe.
On December 9th, 1945, Patton’s limousine struck an Army truck. He suffered a broken neck, eventually dying from his injury on December 21st.
He was buried in the Luxembourg American Cemetery on December 26th, 1945.
