General+George+Patton

General George S Patton

Patton was born on November 11, 1945 in San Gabriel, California. From an early age he was obsessed with stories about his ancestors who took part in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. He attended the Virginia Military Institute in 1904 and was selected for the US Military Academy at West Point. He attend West Point from 1905 until his graduation in 1909. He married in 1910. He was a complex and virulent man as he competed in the Stockholm Olympic Games in 1912 for the Pentathlon.

Patton served under General "Black Jack" Pershing in 1915 during the US incursion of Mexico in an attempt to find and capture Pancho Villa. Pershing was so impressed with Patton that he promoted him to Captain and gave him command over his headquarters company. In 1917, Patton was given command of the newly formed American Expedition Tank Forces. He studied French tank battles and tactics and in effect wrote the US Army's tank doctrine for World War I.

He played a pivotal role in WWII by fighting German field Marshall Irwin Rommel. His troops ran Rommel out of Africa and later the island of Sicily. However, in 1943 when visiting a field hospital Patton lost his temper and slapped a soldier suffering from "battle fatigue". He was immediately removed from command and was set to be discharged from the Army with his career effectively over. General Dwight Eisenhower, the architect of the D-Day invasion, deemed Patton to important to simply discard and had him transferred to his command in England. It was during this time in England that Patton was placed in command of the 1st Army Group. It was a fictional unit that was created with fake soldiers, tanks, ships, airplanes, and vehicles in an effort to fool the Germans. The Germans were convinced that Patton was the US Army's best field general and that he would lead the invasion of Grance. The ruse worked and Germans focused their defense against the allied invasion near Dover, England and not Normandy, France. After the successful D-Day invasion, President Roosevelt intervened and gave Patton command of the US 3rd Army. It was with this unit he drove deep in the heart of Germany. He crossed the Rhine and marched towards Berlin. He captured over 10,000 square miles of German territory in 10 days.

Patton was killed on December 21, 1945 after the end of the war in Europe. He was in a car accident and his neck was broken as the result of the accident. However, to this day, conspiracy theorist believe that Patton was not killed in an auto accident, but murdered. He was considered America's best fighting general and the Russians did not want to have to face him if there was a war between Russia and the United States. Other people believe that he was killed by the CIA, as it was believed he had the popularity to run for president and his temper would have resulted in a nuclear war. No matter what the theory, the US Army and nation suffered a the loss of a heroic leader that day. "Old Blood and Gut's" helped to release Europe from Hitler's clutches.