Would you have served with George S. Patton?

I would love to have had the honor of serving him, but he would've have done everything but kill me since I'm clumsy and weak. I respect the man but I couldn't have done it.

 

I had the opportunity to speak with two of Patton's old veterans. They were both enlisted men, one was in the 761st Tank Battalion and the other was in the 90th Infantry Division. Both were extremely proud of serving under Patton, and both said that they were lucky to survive the war. Their chests stuck out a little more and they stood a little taller when talking about their experiences. I guess being in Patton's army was like being on a tough football team with a star quarterback at the helm, you couldn't help not to be proud. At least I could tell that from listening to these two old soldiers.

As for me, as an enlisted man or as an officer, there wouldn't be any choice in the matter who I would serve under. It might as well be him as any other general officer.

 

Amazing.

 

I'd serve with general Patton. At least you know your getting a field commander who's willing to hit the enemy head on and bring the war to a quick close. As long as allied generals were'nt so quick to cut his supplies. He was in command of 24 different army units during his career. Yes, he was a hard spoken S.O.B but he himself would have the guts to tell you that he was. And yes he was outspoken against British generals and the Russian military but, he was only speaking a loud what was probably being spoken at the top. Even though he was given a low position in the military he was never fired for his actions. Most soldiers stuck by him and hail him as a great general. Even in Korea commanders were praying for a Patton like figure to step up. "A pint of sweat, saves a gallon of blood."

 

I'd serve with Patton if that was where I was told to serve. If you were to ask a WWII soldier, a young enlistee or a draftee if they wanted to serve with Patton? They'd say "Who the hell is Patton?" That's good thing about waxing nostalgic about history. Patton had a job to do, and unless I'm missing something, he did it. Name a commander who didn't make mistakes or get men killed because I'd love to read his story. The comparison to Custer somewhere up there, shame on you. Read some books on Custer. Not even in the same stratosphere.

 

There's a lot of that going on around here lately....

 

Where do they come from

 

Poland?

 

No, I think it's from someplace else. Maybe the villege of dipschlitville. Their idiot has gotten loose again....

 

Yes i would have served with Patton.

 

My Uncle served under Patton in the Battle of the Bulge as an AT Gunner.

He was wounded and his own Uncle, a Master Sgt MP, "borrowed" a jeep and
went behind the FEBA.


He not only found his badly wounded, unconscious nephew but the only other survivor of their AT unit in a cellar.


He brought both back through German lines to a filed hospital.

My uncle survived but the other kid died.


To my uncle's dying day he hated Georgie Patton with a single minded passion.


Based on Uncle Jimmy's opinion, I would have not served for (no one served with the egotistical, military genious)
Georgie patton if I could possibly honorably avoid that "honor"---)))))

 

My German used to be pretty good but I must be missing something

"Only the tough get into the garden"

I don't get it!

 

No, Patton was overrated.

Rommel actually cared for his soldiers, I would fight under Rommel only. Why Patton's whole unit only two made it out and only one survived? That is why he was called captain Blood?

 

Never heard that nick name. The more common is "Old Blood and Guts". Many of his troops would add
OUR BLOOD
HIS GUTS!

 

It would be a refreshing to see some bold statements undermined with hard facts......we are NOT a facebook group.

 

A member can say He/She would not prefer to serve under an American general if they wish too. Patton may be your favorite but he is not mine. I don't hate Patton, I admire him for other reasons, which you guys probably don't even know how poliitical minded Patton was.

When I first joined here, there was no such rule of having facts when you post, why now?

Thats it, thanks. I was confused with a Football captain nick name- Captain Blood.

 

Facts can make historical discussions so much richer.

 

By some. Under rated by others. A teacher of mine was at Bastogne. He mentioned that they were pretty sure they were not going to make it out until they heard Patton was coming.

This suggest you think Patton didn't.

It wasn't "Pattons' whole unit" it was an AT unit in his command, the size of which is unspecified as are the conditioins under which it was lost. Kind of hard to tell whether or not it was even Patton's fault and whether it was worth it even if it was.

 

Patton's biggest problem was and will always remain: George C. Scott. Patton had his peculiarities, but he wasn't nearly the nut that Scott portrayed him as, and it's a shame that his legacy will always be viewed through the prism of that one Hollywood film.

He was a good tactician and strategist and was one of the few allied generals who appreciated the value of speed - something every German general appreciated. Patton knew to follow up victories before the Germans had a chance to regroup and ready a new defense. In this, he was continually thwarted by orders or loss of logistics priority. Falaise is probably the best example of that. Patton was ordered to stop and let Montgomery come to him, yet the British were trying to break through a well established defensive line that had held them up for weeks. That one encirclement (if allowed to happen) would have bagged every German in France. Instead, the Germans were allowed to escape and rebuild further east, lengthening the war. That pattern was to repeat itself throughout the campaigns to follow - a victory, followed by a failure to properly exploit that victory.

It's impossible to say whether Patton would have been a good commander of an Army Group like Montgomery or Bradley since there is that "Peter Principle" thing to consider, but as an Army commander I think he was the best we had. I think if Eisenhower/Bradley had used Patton as the Russians used Shock Armies or the Germans used the Waffen SS, the war might have been much shorter.

 

I agree, G.C.Scott was a nutcase, I never liked him. Scott suited the physical appearance / roughness like Patton but G.Scott I never had liked.

I feel Americans don't give Patton any justice today. Americans always say Patton and US were the better ones, this is why I feel agitated towards Patton, not because I disliked Patton in the first place. No other nationality, ramps on about their WWII generals, like Americans with Patton.

I don't think Patton cared as much as Rommel and Monty did, Patton did slap a young solider. I guess having guts and responsibility, you shouldn't be too soft.