GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON: MAVERICK OR SHOWMAN?

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GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON: MAVERICK OR SHOWMAN?


Post-war revisionists are more inclined to disparage General George S. Patton for his shortcomings rather than celebrate him for his successes. Although a complicated character for sure, General Patton continues to be an enigma.

Profane, articulate, vulgar and well read. Aggressive but refined. Shrewd and domineering, General Patton loved the limelight and attention. He was arrogant to a fault, possessed tremendous self-confidence and acted sometimes without thinking such as the ‘Soldier slapping’ incidents.

He thought poorly of many of his peers and contemporaries and found himself competing against the likes of General Bernard Montgomery in Sicily.

He was a thinker; always studying the enemy and relying on his own education, intellect, experiences, and gut instincts.

A snippet from Patton’s Diary in North Africa. He was constantly critiquing, assessing, and improving his formations and subordinates. The mark of a true professional.[1]

General Patton, is representative of his era. The post-war revisionists who fault him, do so as what the famous and eminent British historian, Sir Herbert Butterfield, calls ‘unhistorical.’

 

“The study of the past with one eye upon the present is the source of all sins and sophistries in history. It is the essence of what we mean by the word, ‘unhistorical.’ ”

-         Sir Herbert Butterfield

 

General Patton, despite his flaws, understood the combined arms fight and what it took to lead and manage highly mobile and lethal formations against the most sophisticated and experienced foe the United States Army had ever faced; the German Army. Despite the flaws, the crass, bellicose, profane, and vulgar vernacular of the General, no one can doubt that he met with tremendous success in Sicily, perhaps his finest hour.

More importantly, General Patton fully understood what Russia was and continues to be. A liberal democracy it is not. The Soviet Union emerged from the Second World War as the preeminent threat to Western civilization and the liberal democratic order.

Seventy-seven years later, Russia continues to be a threat. A threat that General George S. Patton so well understood in 1945.


Patton Quote

 “When I want my men to remember something important, to really make it stick, I give it to them double dirty.

It may not sound nice to some bunch of little old ladies at an afternoon Tea party, but it helps my Soldiers to remember.

You can’t run an Army without profanity; and it has to be eloquent profanity.  An Army without profanity couldn’t fight its way out of a piss soaked paper bag.”











[1] Library of Congress, “George S. Patton Papers: Diaries, 1910-1945;” Original; 1942, Aug. 5-17, https://www.loc.gov/item/mss35634004/



Comments

  1. jMarch 9, 2022 at 6:08 PM

    Pappy,

    Great post. Patton is my favorite. You might enjoy this excerpt from Patton's diary that he made during the planning of the Italian campaign.

    "As usual the Navy and Air are not lined up. Of course, being connected with the British is bad. So far, this war is being fought for the benefit of the British Empire and for post-war considerations. No one give a damn about winning it for itself now. No one busts a gut to get as many men as possible in. They talk about supply difficulties."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. P.R. EatonMarch 9, 2022 at 6:24 PM

      Thank you Colonel! And indeed, a great quote from an authentic combat leader. He was demanding, took risks, but fully understood what the G.I. was capable of when well led, well equipped, and fired up!

      Pappy

      Delete

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