Patton - Old Blood and Guts Documentary

December 1945 southwest Germany a motor-car cruises through the still frostbitten countryside of the Rhinelands passing ruined houses and burnt-out vehicles the passenger turns to the driver and remarks how awful war is think of the waste moments later the vehicle collides with an army truck at low speed and all seems fine except for the passenger who complains that he can't breathe or move and after immediately being transferred to hospital he dies on the 21st of December 1945 of heart failure before his death the passenger had asked to be buried with his men and so after his passing he was interred at the Luxembourg American Cemetery beneath a simple white marble cross with the inscription George S pattern jr. general Third Army [Music] before we begin a quick word from our sponsor World of Tanks a free-to-play RTS war game which you can follow in the footsteps of George Patton himself and command columns of tanks in stunning real-time battles so if you want to follow in the footsteps of your World War 2 heroes simply click the link in the video description enter the special promo code tank tastic and begin your World of Tanks campaign with new players receiving a Soviet t1 - 7 tank 500 gold and 7 days of premium access World of Tanks and the people profiles bringing armored warfare and history to life the man known to history as George Smith Patton jr. was born on the 11th of November 1885 in San Gabriel California in the United States of America his father George Smith Patton senior was a businessman and Democrat politician who served as the first mayor of San Marino California as well as Los Angeles County District Attorney whilst his father George juniors grandfather was Colonel George Patton senior a Confederate colonel during the American Civil War who commanded the 22nd Virginia infantry under General Jubal Early George juniors mother was Ruth Wilson the daughter of one of California's wealthiest men Benjamin Davis Wilson the second mayor of Los Angeles and when she married George Smith Patton senior they lived in San Gabriel or on a state called Lake vineyard and had two children George Jr their only son and his younger sister Ann who is known as Nita the Patton family was sent to have been descended from the Lords of Glamorgan as well as King Edward the first of England through Edmund of Woodstock the first Earl of Kent and as well as this they were also related to 16 of the Scottish barons who had signed the Magna Carta as well as the French Eugenia Louie Dubois a refugee from religious persecution who fled France to Kingston New York in the 1660s and so it could be said that the military ran deep in George Patton's veins as a child George jr. was tutored at home to the age of 11 and initially had difficulty learning to read and write his first formal education being at Stephen Clark school for boys a private school in Pasadena and once he did learn to read he did so avidly becoming interested in books on classical military history and great military leaders such as Julius Caesar Skippy Oh Hannibal Napoleon Bonaparte and Joan of Arc whilst in addition he was also interested in the writings of John Singleton Mosby the Confederate Army cavalry battalion commander known as Gray Ghost who was a friend of his family George juniors family were of English Irish Scottish and Welsh descent banker tranqs their family tree back to George Washington's great-grandfather as well as this his great-uncle Waller T Patton had been killed at Gettysburg whilst another relative humor sir died at the Battle of Princeton and so unsurprisingly his ancient military ancestry was very precious to George and an important part of his identity as the fascinating stories of Mosby his military linked family history and George's belief in reincarnation and certainty that he had been a soldier in a previous life could arguably have led him to no other path than that of a soldier whilst growing up George was reportedly an intelligent and inquisitive boy who never considered any career other than the military and so in 1903 at the age of 17 he was admitted to the Virginia Military Institute which his father and grandfather had attended where he excelled a drill and took great care over his appearance in uniform but still struggled with his reading and writing nonetheless he was later nominated for West Point by a senator from California and on enrollment there joined the Kappa Alpha fraternity West Point was the United States leading elite officer cadet school and the training ground for the good and the great of American history the unofficial motto of the history department being much of the history we teach was made by people we talked with other alumni including ulysses s grant dwight dealings and our George Armstrong Custer Douglas MacArthur as well as Norman Schwarzkopf during his first year at West Point George Jr had adjusted well to at the prestigious Academy but had to repeat his initial year once again due to failing in mathematics but while he was there he excelled at sports he was already an accomplished horseman and competed in track and field events too he also joined the football team but injured his arm which stopped him playing so instead he tried out for the fencing team George jr. excelled at west point being made cadet sergeant major during his junior year and cadet and jet until his senior year both very prestigious positions and on the 11th of June 1909 at the end of his training George left West Point graduating in 46th place out of 103 cadets and gained a commission in the cavalry branch of the US Army as a second lieutenant posted to the 15th Cavalry Division at Fort Sheridan Illinois where he distinguished himself and was considered an aggressive and spirited leader indeed his demeanor impressed his superiors so much that he earned a transfer to Fort Myer Virginia where many of the Army's senior officers were stationed on the 26th of May 1910 George Jr married Beatrice banning heir the daughter of Boston industrialist Frederick Ayer at Beverly farms Massachusetts and they were to have three children together Barry Smith Hutton Ruth Ellen Patton George Patton the fourth while still serving at Fort Myer as quartermaster of his troop in 1911 George was to befriend Henry L Stimson the serving Secretary of War who had been appointed by President William Howard Taft and over the coming months George would come to serve as Stimson's aide as well as accompanying him to social functions during this time George continued his studies in swordsmanship which he had started whilst at West Point during the summer of 1912 taking part in the Summer Olympics in Stockholm and finishing in fifth place overall in the modern pentathlon which consisted of swimming pistol shooting running fencing and riding antes credit he also achieved first place overall of the non Swedish competitors whilst taking part in the Summer Olympics a controversy arose over the scoring of George's pistol shooting as he had used a point three eight caliber pistol whilst other competitors were using point two two caliber pistols and George argued that some of these shots must have passed straight through the previous holes he had made in the school cart because of the large impact holes that the higher caliber pistol had made are despite his protestations the adjudicators would not agree concluding that he had missed the target completely however if they had accepted his argument he would likely have won an Olympic medal at the games following his success at the Summer Olympics George traveled to Sanya in France in 1913 where he studied fencing under adjutant instructor sir charles Clary a master-at-arms of the French cavalry Academy and on his return to Fort Myer George incorporated much of what he had learned in Europe and the Clary by introducing thrusting attacks to replace the usual slashing maneuver and designing a special sword the model 1913 cavalry Sabre known as the pattern Sabre in 1913 an order was placed for the first 20,000 sabers designed by George S patent after when she returned to Somme there to study advanced sword techniques before bringing his new knowledge and skills back to the mounted service school at Fort Riley where he would be both student and fencing instructor being named master of the sword while Sir the most prestigious title offered to swordsmanship instructors at Fort Riley Patton graduated from the mounted service school in June 1915 with the intention of joining the 15th cavalry bound for the Philippines but during 11 days of leave when he visited Washington DC he managed to persuade some influential friends to arrange his reassignment to the 8th cavalry at Fort Bliss Texas as he fared and host in the Philippines would gain him no career advantage and the fact that there was instability in Mexico at the time meant that a position at Fort Bliss would be the perfect deployment for an ambitious young career soldier should the instability in Mexico due to the ongoing civil war escalate and so unsurprisingly George S Patterson's first experience of military combat came during 1916 whilst he was stationed at Fort Bliss when he was part of the Pancho Villa expedition the US Army operation which became famous as the first to use motor vehicles against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco Pancho Villa during the Mexican border war which was part of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 to 1920 on the 9th of March 1916 the revolutionary Pancho Villa had attacked the border town of Columbus in New Mexico as well as Camp Furlan the US Army Post in Columbus were a 240 man detachment from the 13th cavalry regiment was stationed in response general Frederick Funston leader of the 8th cavalry who was stationed at Fort Bliss to secure the Mexico United States border ordered John J Pershing to carry out a pursuit of Villa and his men however George's unit were not part of the force and so George appealed to John J Pershing that was assigned to be Pershing's personal aide acting as a courier and helping to plan the action in the area george's eagerness and dedication to the task at hand impressed Pershing at in April of 1916 Pershing promoted pattern to command troops II of the 13th cavalry the unit that was tasked with hunting down Villa subordinates and so on the 14th of May 1916 Patton first saw combat a date also famous today for the first use of vehicular motorized transport in American military history however the operation which ended in February 1917 was ultimately unsuccessful as despite killing three of villas men they failed in their main goal which was to capture Pancho Villa nonetheless they did kill several of his men including Colonel candelario Cervantes General Francisco Beltran Beltran son and rivers second-in-command Julio Cardenas at one point during his mission Patton and his subordinates in a trio of Dodge touring cars encountered a number of villas men who were foraging for food and according to accounts Patton himself shot three of the bandits who later succumbed to their wounds this Cavalier lead from the front command stands which Patton modeled on Pershing's own leadership style gained Patton notoriety and praise from his superior General Pershing as well as the American press who labeled him the bandit Keller and shortly afterwards Patton was promoted to First Lieutenant at the close of 1916 and would later come to fame leading the United States Army in Europe at the end of World War one where he would gain a reputation for being authoritative and decisive for the next few months Pershing passive and their men remained on a Mexico border conducting training but their exploits would soon see them thrown into an altogether more large-scale and ferocious conflict that being the closing stages of the first world war on the Western Front and after America declared war on the 6th of April Pershing with Patton in tow was appointed to command the American Expeditionary Force in Western Europe Patton personally requested to join Pershing on the expedition at his request was Julie grunted resulting in him being promoted to captain after which he joined Pershing in the advance party of officers and staff which landed in France in May of 1917 during which time Patton worked as Pershing's personal aide overseeing the last-minute training of American troops who were steadily arriving in their tens of thousands after overseeing training in Paris in September of 1917 Patton was reassigned to Schumer as post adjutant being placed in charge of the company that ran the American base which it is fair to say was a position that was not best suited to patent and he complained to Pershing asking him to reassign him to frontline command it was during this period that Patton first encountered the piece of military hardware would not only revolutionize his thinking on aggressive warfare but also changed the entire makeup of armies as well as military strategies and tactics for the remainder of the 20th century that being the tank the tank had first been developed and pioneered by the British in an effort to provide the Allies with the means of penetrating the formidable German trench fortifications which extended across Western Europe during 1917 and they had in many instances succeeded in penetrating German positions on the Western Front in response to Patton's request for a transfer General Pershing placed him in command of an infantry battalion but unfortunately for Patton he was unable to assume his new command for a time as he developed jaundice meaning that he had to spend several months recuperating in hospital in Paris whilst Patton was in Paris he made the acquaintance of a Colonel Fox corner and operations officer with the American Expeditionary Force who is said to have encouraged person to seek a command in a Tank Regiment rather than the infantry resulting in yet another request from person to person for his transfer which resulted on the 10th of November 1917 in person being tasked with creating the American Expeditionary Force light tanks cool the only trouble was that Patton had no experience whatsoever of Tanks despite being fascinated with the possibilities they offered therefore in an effort to acquaint himself with the new hardware he was attached to the French tank school where it he said he drove one of the armored vehicles specifically a Renault ft 10 for the first time which in short order convinced tip of the new weapon systems merits and he became convinced that they should be deployed in the US military as soon as possible after this Patton heard that the British were planning a mass attack of tanks on the German line at Cambrai which proved to be the largest use of the vehicles thus far and in the aftermath of the attack Patton had an encouraging meeting in the town of albear some 30 miles from Canberra with the chief of staff of the British tank corps Colonel JFC fuller from which he returned to power even more determined to incorporate the weapon into the American army on his way back to Paris Patton stopped at the Renault Factory to watch tanks being assembled before returning to the French capital where he was promoted to major in January of 1918 and less than a month later the Americans were given ten tanks by the French in their training school Lempel and upon delivery as the only American soldier who had driven a tank Patton set about indoctrinating his subordinates in the rudiments of tank warfare after driving the tanks off the train in person the next objective for Patton after training tank crews was to convince American commanders that they use on the battlefield was desirable which was easier said than done as although tanks have been effective in many instances on the Western Front they also had a reputation for being mechanically unreliable and immobile leading many within the American Expeditionary Force to see the new weapon system as a gimmick or fad nonetheless George S Patton was an exceptional orator and could be very persuasive and determined when he had a goal in his sights and as a consequence it wasn't long before tanks were beginning to be incorporated into the American Army's battle plans for the closing stages of the conflict and it was because of this success in acquiring training and deploying American tank crews that Patton was promoted once again in April 1918 to Lieutenant Colonel Patton next saw action during World War one with the American Expeditionary Forces as part of the new United States tank corps his experienced commanding the US tank school in France stood him in good stead to lead the US tank division into war and this he did on the 12th of September during the Somme be a offensive and again on the 26th at the meuse-argonne offensive where he was injured while storming the German lines after his tanks had become isolated and cut off from the attack though the bullet wound in his leg was serious Patton commanded the attack from the safety of a shell hole for over an hour before being rescued insisting on personally submitting his report to the battle to the command post before going to the field hospital where he was treated for the injury which was to keep Patton after the fighting until the war ended on the 11th of November 1918 however despite not having experienced much action in the great wall Patton had helped to demonstrate to the American forces the potential power of tank warfare following on from this the interwar years were not a particularly happy time for Patton as he would become bored and agitated during peacetime considering war and conflict his destiny but nevertheless throughout the 1920s and 30s he continued to push for the expansion and development of tank warfare in 1919 Patton was sent to Washington DC to join a committee dedicated to writing a manual on tank operations and it was here that he developed the belief that tanks should have their own armored unit rather than fulfilling the role of simply supporting the infantry and though his push for the development of independent armored divisions was supported by his friend 20 Eisenhower the Secretary of War Dwight Davis there was insufficient funds for this venture due to the cost of the First World War to the US Treasury and the first armored Corps would not be developed until just before the Second World War Patton moved between various posts in the interwar years and in 1924 he attended the General Staff College where he graduated 25th out of a school of 248 following this in the summer of 1932 in the midst of the economic crisis of the Great Depression over 17,000 World War one veteran's converged on Washington DC in protest over the failure of the government to convert their bonuses received for their wartime service into cash and on the 28th of July 1932 this protest turned violent when the police attempted to remove the protesters and so Patton was ordered to march with 600 men on the protestors to disperse them but Patton was reluctant to do so having intense sympathy with the veterans calls nevertheless he did follow the order of a so called Bonus Army was driven away on the first of March 1934 patum was transferred to Hawaii whilst there he observed with apprehension the aggressive expansion of the Japanese Empire through their ruthless armed forces and based on these observations he formulated a controversial plan to intern Japanese people living in Hawaii in the event of an invasion whilst furthermore in 1937 in a paper called surprise Patton predicted with considerable foresight the Japanese would launch an attack on Hawaii four years before the Pearl Harbor attacks which would send the United States into war during this peacetime long pattern was becoming bald and desperate for the outbreak of armed conflict once again as he was a man who lived to fight and peacetime therefore held in a thing for him and so in the time between the walls he developed a drinking problem and even began an extramarital affair with his 21 year old niece by marriage at the age of 49 however luckily for him but unluckily for the rest of the world Patton's boredom was about to end as conflict was sent to explode onto the global stage on the 1st of September 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland and the Second World War began but although the United States was not initially involved in the conflict it began to mobilize its vast military and Patton would ensure that this mobilisation included the building up of independent armored divisions Patton was helped in this task by a fellow enthusiast for tank warfare ad Neuromancer Chaffee Jr who came to be known as the father of armored force phase role in incorporating tanks into the US Army and in 1944 1st and 2nd armored divisions were created with Chaffee as commander but on the 4th of April 1941 Patton was promoted to Major General and was appointed commander of the 2nd Armored Division after Chaffee stepped down due to health problems and so Patton became the number one man in the US Army armored service in December 1940 Patton decided to put his armored units into action staging a practice exercise where 1,000 tanks and armored vehicles raced from the state of Georgia to Florida and again in January 1941 when 1300 units took part in an mass exercise to increase his tactical knowledge pattern earned a pilot's license so that he could observe the exercises from the sky and verse gain a better insight into the movements of armored units across long distances and so it was these large-scale exercises gained considerable attention across the United States captivating the nation with patterns new method of warfare during this time pattern also developed his training strategies further and in late 1941 he established a training center in the deserts of California aiming to simulate the conditions of the North African desert which are developed into an allied theater of war on the 7th of December 1941 as Patton had predicted four years earlier the Japanese launched a devastating assault on the American naval base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii and in response the United States declared war on Japan on the 8th of December 1941 and on Germany three days later officially entering the Second World War on the site of the Allies on the 15th of January 1942 Patton was placed in command of the 1st armored Corps and immediately began stepping up training exercises in the desert training center indeed as a commander Patton would always prefer offensive to defensive actions wanting to keep in constant offensive contact with the enemy his speed and aggression defined his command style at his military career as a whole and in this way he was very similar to the axis general who had dominated the North African theater the desert fox Oh in Rommel indeed it was North Africa where patent was to face his first action of the Second World War where his friend Lieutenant General Eisenhower now supreme Allied commander assigned pattern to help plan the u.s. invasion of North Africa known as Operation Torch which was intended to support the British forces already stationed in North Africa in pushing out the German and Italian Africa Corps as well as subduing the Vichy French forces who occupied Morocco pattern was given command of the Western task force some 33,000 men who he ordered to begin landings centered on Casablanca Morocco on the 9th of November 1942 but before these landings began Patton addressed his troops with the following words clearly expressing his philosophy of battle quote we shall attack and attack until we are exhausted and then we shall attack again despite meeting resistance from Vichy French forces Patton's men soon gained a beachhead and pressed on to Casablanca which fell on the 11th of November and after negotiating a surrender of the Vichy French Patton turned Casablanca into a military port to secure the arrival of supplies and reinforcements for the North Africa campaign furthermore in January 1943 Patton hosted the Casablanca conference where US President Roosevelt met with Prime Minister Winston Churchill to discuss strategy but US forces were soon to suffer a setback but in February the second Corps under Major General friend and doll was defeated at the Kasserine person Tunisia by field marshal Rommels Afrika Corps a poorly led and inexperienced American troops were pushed back 50 miles by Rommels experienced veterans tanking heavy casualties and Patton responded by removing friend in Dahl from command heightening military discipline across US forces pushing his troops hard and instilling fear and discipline into the men who in response nicknamed Patton old blood and guts due to his lost for battle and harsh and ruthless command style Patton was also an inspiring figure for his troops setting an example for them with his flashy and theatrical image wearing a highly polished helmet with cavalry boots and a pair of ivory-handled pistols and traveling in a vehicle bearing large rank insignias and sirens Pattin believe that commanders should be visible and bold and he blasted officers who attempted to hide their rank to avoid snipers and her such he acted as a beacon of inspiration for his men patents measures helped US forces to swiftly regain the offensive and on the 17th of March 1943 they captured the tunisian city of gaza in the battle of algata the first major american victory against nazi forces with the situation in Tunisia improving for the Allies Eisenhower recalled patter in April to take control of American forces in operation husky the Allied invasion of Sicily which was scheduled for July 1943 but Patton was frustrated as a British commanders viewing American forces as inexperienced sidelined his 7th army which would act only as a flank guard for British general Bernhard Montgomery's forces who would make the main drive into Sicily the Allies landed on the 10th of July and with Montgomery's force meeting strong resistance Patton with the permission of British commander Harold Alexander took it upon himself to lead the Allied advance into Sicily capturing the Sicilian capital of Palermo on the northwest coast which he reached on the 23rd of July 1943 wanting to establish a reputation for the US forces and with Montgomery's advance slowed by strong axis resistance pattern led his forces deeper into Sicily where his armoured units spearheaded the advance with rapid thrusts against the enemy and reached the northeastern port of Messina on the 17th of August with this advance Patton's armored forces had thus achieved a lightning success in Sicily inflicting over 110,000 mostly captured casualties on the Axis forces in its rapid drive across the island but although Patton had distinguished himself as one of the finest Allied commanders his fierce temper threatened to drag down his military career unlike many other commanders George Patton made frequent visits to combat hospitals seeing it as a generals duty to view his wounded troops but on the 3rd of August however Patton found an infantryman in a hospital with no visible injuries he asked why he was there and the soldier replied I guess I can't take it with this Patton erupted slapping the man and pushing him out to the hospital tent and similarly on the 10th of August when Patton discovered a man suffering from combat fatigue he again began physically assaulting the soldier and accused him of cowardice General Eisenhower sharply reprimanded Patton for these incidents and attempted to prevent the story being released to the American public however it was leaked in November 1943 causing a furious reaction from Congress and the public and greatly denting Patton's domestic reputation although Eisenhower worked hard to keep pattern in the Army his reckless behavior had raised questions over his temperament and verse Patton's subordinate Omar Bradley seen as more methodical and reliable was chosen to lead US forces in the upcoming invasion of nazi-occupied France it was known that the German High Command respected pattern more than any other allied commander and so Patton was chosen to play a prominent role in operation fortitude the Allies plan was to deceive the Germans as to the nature of their invasion and Patton was given command of a fictitious US army group known as the first US Army Group off USAC and the leaked intelligence on the positioning and communications of the fake army convinced Berlin of the Allied landing would occur at pas de calais when in reality li target was in fact the beaches of Normandy Patton was actually given command of a real force however the u.s. Third Army had arrived in France on the 6th of July 1944 with them a month after the initial d-day landings AB Patton's mission was to take his force west to capture the ports of brittany and on the 1st of august 1944 with his armored units leading the way Patton stormed through Brittany had breakneck speed quickly over running the province nonetheless Patton knew that Brittany was only a sideshow but little strategic importance and he sense that with the fair marked being on the backfoot following the success of the Allied landings and initial operations in France the German defenses were extremely vulnerable to a rapid advance eastwards towards the river sent and receiving approval from allied high command pattern we orientated his forces east on the 3rd of August I began his lightning advance when battling through the German defenses at Normandy in June advancing a mile a day was considered good progress for US forces but now Patton demanded an advance of 50 miles a day from his armored units and with his bold and aggressive tactical style Patton was at his element as he urged on his motorized spearheads pushing back the overwhelmed German forces and trapping tens of thousands of German soldiers in the Falaise pocket which opened up between advancing British forces and his own rapidly moving army Patton was greatly assisted by air support during his French campaign whose reconnaissance patrols informed Patton's forces of enemy positions and whose bombers provided protection and support for his armored columns and in addition air support was also incredibly valuable for person in securing his flanks as during his lightning advances Patton's line often became long and thin making his flanks vulnerable to enemy counter-attacks however the US air support would protect his flanks through bombing raids to drive away the enemy allowing Patton's armored units to continue to spearhead the Allied advance as pattern's forces advanced upon Paris he was directed to move east towards the rein allowing the French forces to liberate their capital on the 25th of August 1944 and as Patton advanced towards Lorraine the Gateway into Germany de verre marked was in a headlong retreat with Montgomery's 21st Army Group pushing towards Germany from the north Patton's offensive finally came to a halt at the end of August a supplies in particular fuel began to dwindle and it was during this time that Patton became frustrated as Montgomery's slower forces in the north received the bulk of allied supplies whilst he insisted that more fuel would allow him to drive deep into Germany and end the war within weeks pattern would ultimately face of a straighting autumn battered by heavy rainfall his forces met Stern resistance from German troops who themselves fault with boosting morale as they were defending home soil and so held the fortified city of Metz until the 22nd of November indeed Allied forces as a whole stalled in the autumn of 1944 as supply lines were reorganized to reach across France and Germany's resistance strengthened but nevertheless Metz was eventually captured by patterns forces and out of the military history buff Patton commented to his staff upon the fall of Metz but it was the first time in over four hundred years of the city so often a battleground in Europe's violent history had been taken by assault by early December Patton's supply situation was improving and he planned to launch a winter offensive aimed at Frankfurt and the River Rhine but on the 29th of December Patton's intelligence chief Oscar Koch it fall dipped that the fair marked was immersing its forces in the Ardennes Forest and were planning an offensive and Patton Julie warmed Bradley but was dismissed by Bradley's intelligence staff who insisted that the Germans were simply bolstering defenses for the oncoming allied attack remarkably Patton and his staff were the only allied unit to see the Ardenne offensive coming and when the Germans launched their assault with 250,000 men on the 16th of December 1944 they pushed back the Allied armies to the north of Patton's position culminating in the Battle of the Bulge Germany's last-ditch offensive on the Western Front due to his prior intelligence of the assault Patton was already planning an attack on the southern flank of the Bulge created by the German offensive when he was summoned to an allied strategy meeting the 19th of December and when Patton informed Eisenhower that he could engage the German flank of the 21st of December there was disbelief among the Allied commanders however despite the awful winter weather patterns units did north and race to the German flank engaging the Axis powers as pattern had predicted on the afternoon of the 21st of December Patton's Third Army pushed onto the belgian city of Bastogne which they reached on the 26th of December where the u.s. one hundred and first Airborne Division had been surrounded by the initial German attack and the third Army's actions allowed the creation of a supply corridor for the besieged US Army at Bastogne which was thus now able to receive supplies and reinforcements and as well as this patterns incredible maneuver diverting two thirds of his army from the frontline and rinsing to the Germans flank within two days helped the Allies turn the tide of the Battle of the Bulge preventing the Germans from reaching the river Meuse patterns troops had by no means won the battle as the bulk of the German attack fell onto the US forces further north but in Bastogne his rapid and decisive maneuvers in response to the assault contrasted with the slow response and lack of foresight the other us generals meaning that Patton was the only Allied commander who came out of the ar-10 offensive his reputation greatly enhanced after this despite the grinding slowness of the Allies late winter campaigns due to the bitter weather and tenacious German defense Patton determined to resume his lightning successes at the previous summer with our March offensive in the Palatinate patterns palatinus offensive began on the 12th of march 1945 and his Restless aggressiveness allowed him to exploit the weakening there marked pushing his armoured divisions in between gaps of the German line and the Third Army made spectacular gains along the Rhine throughout March taking some 100,000 prisoners though Field Marshal Montgomery was organizing an immense operation to cross the Rhine River with considerable artillery and air support on the 23rd of March Patton's forces were already attempting and crossing after building a pontoon bridge and Patton phone to Bradley announcing that quote you can tell the world Third Army made it before Monty as Patton held a minor grudge against the cautious methodical British commander whose operations consistently took up the bulk of Allied resources despite his successes in Germany Patton could be prone to errors of judgment for example Patton sent a taskforce to liberate a prisoner camp near hammelburg 40 miles behind enemy lines on the 26th of March having learned that his son-in-law was intern there however this force was captured by the Germans and the camp was subsequently freed a week later by US forces making the operation a complete waste of men nonetheless the u.s. press had been distracted from this error of judgment by news of the horrors encountered by the Allied forces as they advanced through Germany and when Patton's forces liberated the concentration camp at order--the in April 1945 even old blood and guts was disgusted and shaken by what he witnessed there after a rapid advance through southern Germany against an exhausted and battered Verma Patton reached the Czech border on the 4th of May wanting to immediately push on to Prague and for the Allies to capture Berlin in order to limit Soviet influence in Europe however Eisenhower rejected this plan has been countered to the terms of the elta conference where the Allies had agreed to let eastern Germany and Eastern Europe be a Soviet sphere of influence after this Nazi Germany made an unconditional surrender to the Allies on the 7th of May 1945 and thus the Second World War was over in Europe and from the 1st of August 1944 Patton's Third Army had been in continuous combat for 281 days during which time it had captured over 80,000 square miles of territory and inflicted almost one-and-a-half million casualties on the enemy most of these captured as prisoners indeed Patton's forces captured more land and prisoners than any other allied army in the European theater and the Allied invasion of Europe was the apogee of Patton's military career his finest campaign but it would also be his last following the German surrender Patton returned to the United States on the 7th of June 1945 for a brief leave during which time he spoke at huge gatherings of admirers and took part in military parades and although he lobbied for a command in the Pacific Theatre of war Patton was instead appointed as military governor of the German state of Bavaria roll that pattern with his ill temperament and lack of decorum was not at all suited to returning to Europe in July hadn't quickly attracted controversy with his outspoken anti Soviet and anti-semitic remarks but what most angered the US High Command and press was his tolerance of former Nazis in political posts across Bavarian local government furthermore Patton expressly stated what most Allied commanders knew that did not want to say aloud that post-war Germany could not be properly administered without the support of former Nazis who had held vital positions across the German bureaucracy nonetheless Patton stink months were sensationalized and blasted by the US press who relished another patent controversy after the slapping incidents in Sicily two years earlier after this Patton was relieved of his military governorship by Eisenhower in late September and on the 7th of October 1945 was relieved of command of the Third Army causing person to remark of a change of command ceremony that quote all good things must come to an end the best thing that has ever happened to me thus far is the honor and privilege of having commanded the Third Army nonetheless Patton remained in Europe as commander of the fifteenth army where he oversaw the writing of a history of the war in Europe but despite his fondness for military history Patton was a fighter at heart and despondent at the lack of armed conflict to engage himself in and considered retiring from the armed forces altogether however Patton was never to return home to the United States as on the 9th of December 1945 shortly before noon Patton's car collided with a US army truck at low speed causing him severe injuries including a broken neck and although old blood and guts lingered in hospital for 12 days he eventually died on the 21st of December 1945 at the age of 60 General George ass pattern was a unique military commander practicing a style of warfare very different from his contemporaries wondered echoed from an age many dismissed as irrelevant to modern warfare moreover Patton is considered by many historians to be one of America's greatest military leaders distinguishing himself through his incredible victories in Sicily and Western Europe and it could be said that nothing demonstrates Patton's greatness more clearly than the fact that he was the most respected and feared Allied commander from the perspective of the German High Command indeed an example of Patton's theatrical leadership persona came when he suggested to the press during his North Africa campaign Bertie and Erwin Rommel should meet on the field of battle each in a tank and jewel to decide the fate of the campaign and although the suggestion was clearly nonsensical it delighted the American public and demonstrated patterns unique an eccentric style of leadership the mainstream of military thought during the second world war amongst the Allied commanders saw leadership in modern war as defined by managerial command TIPA fight by figures such as Eisenhower and Montgomery whose precise planning of operations and calm intellectual prowess were deemed the cardinal virtues of military leadership but Patton's perspective was different he preferred a heroic style of leadership placing great emphasis on personal courage and moral force to inspire and lead men to victory he also believed that a commander needed a warrior's soul and should lead by example rather than being a methodical planner far behind the front line indeed Patton embodied disbelief cultivating a somewhat theatrical image of a leader attempting to become a symbol his men could look for for inspiration and the adoption of this military persona was known as Patton's war face involving not just distinctive uniform and vehicles was an increased use of profanity the adoption of a scowl and the willingness to put himself in mortal danger on the battlefield George Patton's attempts to become a beacon of inspiration for his troops through extravagant personal leadership came from his deeply held belief that he was destined to be a warrior and a leader as a believer in reincarnation Pattin thought he may have been a Napoleonic general or Roman legionary killed in action in a previous life and always saw warfare as his element and his destiny though pattern is like Rommel considered a tank general for his pioneering use of mobile and armoured units patterns love of tank warfare who's not due to the nature of the weapon itself but how it could be used as a tool to advance the art of warfare and as well as this Patton's views on leadership were old-fashioned and romantic as were his views on strategy believing that superior tactics were more important in a war of attrition fought by building up superior resources thus while his contemporaries such as Montgomery focused on overwhelming the enemy with great numbers and resources Patton believed that the power of shock brought on by bold and aggressive action is the way to defeat the enemy and tanks offered the perfect tool to execute his strategy of rapid maneuvers and decisive attacks George S Patton's character was deeply paradoxical and controversial he was a highly religious yet incredibly vulgar man who attracted controversy throughout his career through his volcanic temper and extremely self orientated nature but nevertheless his unique character and command style has ensured him an enduring place in American popular culture the 1970 film Patton about his life on seven Academy Awards and helps illustrate why he stands out as one of the most influential and fascinating figures of the Second World War what do you think of George S pattern was he a vulgar loose cannon who walked his own path regardless of the consequences or was he a military genius inspired by the past and innovative in the present with an insightful knowledge of the psychology of war that was second to none please let us know in the comment section and in the mean time thank you very much for watching [Music] many thanks again to our sponsor World of Tanks the mighty RTS war game in which you can transverse open plains sun-baked deserts as well as city centers to battle your foes with tanks taken directly from the pages of his story each mobile being expertly crafted with authentic characteristics to give unprecedented levels of realism and accuracy Fran after you have chosen your vehicle join a thriving online community and test your fighting skills against the very best in which even the most inexperienced gamer can emerge triumphant it's veteran commanders download World of Tanks now by clicking the link in the video description enter promo code tank tastic and begin your World of Tanks campaign with new players receiving a Soviet t1 to 7 tank 500 gold and 7 days of premium access you

Channel: The People Profiles

Views: 321,334

Rating: 4.7823129 out of 5

Keywords: Biography, History, Historical, Educational, The People Profiles, Biography channel, the biography channel

Id: e5k9vhRmU54

Length: 45min 0sec (2700 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 17 2020