Patton was a man who could lead men. Although he didn’t start off strong Patton exhibited his mighty Charisma and lead his men to victory. Though Patton might not have become the man he did without subtle sanctions that he was given at a young age. The things Patton had in his life such as Family, Education, his astounding military career, and finally his death left him the err of a hero.

George S. Patton Jr. was born in San Gabriel, California, on 11th November, 1885. Although due to various complications, the first month of his life was very turbulent and it was doubted that he was going to survive. Patton eventually made it through and began his way through life. One of the most influential things of his early childhood was his mother and nanny, who would always read him stories of his deceased family and ancient war heroes of old.

Patton as a child was raised in this environment because he came from a very militaristic family where service ran down the line. His ancestors had fought in the Revolutionary War, the Mexican War and the Civil War, and he grew up listening to stories of their brave and successful terms of service. It was rumored that Patton’s mother kept portraits of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson in their living room; Patton admired them as she read to him from her rocking chair. He is quoted as saying, “Until I was old enough to know better, I thought those were portraits of God the Father, and God the Son.”

Patton was not very efficient when it came to academics and did not perform well in such categories as math. For what Patton lacked in the area of scholarship, he compensated for it greatly with enormous energy and enthusiasm. Although he ailed in academic that did not mean that he was a stupid child. To the contrary he was a very well learned student. He would at a young age, intensively study classic literature and militaristic skills.

Patton showed quick thinking a great cleverness which would have a profound influence on his future military career. Determine to carry on the family tradition of military service; Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute for one year when he turned seventeen. This is where his lack scholastics began to hurt him and he then transferred to West Point. Even after a transfer of schools he could not hid his lack of academic skills which caused him to fail his plebe year and he decided to repeat it.

Upon repeating his plebe year, he graduated with honors, and was appointed Corporal Adjutant (the second highest position for a cadet) eventually graduating in 1909 and receiving his commission as a cavalry officer. While he was at West Point, Patton renewed his acquaintance with childhood friend Beatrice Ayer and married her shortly after his graduation.

After his graduation from West Point, Patton decided to participate in the 1912 Summer Olympics, which were being help in Stockholm that year. Patton himself represented the United Stated in the first-ever modern pentathlon, which he finished fifth in. His scored were above the others until the shooting competition, in which Patton decided to use a .38 revolver, for which he became known for, instead of the .22 caliber handgun used by the other athletes.

Patton, an excellent marksman with a pistol, saw his ranking in this skill drop dramatically when he inexplicably missed the target with two of his shots. Some of the observers present claimed that those misses that Patton fired were actually shots going through the same hole made by a previous bullet as the .38 round made a larger hole in the target than that of him competitors. Due to the performance that Patton showed in other areas this theory was not without merit.

Probably the most notable of which was when he was the only competitor to defeat the French epée champion in the fencing segment of the Olympics. After this Patton attended the French Cavalry School and upon his returned to the United States and proceeded to write what is now the official army manual of the saber.

Patton finally got to see his first taste of combat in 1916. Patton went on the Mexican Expedition of 1916 and was assigned to U.S. 13th Cavalry Regiment that was stationed in Fort Bliss, Texas. This regiment was under the command of Brigadier General John J. Pershing for which Patton served as an aid. This regiment was currently in pursuit of Pancho Villa. During his service there, Patton killed “General” Julio Cardenas, commander of Villa’s personal bodyguard with the aid of ten men from 6th Infantry Regiment. For this action, as well as Patton’s affinity for the Colt Peacemaker, Pershing titled Patton his “Bandito”. What gave him notoriety as Pershing’s bandito was during the operation in Mexico, his motorcar was assaulted by horse-mounted Villistas and single handedly killed several with his infamous Colt Peacemaker model revolver.

Although not as widely acclaimed as his service in World War II, Patton did serve in the First World War. Upon entering the war, he was promoted to the rank of Captain by General Pershing. Now of reasonable rank, Patton sought to acquire his first combat command. When requested, Patton was assigned the newly formed United States Tank Corps by General Pershing. Sources do not agree, but the two common records kept at the time stated that Patton had either led the Tank Corps or an observer at the Battle of Cambrai, where tanks met their first significant use. As the Tank Corps did not have a significant role in this battle, his role as an observer is the more likely story. Due to his successes, Patton was quickly promoted to Major then later, lieutenant colonel.

The price of his successes, however, did not go unpaid and Patton was in the upper leg by a machine gun. He was shipped back home to the United States for recovery. After this whenever he got drunk at any social occasion he drop his pants to show everyone his wound and jokingly declared himself the “half-assed general.” Although by the time his wounds had healed, the war was over. Due to his service in Meuse-Argonne Operations, Patton was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Service Cross. These new merits earned him the battlefield promotion of full colonel. He was also awarded the Purple Heart due to his wound.

Patton was not however, one to stay still in times of peace. Still being in charge of the U.S. Tank Corps, his petition of congress for more funding for armored forces, but this did not meet with much success at the time. Patton began devising many tactics and mount accessories for various armored units. During this time in Washington DC, he became close friends with Dwight D. Eisenhower. Seeing that he was not going to receive the funding he needed, Patton went back to cavalry to see if he could further his career. This then led him to be stationed in Hawaii, but son he returned back to Washington to once again request the proper funding for the armored artillery. Shortly after Germany’s Blitzkrieg, Patton was finally able to Congress to grant the funding for the needed armored divisions. Soon afterwards, Patton was awarded the rank of Brigadier General.

Prior to the actual entrance of the United States into WWII, Patton commanded one of the two war gaming armies in the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941, which was set up during the build up of the armed forces to get ready for war. Because of the likely invasion by the Japanese to the newly Ally Mexico, Patton set up reinforcements near California and to also keep an eye on the Mexican beachheads.

Now the rank of Major General, Patton commanded the Western Task Force of the U.S. Army, which landed on the coast of Morocco in Operation Torch. Patton and his staff soon arrived in Morocco on the heavy battle cruiser, the USS Augusta, which was fired upon by the French battleship, Jean Bart, while it was entering harbor in Casablanca. Patton received another promotion and was made lieutenant General of the U.S. II Corps after they were defeated at Battle of the Kasserine Pass in 1943 by a German by the name of Afrika Korps.

Patton believed that the defeat was the result of inadequate discipline and was tough in the training of these troops. Not used to this much drive and discipline he imposed on the soldiers made him rather unpopular to them. Both U.S. and British leaders noted the lack of discipline the II Corps had and Patton was hell bent to change that. Patton heavily enforced a system of fines that taxed any soldier that did not keep clean shaven or up to, or what Patton thought was the standard for a soldier.

The discipline Patton so rigorously enforced paid off when the counteroffensive to push the Germans out of North Africa had begun. Patton pushing that Germans east and British Eighth Army commanded by General Bernard Law Montgomery in Tunisia was simultaneously pushing them west, effectively squeezing the Germans out of North Africa.

Due to the great success Patton met with campaign in North Africa, he was soon put in command of the Seventh Army to help prepare him for the impending allied invasion of Sicily which was scheduled for 1943. With his newly acquired Seventh Army, Patton was assigned to protect the western flank of the British Eighth Army while both proceeded to Messina with intent to rescue and liberate. With the improved training and cunning tactics of Patton the Seventh had not trouble repelling numerous German counterattacks that encountered after landing on the beachhead.

Although Patton was experiencing great success, the British Eighth Army was currently being held at bay at Mount Etna by strong German defenses. It is speculated that the Eights inability to break to defenses was in part due to the overly loose control that Army Group Commander Harold Alexander, exhibited over his two commanders, Patton and Montgomery. Seeing that there was little getting done except increasing the body count, Montgomery decided to take action and moved toward Patton’s forces to try to organize a successful campaign.

Patton organized a provincial Corps under his chief of staff, to push through Sicily, eventually liberating its capital, Palermo. Then he swiftly moved his forces toward Messina. In the end the allies managed to liberate Sicily, but Montgomery and Patton inadvertently gave the Germans the time to withdraw much of their strength, including heavy artillery, back to the Italian mainland.

In the time in-between, Patton delivered his controversial and bloodthirsty speeches, one of which was said to have inspired Biscari Massacre in which American troops killed seventy-six prisoners of war. Despite the controversies that his speeches that he brought up, Patton himself almost ended his career in August 1943 when he slapped and verbally abused two soldiers by the name of Paul G. Bennet and Charles H. Kuhl, that Patton at the time thought were exhibiting cowardice, were actually suffering from shell shock. This introduced a mass controversy as to whether or not Patton was fit for command.

Patton tried to lay low and then was advised by Eisenhower to make a full apology for his actions to the individual soldiers and the medical units that witnessed the incident The backing of Eisenhower is very important because the faith he had in Patton allowed him to continue on rather than forced resignation or being fired. This reaction may not entirely be without reason, as Patton himself may have been exhibiting battle fatigue and this may have made his judgment a little more rash than usual.

Patton was put on command suspension and was temporarily relieved of duty. But seeing as the Germans were once again on the move this suspension was interrupted. The Germans, despite being the enemy, had great respect for Patton would actually help him fighting the Germans and that respect would help him in the many months to come. This respect was shown by how German military leaders would not address them by number and instead as Patton’s forces or Patton’s Army.

Soon after Sicily, Patton was becoming involved with the invasion of France. He was sent to give a number of deception speeches that in fact release incorrect information, commander of the non-existing First U.S. Army Group (FUSAG). This non-existing force was supposedly intending to invade France by way of Calais. The actual plans were not publicly released and the speeches were just to cover real operations that were going on behind the scenes. Some time after the actual invasion of Normandy, Patton was then put in charge of the Third Army. At this point Patton was in control of a lot of the military forces.

Upon receiving command of the Third Army, Patton was assigned to participate in the late stages of Operation Cobra which took place on the 1st of August 1944. Operation Cobra was a scheduled breakout where Patton’s Third Army pushed the Germans back in all directions. Patton was to continue on to Argentan and by using the Germans own blitzkrieg tactics against them; he was able cover the distance from Avranches to Argentan, roughly 600 miles, in only a stretch of two weeks. Patton was part of the allied forces that swept through France, liberating it as they proceeded, temporarily ignoring Paris, and then leaving the capital liberation up to a French General by the name of Leclerc and his forces, the French 2nd Armored Division.

Despite the head on aggression that Patton and his forces usually showed, he chose to have his forces avoid areas where there was heavy resistance or major combat. Patton instead used the speed of the units under his control to move around and defeat German positions through maneuver rather than slugging it out one on one.

The only thing that was able to stop the onslaught of Engine of Patton’s force was the gas to run the engine. Literally the engines of Patton’s tanks did not have the fuel to continue and were forced to stop just outside of the city of Mez. Unfortunately for Patton, this gave the Germans the time they needed to reinforce Mez so that Patton and the Germans were forced into a bloody stalemate. However, the American forces were finally able to capture the city at the end of November, but with heavy casualties.

The last campaign of Patton was that of the assault across Belgium, Luxembourg, and northeastern France in the Ardennes Offensive, or more commonly referred to as the Battle of the Bulge. This would in the end put Patton against Gerd von Rundstedt a field marshal for Germany. The plan was for Rundstedt to push through a weak point in the American lines causing them to buckle and fall apart. Rundstedt was to lead a force of 29 German divisions, roughly about 250,000 strong at this weak point. Patton realized what could happen and ordered his men to disengage at the front lines and swiftly move north to reinforce and relieve the 101st Airborne Division which at the time was currently under siege. In February, Patton not only had repelled the German attack, but was chasing them back into Germany. His push into German territory was only cease when a stop in the American advancement was ordered.

Patton briefly returned to America to visit California and was given an honorary parade through Los Angeles with Lt. Gen. Jimmy Doolittle. Aside from the parade, Patton also gave a speech in front of the Burbank City Hall and at the Rose Bowl which was being held in Pasadena. Patton spoke to the people assembled there and he looked like every general should. He was brandishing his helmet with a straight line of 4 stars, a jacket heavy with the medals of his glory, and two pistols that had his signature ivory carved handles. Patton’s speech was the same that he gave to his soldiers. Direct, brutal, to the point, and littered with the profanity that he would address the common man in his army and for this they admired him.

This was probably the only actual time he ever directly talked to the masses of America, so to the people at the time Patton was addressing them, he was viewed as a god. Publicity was not the only reason for Patton’s return. The more important matter of Patton delivering the Nazi documents he had acquired during his campaigns were given to the Huntington Library, where for a long time they were kept secret, but were finally released last year in April.

Although this would be a terrific end to the mighty American general, his fate was not to be to die of old age in a chair by the fire. Patton was once again in Germany, but this was not a mission of war, but to hunt pheasants. It was a foggy December morning so visibility was not the best. Patton was sitting on the right Major General Hobart R. “Hap” Gay in the back of the 1939 Cadillac Model 75 which was being driven by PFC Horace Woodring.

Unfortunately, a large truck driven by Robert L. Thompson turned on to a side road and the Cadillac slammed headlong into the truck. Patton was jerked forward and his head struck a solid part of the area between the front and back seats. Although both Woodring and Gay were unharmed, Patton was paralyzed from the neck down and he eventually died 11 days later of an embolism on 21 December 1945 at the military hospital in Heidelberg.

Patton’s body was buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg but also had many other memorials placed in other places. One of which places was in the church where he was baptized, where a stain glass picture of him was place, illustrating him straddling a tank. So ends the life of 4 Star General George Smith Patton Jr. who was a warrior, husband and hero.