It's 1944 and Patton's Army has charged across France and everyone is happy. That is, until "Eisenhower decides to hand the fuel over to Patton's rival, Montgomery," as the narrator puts it. It's not a conspiracy, although Patton may have thought it was. Both the British and Americans had advanced so far across France that they had outrun their supply lines -- not just fuel but other supplies as well.
Patton now faced a very heavily fortified position -- two underground forts with innumerable barbettes for artillery, built of thick, reinforced concrete and impenetrable to either Patton's tanks or the bombs delivered by ground attack aircraft.
The goal was the ancient city of Metz in northeast France but the two forts stood between them and Patton. Patton decided on a headlong attack using brute strength. The forts were manned by some SS troops but mostly by partly trained youngsters and landlocked sailors. They beat off Patton's attack and Patton was finally forced to use a pincer movement around the two positions. The fighting was fierce until the Germans troops were completely surrounded and gave themselves up. American casualties in the end amounted to about 55,000 men.
Patton was a coarse, aggressive, charismatic leader who believed in concepts like will power and destiny, a kick-ass general much admired by many of his men. He was, however, human enough to make mistakes, and the attack on Metz was one of them. He was about to pull off one of his more perceptive and successful stunts during the Battle of the Bulge, certainly regarded as one of his finest achievements even though no combat was involved.
Patton now faced a very heavily fortified position -- two underground forts with innumerable barbettes for artillery, built of thick, reinforced concrete and impenetrable to either Patton's tanks or the bombs delivered by ground attack aircraft.
The goal was the ancient city of Metz in northeast France but the two forts stood between them and Patton. Patton decided on a headlong attack using brute strength. The forts were manned by some SS troops but mostly by partly trained youngsters and landlocked sailors. They beat off Patton's attack and Patton was finally forced to use a pincer movement around the two positions. The fighting was fierce until the Germans troops were completely surrounded and gave themselves up. American casualties in the end amounted to about 55,000 men.
Patton was a coarse, aggressive, charismatic leader who believed in concepts like will power and destiny, a kick-ass general much admired by many of his men. He was, however, human enough to make mistakes, and the attack on Metz was one of them. He was about to pull off one of his more perceptive and successful stunts during the Battle of the Bulge, certainly regarded as one of his finest achievements even though no combat was involved.
