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Overview (5) |
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Personal Quotes (64)
Overview (5)
| Born | in San Gabriel, California, USA |
| Died | in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany (road accident) |
| Birth Name | George Smith Patton Jr. |
| Nicknames |
Old Blood-and-Guts Georgie |
| Height | 6' 1½" (1.87 m) |
Mini Bio (1)
George S. Patton III was a highly successful and highly controversial general who held Corps- and Army-level commands during World War II. Because of his great competence as a battlefield commander, Patton might have led the American troops during the invasion of Normandy; however, his impolitic ways and a degree of emotional instability (which manifested itself in the slapping of two soldiers suffering from shell-shock at an Army field hospital) put the kibosh on that. Patton was relieved of his command and put on ice for many months in order to recuperate. Instead, the command of the American forces on D-Day, went to his former deputy in North Africa, Omar N. Bradley.
Patton was known as "Blood & Guts" ("Our blood, his guts"), was a common gripe among his troops for his hard-driving discipline, which paid off in lower casualties and great success on the battlefield. With the exception of Douglas MacArthur, Patton ranks as the greatest general the United States put on the field during the Second World War. Patton achieved four-star rank for his battlefield exploits as one of the best commanders of mechanized forces on either side during the War. He succeeded Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Military Governor of the U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany, when Ike -- a five-star general -- was promoted to Army Chief of Staff.
On December 9, 1945, Patton became seriously injured after his automobile crashed with an American army truck at low speed. He began bleeding from a gash on his head, and complained that he was paralyzed and having trouble breathing. Taken to a hospital in Heidelberg, Patton was discovered to have a compression fracture and dislocation of the cervical third fourth vertebrae, resulting in a broken neck and cervical spinal cord injury that rendered him paralyzed from the neck down. He spent most of the next twelve days in spinal traction to decrease the pressure on his spine. He died at age 60 in his sleep of pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure.
On December 24, 1945, General George S. Patton was buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial alongside some wartime casualties of the Third Army, in accordance with his request to "be buried with his men". He was immortalized in the 1970 eponymous epic film, which won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (George C. Scott). This was President Richard Nixon's favorite film.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood
Family (1)
| Spouse | Beatrice Banning Ayer (26 May 1910 - 21 December 1945) (his death) (3 children) |
Trade Mark (2)
Designed his own army uniforms
Known for his love of traditional warfare and gruff demeanor
Trivia (62)
Father of George S. Patton IV
Commanded the famous US Third Army which, by the end of World War II, had captured or killed over one million Axis soldiers.
Was dyslexic. Since dyslexia was largely unknown when he was a young cadet, he constantly berated himself for being stupid because he sometimes failed tests and had to study much harder than other cadets.
Was one of the wealthiest officers in the army. When he was a junior officer, this was a source of resentment from high-ranking officers, as he liked to brag about his nicer living quarters and often drove his flashy new cars on base.
While a young lieutenant during Prohibition, he and one of his closest friends set up a still on their army base to produce their favorite alcoholic beverages. His friend's name: Lt. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Participated in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden (the same Olympics that brought Jim Thorpe lasting fame) in the modern pentathlon. He was an exceptional marksman, fencer and horseman, and an excellent runner. Placed fifth overall, partly due to judges' determination that he missed the target/ he contended that he hit the same point on the target twice. He used a .38, which created larger holes than his competitors' .22s. He was also selected to represent the FUS in the modern pentathlon at the 1916 Summer Olympics, which were scheduled for Berlin, but ended up being canceled because of World War I.
Signed documents as "George S. Patton Jr." when, in fact, he was George S. Patton III.
George Kennedy, who went on to portray Patton in Brass Target (1978), served under him in World War II.
Designed and built his own version of the tank, but the army turned this down.
Designed his own army uniforms, and came up with designs for uniforms for the tank soldier, but the army turned them down.
Commanded the US Seventh Army, which invaded Sicily. It was here that he slapped a soldier in the field hospital, and was relieved of command.
Planned his battles using the ancient wars in Europe as a guide.
As commander of the Third Army, he ordered the killing of German soldiers in the act of surrendering or after being taken prisoner because he said they could not be trusted. When General Dwight D. Eisenhower reprimanded him for ordering his troops to kill POWs, Patton responded, "If you order me not to, I will stop. Otherwise, I will continue to influence troops the only way I know, a way which so far has produced results." Eisenhower then told Patton to continue any way he saw fit, but to be cautious lest the murder of prisoners boomerang against him. On his part, Patton did not believe killing prisoners was wrong, as he believed it saved his soldiers' lives: "Some fair-haired boys are trying to say that I kill too many prisoners. Yet the same people cheer at the far greater killings of Japs. Well the more I killed, the fewer men I lost, but they don't think of that." Referring to the fact that American soldiers and Marines fighting the Japanese took no prisoners (giving no quarter was the modus operandi on both sides during the Pacific War), Patton was convinced that he was not doing wrong. Killing soldiers in the process of surrendering and the bloody dispatch of prisoners eliminated logistical problems that would otherwise have slowed down Patton's Third Army, which sometimes advanced at the rate of 60 miles a day. Eisenhower, who was given the overall Allied command in Europe as he was a masterful politician, was wary about Patton's killing of POWs, as such a practice could be seen as antithetical to a democracy based on the rule of law.
The Oscar-winning Patton (1970) failed to mention one of the most controversial incidents in Patton's military career, when he diverted troops to liberate a German POW camp housing his son-in-law. As recounted in the book "Raid: The Untold Story of Patton's Secret Mission", he sent a mobile force of about 50 vehicles and approximately 300 men to liberate the camp, which was approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) behind enemy lines. With no air support and no additional ground support, the task force liberated 300 American officers, including Patton's son-in-law, Captain John Waters, and 1,200 enlisted men. The mission was not authorized by Patton's superiors and is seen by some contemporary historians as indicating that he was emotionally unstable, particularly when considered in light of his two slapping incidents and his anti-Semitism. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had known Patton since 1918 and considered him a friend, respected his military genius and leadership abilities but was wary about his inability to control his emotions. Cautiously, Ike had appointed Major General Lloyd Fredendall to command the army in North Africa instead of Patton in 1942, then had to replace Fredendall with Patton when Fredendall proved inadequate. At the time, he cautioned Patton about avoiding "personal recklessness" when he gave him the command, and counted on the presence of General Omar N. Bradley to be a calming influence on the mercurial general. Conscious of why Bradley was assigned to him, Patton insisted that Bradley--who had earlier commanded his own corps--be assigned as Deputy Corps Commander. Bradley essentially was there to ensure that Patton didn't say or do anything untoward, and together they proved a great success. By the end of the war, Bradley was in overall command of First Army, the great force that invaded France on D-Day. Free of Bradley's calming influence, Patton was on his own when he launched his foolhardy raid--it was actually not necessary, as Waters and the other prisoners were not in any danger. It likely was influenced by paranoia on Patton's part, rooted in his own orders to his troops to kill German prisoners.
Unlike George C. Scott's deep gravelly growl in the film Patton (1970), Patton himself actually had a fairly high-pitched speaking voice.
Was a first cousin six times removed of George Washington.
His grandfather, George S. Patton, was a colonel in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and fought under General Robert E. Lee in the Army of Northern Virginia.
Following his death, he was buried in the American Army Cemetery and Memorial at Hamm, Luxembourg.
Pictured on a 3¢ US commemorative postage stamp, issued in his honor (11/11/1953) (his 68th birthday).
Was a virulent anti-Semite.
The orders from above--Dwight D. Eisenhower wanted him to confiscate the houses of wealthy Germans so Jewish survivors could live in them-- embittered him. His beloved Third Army was decaying as troops decamped for home, discipline vanished, and "the displaced sons-of-bitches in the various camps are blooming like green trees", he wrote a friend. He saw journalists' criticism of his handling of the Jews and the return of Nazis to high official positions as a result of Jewish and Communist plots. The "New York Times" and other publications were "trying to do two things", he wrote, "First, implement Communism, and second, see that all businessmen of German ancestry and non-Jewish antecedents are thrown out of their jobs." As reports on the conditions in Bavaria began to alarm President Harry S. Truman, Eisenhower came down from Frankfurt on 9/23/45 to join Patton on a tour of the camps where Jewish refugees were housed. He was horrified to find that some of the guards were former SS men. During the tour, Patton remarked that the camps had been clean and decent before the arrival of the Jewish DPs (displaced persons), who were "pissing and crapping all over the place." Eisenhower told Patton to shut up, but he continued his diatribe, telling Eisenhower he planned to make a nearby German village "a concentration camp for some of these goddamn Jews.".
He proposed invading the Soviet Union at the end of World War II, in order to drive the Soviets out of eastern Europe.
On 9/8/45, while inspecting a prison camp for former Nazis and Waffen SS members, he said this was "sheer madness to intern these people". A Jewish-American officer immediately reported the remark to General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
During a speech in Boston on 6/8/45, he said the fact that a soldier was killed in action often made him a fool rather than a hero. What exactly he meant is unclear, but this remark enraged those who had lost relatives in the war and telegrams and letters soon began to flood into the War Department demanding an apology. They did not get this.
He had zero sympathy for the Holocaust victims living in wretched, overcrowded collection camps under his command. He was unable to imagine that people living in such misery were not there because of their own flaws. The displaced Jews were "locusts", "lower than animals", "lost to all decency". They were "a subhuman species without any of the cultural or social refinements of our times", Patton wrote in his diary. A United Nations aid worker tried to explain that they were traumatized, but "personally I doubt it. I have never looked at a group of people who seem to be more lacking in intelligence and spirit." Patton was no friend to Arabs, either; in a 1943 letter, he called them "the mixture of all the bad races on earth.".
Fearing that Europe was going to go Communist, he was highly critical of the denazification program after VE Day.
He had hoped to be involved in the expected invasion of Japan. His name was included in a list of six generals submitted by the War Department for consideration by General Douglas MacArthur, but the Supreme Commander rejected him out of hand.
His biographer Carlo D'Este suggested that his melancholy and increasingly extraordinary behavior may have been due to brain damage resulting from a series of head injuries caused by a lifetime of falls from horses and road accidents--the most serious being an accident in Hawaii in 1936 that had resulted in a two-day blackout. However, he concluded that we will never know, for after his death his wife Beatrice refused to allow an autopsy on the body despite a request from the United States Army.
As a military governor in the American-occupied zone of West Germany in July 1945, he accused the US Treasury Secretary of "Semitic revenge against Germany".
Due to concerns that he was mentally ill, his telephones were tapped and his residence bugged. Soon the wiretappers heard him expressing violently anti-Soviet views and even suggesting that ex-members of the Wehrmacht should be rearmed and used to help the United States Army force the Red Army "back into Russia". In one conversation with General Dwight D. Eisenhower's deputy, McNarney, he allegedly said, "In ten days I can have enough incidents happen to have us at war with those sons-of-bitches and make it look like their fault.".
His refusal to denazify Bavaria after World War II has been called treasonable.
Letters from World War I show he already held anti-Semitic views as a young man.
He showed utter contempt, even hatred, for Jewish survivors. He also expressed a kind of admiration for the Nazi prisoners of war under his watch and bitterly criticized attempts to bring Nazi leaders to justice for war crimes. When General Dwight D. Eisenhower finally fired him, Patton blamed Jews and Communists for his problems.
Smoked cigars and a pipe.
He kept emaciated, barely alive Holocaust survivors under military guard and put Nazi sympathizers in with them. He appointed former SS soldiers, whom he believed were most qualified to oversee an "orderly administration" of the DP camps, to positions of authority. With food scarce and malnutrition rampant, he refused to provide extra rations to Jewish survivors lest he be seen as giving them preferential treatment over Nazi prisoners.
Though he commanded many Jewish soldiers, he refused to permit Jewish chaplains in his headquarters.
In every battle he fought, he always had more soldiers, tanks, fuel, supplies and air support than his opponents.
Visited the Buchenwald death camp for the first time on 4/15/45, according to his autobiography, but he didn't make a special trip to see this. This was only a side jaunt, suggested by General Walton Walker, after Patton had flown to Weimar to visit what he thought was going to be his next Command Post. Harry Peters, a Jewish soldier from Chicago, who was with Patton's Third Army, told his nephew, Phil Cohen, "Patton was more concerned with saving the Lipizanner Horses in Austria than the Jews left in the camp." According to Cohen, "Patton had to be ordered to go to the concentration camps because he considered the horses more valuable.".
Posthumously inducted into the UIPM [Modern Pentathlon] Hall of Fame (inaugural class) (2017).
Two of his men were tried in connection with the killing of dozens of Italian and German prisoners of war in southern Sicily on 7/14/43, which came to be known as the Biscari Massacre. Both claimed that they were following orders not to take prisoners that Patton himself had set forth in a fiery speech to their division a month earlier. Patton denied responsibility, and he was exonerated of any crime.
Although he had many black soldiers under his command--notably the 761st Tank Battalion, a segregated armored unit known as the "Black Panthers" that won distinction on the battlefield--he nevertheless saw African-Americans as inferior and disparaged their performance in combat.
He had wanted to push on to Berlin, but General Dwight D. Eisenhower rejected the idea, deeming the cost too high for a city already allotted to the Soviets by the terms of the Yalta agreement. Patton's supporters claim that the Cold War may have unfolded differently had the West taken the capital, but this largely ignores the military situation on the ground in eastern Europe.
In the early 1990s, it was revealed he had covered up the killings of concentration camp guards by American soldiers.
He has been held responsible for the American defeat in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest from September through December 1944.
His decision to launch a headlong attack straight into the fortifications of Metz in late September 1944 was heavily criticized. The last of the forts defending the city was not taken until mid-December.
It was generally agreed, by both civilian and military officials, that he should never have accepted the post of military governor of Bavaria.
He was strongly opposed to the Morgenthau Plan to permanently deindustrialize Germany.
After leaving the army, he planned to speak out against General Dwight D. Eisenhower's handling of the campaign in Europe and against other senior officers, like Walter Bedell Smith, Courtney Hodges and even Omar N. Bradley.
After World War II, he said he felt the United States should never have been at war with Nazi Germany, and that this should instead have let the Axis destroy the Soviet Union and Communism.
Provided a German had the right qualifications for a particular job, Patton was prepared to ignore his former Nazi background. This was completely contrary to the political direction he had received from General Dwight D. Eisenhower for the denazification of the American zone of Germany.
At a press conference in Frankfurt on 8/27/45, he spoke out against the Soviets and signed a letter proposing the release of some Nazi internees. This apparently so angered General Dwight D. Eisenhower that he is said to have demanded that Patton carry out the denazification program as ordered "instead of mollycoddling the goddamn Nazis".
Created the Fritz Schaeffer administration in Bavaria. It was full of former Nazis.
Was against trying Nazis for war crimes after World War II.
Blasted Dwight D. Eisenhower for using "Gestapo methods" against German prisoners and accused him of trying to decimate "the only semi-modern state in Europe so that Russia can swallow them whole".
He was due to retire from the United States Army in March 1946.
His direct cause of death was pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure.
Covered up the Dachau liberation reprisals.
He went on record as saying that the Allies had a moral obligation to support the countries being swallowed up by Stalin.
Patton did not appear to understand he was not given adequate resources of fuel and other supplies because Berlin had already been allocated to the Soviets at the Yalta Conference.
Although he was of Scottish descent, Patton was a supporter of Nordicism.
Colonel Mickey Marcus, who played a major role in the 1947-49 Palestine War, was frequently asked by Israeli soldiers under his command to explain Patton's anti-Semitism. Despite all the evidence, Marcus would always angrily deny the charges.
Personal Quotes (64)
A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood.
A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.
[6/5/44, speech to US troops in England] Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self-respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, every one of you, were kids you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big-league ballplayers and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American. You are not all going to die. Only 2% of you right here today would die in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all men. Yes, every man is scared in his first battle. If he says he's not, he's a liar. Some men are cowards but they fight the same as the brave men or they get the hell slammed out of them watching men fight who are just as scared as they are. The real hero is the man who fights even though he is scared. Some men get over their fright in a minute under fire. For some, it takes an hour. For some, it takes days. But a real man will never let his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best and it removes all that is base. Americans pride themselves on being he-men and they ARE he-men. Remember that the enemy is just as frightened as you are, and probably more so. They are not supermen. All through your army careers you men have bitched about what you call "chicken shit drilling". That, like everything else in this army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is alertness. Alertness must be bred into every soldier. I don't give a fuck for a man who's not always on his toes. You men are veterans or you wouldn't be here. You are ready for what's to come. A man must be alert at all times if he expects to stay alive. If you're not alert, sometime, a German son-of-an-asshole-bitch is going to sneak up behind you and beat you to death with a sockful of shit! There are 400 neatly marked graves somewhere in Sicily, all because one man went to sleep on the job. But they are German graves, because we caught the bastard asleep before they did. An army is a team. It lives, sleeps, eats and fights as a team. This individual heroic stuff is pure horse shit. The bilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for the "Saturday Evening Post" don't know any more about real fighting under fire than they know about fucking! We have the finest food, the finest equipment, the best spirit and the best men in the world. Why, by God, I actually pity those poor sons-of-bitches we're going up against. By God, I do. My men don't surrender. I don't want to hear of any soldier under my command being captured unless he has been hit. Even if you are hit, you can still fight back. That's not just bullshit, either. The kind of man that I want in my command is just like the lieutenant in Libya who, with a Luger against his chest, jerked off his helmet, swept the gun aside with one hand and busted the hell out of the Kraut with his helmet. Then he jumped on the gun and went out and killed another German before they knew what the hell was coming off. And all of that time, this man had a bullet through a lung. There was a real man! All of the real heroes are not storybook combat fighters, either. Every single man in this army plays a vital role. Don't ever let up. Don't ever think that your job is unimportant. Every man has a job to do and he must do it. Every man is a vital link in the great chain. What if every truck driver suddenly decided that he didn't like the whine of those shells overhead, turned yellow and jumped headlong into a ditch? The cowardly bastard could say, "Hell, they won't miss me, just one man in thousands". But what if every man thought that way? Where in the hell would we be now? What would our country, our loved ones, our homes, even the world, be like? No, goddamnit, Americans don't think like that. Every man does his job. Every man serves the whole. Every department, every unit, is important in the vast scheme of this war. The ordnance men are needed to supply the guns and machinery of war to keep us rolling. The quartermaster is needed to bring up food and clothes because where we are going there isn't a hell of a lot to steal. Every last man on KP [kitchen police] has a job to do, even the one who heats our water to keep us from getting the "G.I. Shits". Each man must not think only of himself, but also of his buddy fighting beside him. We don't want yellow cowards in this army. They should be killed off like rats. If not, they will go home after this war and breed more cowards. The brave men will breed more brave men. Kill off the goddamned cowards and we will have a nation of brave men. One of the bravest men that I ever saw was a fellow on top of a telegraph pole in the midst of a furious fire fight in Tunisia. I stopped and asked what the hell he was doing up there at a time like that. He answered, "Fixing the wire, sir". I asked, "Isn't that a little unhealthy right about now?". He answered, "Yes sir, but the goddamned wire has to be fixed". I asked, "Don't those planes strafing the road bother you?" And he answered, "No, sir, but you sure as hell do!". Now there was a real man. A real soldier. There was a man who devoted all he had to his duty, no matter how seemingly insignificant his duty might appear at the time, no matter how great the odds. And you should have seen those trucks on the road to Tunisia. Those drivers were magnificent. All day and all night they rolled over those son-of-a-bitching roads, never stopping, never faltering from their course, with shells bursting all around them all of the time. We got through on good old American guts. Many of those men drove for over 40 consecutive hours. These men weren't combat men, but they were soldiers with a job to do. They did it, and in one hell of a way they did it. They were part of a team. Without team effort, without them, the fight would have been lost. All of the links in the chain pulled together and the chain became unbreakable. Don't forget, you men don't know that I'm here. No mention of that fact is to be made in any letters. The world is not supposed to know what the hell happened to me. I'm not supposed to be commanding this army. I'm not even supposed to be here in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the goddamned Germans. Someday I want to see them raise up on their piss-soaked hind legs and howl, "Jesus Christ, it's the goddamned Third Army again and that son-of-a-fucking-bitch Patton!". We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the goddamned Marines get all of the credit. Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper-hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I'd shoot a snake! When a man is lying in a shell hole, if he just stays there all day, a German will get to him eventually. The hell with that idea. The hell with taking it. My men don't dig foxholes. I don't want them to. Foxholes only slow up an offensive. Keep moving. And don't give the enemy time to dig one either. We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by fighting and by showing the Germans that we've got more guts than they have; or ever will have. We're not going to just shoot the sons-of-bitches, we're going to rip out their living goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. We're going to murder those lousy Hun cocksuckers by the bushel-fucking-basket. War is a bloody, killing business. You've got to spill their blood, or they will spill yours. Rip them up the belly. Shoot them in the guts. When shells are hitting all around you and you wipe the dirt off your face and realize that instead of dirt it's the blood and guts of what once was your best friend beside you, you'll know what to do! I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position". We are not holding a goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls. We are going to twist his balls and kick the living shit out of him all of the time. Our basic plan of operation is to advance and to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under or through the enemy. We are going to go through him like crap through a goose; like shit through a tin horn! From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hard. I don't give a good goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder WE push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you all to remember that. There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that 20 years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you WON'T have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, "Well, your granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana". No, sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, "Son, your granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a son-of-a-goddamned-bitch named Georgie Patton!
I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me.
[on bravery] Courage is fear holding on a minute longer.
Accept the challenges, so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.
Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men. It is the spirit of the men who follow and of the man who leads that gains the victory.
Evidently. the virus started by [Henry Morgenthau Jr.] and [Bernard Baruch] of a Semitic revenge against all Germans is still working . . . Harrison and his ilk believe that the Displaced Person is a human being, which he is not, and this applies particularly to the Jews, who are lower than animals.
The Germans are the only decent people left in Europe. It's a choice between them and the Russians, I prefer the Germans.
We may have been fighting the wrong enemy all along. But while we're here, we should go after the bastards now, 'cause we're gonna have to fight 'em eventually.
I'll say this; the 3rd Army alone with very little help and with damned few casualties, could lick what is left of the Russians in six weeks. You mark my words. Don't ever forget them . . . Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives.
If we let Germany and the German people be completely disintegrated and starved, they will certainly fall for Communism, and the fall of Germany for Communism will write the epitaph of democracy in the United States. The more I see of people, the more I regret I survived the war.
I think we've been fighting the wrong people all this time, but I've oiled my belly so I can stay with them on the vodka. My front will be as good as theirs.
Another war has ended and with it my usefulness to the world. It is for me personally another very sad thought. Now all that is left is to sit around and await the arrival of the undertaker and posthumous immortality.
[7/21/ 1945] We have destroyed what could have been a good race and we [are] about to replace them with Mongolian savages. Now the horrors of peace, pacifism and unions will have unlimited sway. I wish I were young enough to fight in the next one. It would be real fun killing Mongols . . . It is hell to be old and passé and know it.
We did not come over here to acquire jurisdiction over either the people or their countries. We came to give them back the right to govern themselves. We must either finish the job now--while we are here and ready--or later in less favorable circumstances.
[to press reporters at a hospital] I'll bet you goddam buzzards are just following me to see if I'll slap another soldier, aren't you? You're all hoping I will!
Indeed? Well, my dear Marshal [Georgi Zhukov], let me tell you this. If any of my gunners started firing at your people before they had closed to less than 700 yards, I'd have them court-martialed for cowardice.
I was reluctant, in fact unwilling, to be party to the destruction of Germany under the pretense of denazification . . . I believe Germany should not be destroyed, but rather rebuilt as a buffer against the real danger which is Bolshevism from Russia.
My soldiers are fighting men and if I dismiss the sewer cleaners and the clerks my soldiers will have to take over those jobs. They'd have to run the telephone exchanges, the power facilities, the street cars, and that's not what soldiers are for.
The noise against me is the only means by which Jews and Communists are attempting and with good success to implement a further dismemberment of Germany.
Let's keep our boots polished, bayonets sharpened and present a picture of force and strength to these people [the Soviets]. This is the only language they understand and respect. If you fail to do this, then I would like to say to you that we have had a victory over the Germans and have disarmed them, but have lost the war.
I despise and abhor Nazis and Hitlerism as much as anyone. My record on that is clear and unchallengeable. It is to be found on battlefields from Morocco to Bad Tölz . . . Now, more than half the Germans were Nazis and we would be in a hell of a fix if we removed all Nazi party members from office. The way I see it, this Nazi question is very much like a Democrat and Republican election fight. To get things done in Bavaria, after the complete disorganization and disruption of four years of war, we had to compromise with the devil a little. We had no alternative but to turn to the people who knew what to do and how to do it. So, for the time being we are compromising with the devil . . . I don't like the Nazis any more than you do. I despise them. In the past three years I did my utmost to kill as many of them as possible. Now we are using them for lack of anyone better until we can get better people.
[on the Soviets] They are a scurvy race and simply savages. We could beat hell out of them.
The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinaman or a Japanese, and from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them, except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other Asiatic characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all-out son of bitch, barbarian, and chronic drunk.
I understand the situation. Their [the Soviet] supply system is inadequate to maintain them in a serious action such as I could put to them. They have chickens in the coop and cattle on the hoof--that's their supply system. They could probably maintain themselves in the type of fighting I could give them for five days. After that it would make no difference how many million men they have, and if you wanted Moscow I could give it to you. They lived on the land coming down. There is insufficient left for them to maintain themselves going back. Let's not give them time to build up their supplies. If we do, then . . . we have had a victory over the Germans and disarmed them, but we have failed in the liberation of Europe; we have lost the war!
[after having defeated the forces of German Gen. Erwin Rommel in battle] Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!
Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.
May God have mercy for my enemies because I won't.
The test of success is not what you do when you are on top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.
When in doubt, ATTACK!
In my opinion, the American army as it now exists could beat the Russians with the greatest of ease, because, while the Russians have good infantry, they are lacking in artillery, air, tanks and the knowledge of the use of the combined arms, whereas we excel in all three of these. If it should be necessary to fight the Russians, the sooner we do it the better.
SS means no more in Germany than being a Democrat in America--that is not to be quoted. I mean by that that initially the SS people were special sons of bitches, but as the war progressed they ran out of sons of bitches and then they put anybody in there. Some of the top SS men will be treated as criminals, but there is no reason for trying someone who was drafted into this outfit.
I doubted the expediency of blowing up factories, because the ends for which the factories are being blown up - that is, preventing Germany from preparing for war - can be equally well attained through the destruction of their machinery, while the buildings can be used to house thousands of homeless persons.
I have never seen in any army at any time, including the German Imperial Army of 1912, as severe discipline as exists in the Russian army. The officers, with few exceptions, give the appearance of recently civilized Mongolian bandits.
I will probably be in the headlines before you get this, as the press is trying to quote me as being more interested in restoring order in Germany than in catching Nazis. I can't tell them the truth that unless we restore Germany we will ensure that Communism takes America.
I have been at Frankfurt for a civil government conference. If what we are doing [to the Germans] is"'Liberty, then give me death". I can't see how Americans can sink so low. It is Semitic, and I am sure of it.
There is a very apparent Semitic influence in the press. They are trying to do two things: first, implement communism, and second, see that all businessmen of German ancestry and non-Jewish antecedents are thrown out of their jobs. They have utterly lost the Anglo-Saxon conception of justice and feel that a man can be kicked out because somebody else says he is a Nazi. They were evidently quite shocked when I told them I would kick nobody out without the successful proof of guilt before a court of law . . . Another point which the press harped on was the fact that we were doing too much for the Germans to the detriment of the DPs, most of whom are Jews. I could not give the answer to that one, because the answer is that, in my opinion and that of most nonpolitical officers, it is vitally necessary for us to build Germany up now as a buffer state against Russia. In fact, I am afraid we have waited too long.
Berlin gave me the blues. We have destroyed what could have been a good race, and we are about to replace them with Mongolian savages. And all Europe will be Communist. It's said that for the first week after they took it [Berlin], all women who ran were shot and those who did not were raped. I could have taken it [instead of the Soviets] had I been allowed.
What we are doing is to destroy the only semi-modern state in Europe, so that Russia can swallow the whole.
Where, although room existed, the Jews were crowded together to an appalling extent, and in practically every room there was a pile of garbage in one corner which was also used as a latrine. The Jews were only forced to desist from their nastiness and clean up the mess by the threat of the butt ends of rifles. Of course, I know the expression "lost tribes of Israel" applied to the tribes which disappeared--not to the tribe of Judah from which the current sons of bitches are descended. However, it is my personal opinion that this too is a lost tribe--lost to all decency.
I am frankly opposed to this war criminal stuff. It is not cricket and is Semitic. I am also opposed to sending POWs to work as slaves in foreign lands [i.e., the Soviet Union's Gulags], where many will be starved to death.
It is my present thought . . . that when I finish this job, which will be around the first of the year, I shall resign, not retire, because if I retire I will still have a gag in my mouth . . . I should not start a limited counterattack, which would be contrary to my military theories, but should wait until I can start an all-out offensive.
I have been just as furious as you at the compilation of lies which the communist and Semitic elements of our government have leveled against me and practically every other commander. In my opinion it is a deliberate attempt to alienate the soldier vote from the commanders, because the communists know that soldiers are not communistic, and they fear what 11 million votes [of veterans] would do.
I know the expression 'lost tribes of Israel' applied to the tribes which disappeared - not to the tribe of Judah from which the current sons of bitches are descended. However, it is my personal opinion that this too is a lost tribe - lost to all decency.
This happened to be the feast of Yom Kippur, so they were all collected in a large, wooden building, which they called a synagogue. It behooved [Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower] to make a speech to them. We entered the synagogue, which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. When we got about halfway up, the head rabbi, who was dressed in a fur hat similar to that worn by Henry VIII of England and in a surplice heavily embroidered and very filthy, came down and met the general . . . The smell was so terrible that I almost fainted and actually about three hours later lost my lunch as the result of remembering it. Of course, I have seen them since the beginning and marveled that beings alleged to be made in the form of God can look the way they do or act the way they act.
I will only say we had a perfectly uneventful trip. Never saw a U-Boat and reached London on the 7th of June. My Jews were quartered in the tower and so was I. It was fine and the officers of the Honorable Artillery Corps who date from 1537 were fine to me. Being English the name "Artillery Corps" does not mean anything, as they are an infantry regiment belonging to the Guard Brigade. The reception they gave us in the Tower of London was worth the trip. The officers took us in and treated us like more than brothers; we could not spend a cent. The H. A. C. is a very smart regiment; even now the privates have to pay $12 a year for the privilege of being killed in it. One night they gave us a theater party and the men were entertained every moment. The Jews behaved wonderfully and everyone complimented them. The night we left the officers gave [Richard B.] Paddock and myself a dinner and made speeches. The Commander, Col. Truffey, made a toast in which he said that the H. A. C. would always consider us as their adopted children and would take pride in our future deeds. I replied and said as follows as near as I can remember: "Col. Truffey! Gentlemen! On the part of my men, Capt. Paddock and myself, I desire to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your most courteous treatment of us while we have been your guests. Should I live a hundred years I shall never feel so proud as when I marched behind your band, beneath your historic arches, cheered to the echoes by your gallant men. My sincere wish is that we, your adopted children, shall be able to equal your noble record, for to excel it were impossible. As for your Corps, emotion chokes me; I can only say with all earnestness; the H. A. C. God Bless It". After supper the enlisted men gave a show to which all the officers as well as the men were invited . . . Some of the men were very talented, one sergeant having been the accompanist of Maurice Chevalier, another private having been a vaudeville act, some of the officers also entertained. The colonel himself giving a monologue; it was fine. At the end of the show a box of cuff buttons made from gold buttons of the regiment was given me to present to the men and a sergeant made a speech to us. So I had to again resort to spontaneous oratory. As well as I can remember I said, "Col. Truffey, officers and men of the H. A. C. in replying to your generous ovation I am at a loss what to say but on the whole think that I can best express the emotions I feel by presenting your present to my men to them before you. Men--turning to my Jews--in accepting these buttons which only the Guards and the H. A. C. may wear you must know that you are not only receiving a present but are also receiving an obligation. Were it not that I know that you are worthy I would warn you. That no one accept these tokens who feels himself unworthy of the burdens the wearing of these imposes. You are about to receive buttons which have fastened the tunics of the nobles of all the heroes of this heroic war. See that in accepting this accolade you ever live up to its requirements and strive to equal, for no mortal can accell [sic], the magnificent record of the H. A. C. Americans rise. Three cheers for the H. A. C.'" I don't send you these as masterpieces of oratory but for spontaneous effusions they are not bad and elicited much applause . . . Your devoted son, George S. Patton.
Today we received orders . . . in which we were told to give the Jews special accommodations. If for Jews, why not Catholics, Mormons, etc.?
If a sufficient number [of the Buchenwald inmates] did not die of starvation or if, for other reasons, it was desirable to remove them without waiting for nature to take its course, they were dropped down a chute into a room which had a number of hooks like those on which one hangs meat in a butcher shop, about eight feet from the floor. From the execution room in the Buchenwald set-up there was an elevator, hand-operated, which carried the corpses to an incinerator plant on the floor above.
[on Buchenwald concentration camp] The inmates looked like feebly animated mummies and seemed to be of the same level of intelligence.
How awful war is. Think of the waste.
I finally after a fight of three years got the DSM [Distinguished Service Medal] for all my people, ten in all. I think it is amusing that no one tries to get any [medals] for me. I got nothing for Tunisia, nothing for Sicily and nothing for the Bulge. Brad [Gen. nm0103357] and Courtney [Gen. nm7757885]] ] were both decorated for their failures in this operation.
For the years that are left to me I am determined to be free to live as I want and say what I want.
General Clay [Dwight D. Eisenhower's deputy] [ . . . ] and General McNarney have never commanded anything, including their own self-respect. . . The whole luncheon party reminded me of a meeting of the Rotary Club in Hawaii where everyone slaps everyone else's back while looking for an appropriate place to thrust the knife. I admit I am guilty of this practice, although at the moment I have no appropriate weapon.
Tin-soldier politicians in Washington have allowed us to kick the hell out of one bastard Adolf Hitler and at the same time forced us to help establish a second one Joseph Stalin as evil or more evil than the first.
There are occasions when I can truthfully say that I am not as much of a son-of-a-bitch as I may think I am.
This conference cost me the command of the 3rd Army, or rather, of a group of soldiers, mostly recruits, who then rejoiced in that historic name, but I was intentionally direct because I believed that it was then time for people to know what was going on. My language was not particularly politic, but I have yet to find where politic language produces successful government . . . My chief interest in establishing order in Germany was to prevent Germany from going communistic. I am afraid that our foolish and utterly stupid policy [ . . . ] will certainly cause them to join the Russians and thereby ensure a communistic state throughout Western Europe. It is rather sad for me to think that my last opportunity for earning my pay has passed. At least, I have done my best as God gave me the chance.
Tin-soldier politicians in Washington have allowed us to kick the hell out of one bastard [Hitler] and at the same time forced us to help establish a second one [Stalin] as evil or more evil than the first.
Individually they were good soldiers, but I expressed my belief at the time, and have never found the necessity of changing it, that a colored soldier cannot think fast enough to fight in armor.
[after being fatally injured in a car crash] This is a hell of a way to die.
I cannot understand who had the presumption to attribute to me anti-Semitic ideas which I certainly do not possess.
