Nor should we forget our comrades of the other armies and of the Air Force, particularly of the XIX Tactical Air Command, by whose side or under whose wings we have had the honor to fight. 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. Eisenhower was self-effacing and came from dirt-poor beginnings. That unknown spells defeat or victory, success or failure. Of course we are willing to die but that is not enough. Eklund, he demanded, do you know Chaplain So-and-so?. I have complete confidence that you will not fail. We are advancing constantlyand we are not interested in holding onto anything except the enemys balls! Find out more about George S. Patton below! The two men bonded over their shared military enthusiasm and love of strategy. are also the modern representatives of the demigods and heroes of antiquity?. . The film concerns Patton as he leads the American forces during World War II. 1911 March 19 Pattons first child, Beatrice Ayer, was born. Better yetthe tank company in which he fought. "Patton, ordeal and triumph". I do not believe that much praying is being done.. The shortest way home isthrough Berlin and Tokyo. I should think the distance is less than half a mile. The final stage of World War II in the European Theatre commenced with the Western Allied invasion of Germany. By that I mean that the riflemanwants to shoot, the tanker wants to charge, the artillerymanto fire . . Patton's speeches typically included humor, almost always profane and often self-deprecatory: I do not know of a better way to die than to be facing the enemy. It was not a terrible thing,he thought. . He gave us a British priest, who had lived a long time in Jerusalem, as a guide to see the sights. Patton's first action was to take control of North Africa and Morocco. I dont want to get any messages saying, I am holdingmy position. We are not holding a goddamned thing. Lying in a bomb crater, surrounded by the horrors of war, Pattonwas overwhelmed by a deep feeling of warmth and peace, comfortand love. 1917 May 15 Patton was promoted to the rank of captain. Every manis a vital link in the great chain. To order this book, please visit its online sales page atAmazonorBarnes & Noble. The official cause of death was pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure. He sought topresent the striking image of a leader, an image that demanded attention and inspired his troops by its swagger. . Unable to offer further protest, he was taken to anevacuation hospital behind the lines. Let us be gentle. George and I and a group of young officers thought . Patton left the window, sat at his desk and leaned back in his swivel chair. . December 16 Germany launched offensive in the Ardennes known as the Battle of the Bulge. Patton of the brisk, purposeful stride. He saw action in the Pancho Villa Expedition of 1916 and served with American forces in the First World War, notably at the tank . . This was not just any battle, but a winner takes all. The General wanted a prayerhe wanted one right now and he wanted it published to the Command. . I was shotin the behind in World War I! That chance came at Saint Mihiel on 12 September 1918. General George S. Patton, the famous war-time leader, died not from wounds in battle but rather from a car accident. . June 8 Arrived in Honolulu and was assigned to G-2, Hawaiian Department. June 11 Became Distinguished Graduate, Army War College. Enough War for a Lifetime. I was shot in the behind in World War I! Patton is a 1970 film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner and co-written by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the life of General George S. Patton and starring George C. Scott in his most iconic role. Guts. Pray when fighting. One codex dating from 1420 and depicting the life of Saint Anthony, who spent his time being pursued by devils in the form of beautiful women, was particularly interesting to me because in one of the pictures it showed an armorers shop in which suits of armor, varying in date from early 1100 to 1400, were hung up for sale just as one hangs up clothes in a pawnshop. Fortunately for our fame as soldiers, our enemy is worthy of us. He came from Israels smallest tribe. This article is from the bookPatton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer2012by Michael Keane. Throughout his life he prayed daily and attended church almost every Sunday, even in wartime. Remember too that your God is with you. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. When war erupted in France in 1914, Patton wanted to take up the sword in earnest, fighting in the French army. Sergeant John Mims, Pattons driver throughout the war, recalled, We left at six oclock in the morning. In my mind we came here to thank God that men like these have lived rather than to regret that they have died.. . He was laid next to a Third Army soldier who had been killed in combat during the Battle of the Bulge. He was a communicant of the Episcopal Church, but he studied the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita. Patton could, famously and frequently, swear up a storm. Distribution was completed on December 11 and 12. Both of us were students of current military doctrine. Patton succeeded Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower as the Military Governor of the U.S. The public Patton was brash, self-confident, and boastful. . He had been chastised for leaving his command post during the battle at Saint-Mihiel, but he did the same during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Loading. With the skill of a methodactor, Patton would also strive to achieve an intimidating mienhiswar facethat would communicate his intensity to his audience. Please be advised it is quite profane. He spoke to his men like it, and they returned a response of almost mechanised fighting ability. 1905 June 5 Patton turned back to repeat initial year. You won them; I as your representative wear them. World War II U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton Jr. and his soldiers embark on the road to Germany by invading North Africa Nov. 8, 1942, in the face of opposition by pro-Nazi French forces. Audio mp3 of Address delivered by George C. Scott. He stood up, grabbed his walking stick, and turned to the soldiersbehind him. Great living is not all output of thought and work. His diary entry for November 7, 1944, reads: Two years ago today we were on the Augusta approaching Africa, and it was blowing hard. We have never retreated; we have suffered no defeats, no famine, no epidemics. The enduring valor of the combat troops has been paralleled and made possible by the often unpublicized activities of the supply, administrative, and medical services of this Army and of the Communications Zone troops supporting it. Thebilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for theSaturday Evening Post dont know any more about realfighting under fire than they know about f***ing! Pray alone. This is a helluva way to die, General Patton told Gay. General Patton "Blood and Guts" Speech to the Third Army on June 5th, 1944 (The parts in red are excerpts that have been translated into Vietnamese) Be seated! Somelines became classic. General Pattons communication was not limited to his speeches; he alsoprojected strength in his demeanor and in his dress. to bea one-handed puncher. Patton 360 Rogue General. The soldier who cracks up does not need sympathy or comfort as much as he needs strength. . 1932 June 2 Patton was awarded the Purple Heart for a wound sustained in 1918. It was in this capacity that Patton met Field Marshal Haig. The knights also had to take four vowsPoverty, Chastity, Humility, and Obedience. October 2 Patton was relieved for statements made to the press about former Nazi Party members. Contains Profanity. On March 23, 1945, Eisenhower wrote a warm letter to General Patton: I have frequently had occasion to state, publicly, my appreciation of the great accomplishments of this Allied force during the past nine months. Men this stuff that some sources sling around aboutAmerica wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight,is a crock of bullshit. 1916 March 13 Patton detached from 8th Cavalry and attached to headquarters, Punitive Expedition, Mexico. Eisenhower prepared to leak a story that General Patton had lost his commandbecause of displeasure at some of his indiscretions and thatthe main invasion of the continent was delayed by bad weather. And dontgive the enemy time to dig one either. As usual, he was dressed stunningly, and his six-foot-two powerfully built physique made an unforgettable silhouette against the great window. Who is with me? he yelled. There is still a tendency in each separate unit . Thetrouser legs were skinny and shoved into his black, laced-up fieldboots. On September 26, at 10 oclock, Patton and his men had advanced to a crossroads on the southern edge of Cheppy. . God has His part, or margin, in everything. If youre not alert, some time a German son of abitch is going to sneak up behind you and beat you todeath with a sockful of shit! General Patton : A Soldier's Life (2002) by Stanley P. Hirshson, . Patton was so harsh to everyone that during this time he got nicknamed "Old Blood and Guts". October 3 Patton joined 3d Cavalry at Fort Myer, Virginia, as Commanding Officer, 3d Squadron. He felt that love was all around him, like a subdued light. The termination of fighting in Europe does not remove the oppor-tunities for other outstanding and equally difficult achievements in the days which are to come. An armored divisionis that element of the team which carries out therunning plays. From the canal we flew along the line of Allenbys advance and crossed at Wadi El Arish at the spot where the battle occurred. Either He will give us good weather or the bad weather will hurt the Germans more than it does us. But it was not just a speech, it was a performance. Soon only two men were standingPatton andAngelo. Pattons Message Marking the End of World War Two, Pattons Letter to his Troops Before Fighting Rommel in Africa, Pattons Near-Death Experience in World War One, Patton and Eisenhowers Friendship During the Interwar Years. Speech at the Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts, on June 07, 1945. Two weeks later, General Patton took over command of II Corps from Fre-dendall and wrote this letter to the troops now under his command: All of us have been in battle. We were lucky in Africa, in Sicily, and in Italy. It would do no harm to reimpress this training on chaplains. People must have very little confidence to fear assassination in such a place. The II Corps, under the command of Major General Lloyd Fredendall, was driven back twenty-one miles in nine days. I got a medal for charging at the enemy, butI have had to spend a lot of time explaining how I gotshot in the behind! Dont ever think that your job is unimportant. Famed World War Two general George S. Patton commanded theU.S. Getty Images. He sought topresent the striking image of a leader, an image that demanded attention and inspired his troops by its swagger. If theres any doubt in any of your Goddamn minds that Im going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life, lets cut out all this horse-shit right now and let me die, Patton lashed out. If hesays hes not, hes a liar. George Patton. He was dying, but he had nofear of death. In my opinion it is a fake, since the pommel is not of the correct shape, nor has it sufficient weight. All in all, Patton had had a quite satisfactory war. Coy Eklund, an officer on Pattons staff, confirms a story about Pattons insistence on inspirational sermons: It is no myth that one Sunday morning, after attending church services as he always did, he stalked into my office in the Army barracks in Nancy, France, where I was the senior duty officer. In order to be a Knight of Malta, it was necessary to have sixteen crosses of nobility, so that when anyone came up to be a knight, he had to present his genealogy, which was then studied by a college of heralds, and, if proven correct, permitted to join. HistoryOnTheNet 2000-2019. In 1941, on the day the menof the Second Armored Division completed their orientation at FortBenning, Patton appeared wearing a new uniform, which, characteristically,he had designed himself. He did give a speech very similar to . By providing aplausible reason for Pattons removal, the notorious slapping incidentscontributed to the success of the deception. September 12 Patton joined 15th Cavalry, Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and was assigned to Troop K. 1910 May 26 Patton and Beatrice Banning Ayer were married; they would later have three children. An Army is a team. As he searched through his prayer books, ONeill could find no formal prayers pertaining to weather, so he composed an original prayer which he typed on a three-by-five-inch card: Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. This is the full text of the speech Gen. Patton made prior to D-Day. . The vivid and profane inspirational speeches garnered muchattention and some detractors, but Patton also gave countless speechesintended to educate his officers and troops on the topics of strategy,tactics, discipline,and how to conduct the new deadly form of armoredwarfare: You men and officers are, in my opinion, magnificentlydisciplined.You cannotbe disciplinedin great thingsand undisciplined in small things . 1. What do you think he wants? It was perfectly clear to me. Patton felt the loss of camaraderie and sense of purpose. In addition, they had killed or wounded an estimated 88,000 enemy soldiers and taken another 30,000 prisoner. My men dont dig foxholes. Americans love to fight. . Advertisement. It is power.. Even if you arehit, you can still fight back. People must try to use their imagination and whenorders fail to come, must act on their own best judgment. Between the bursts ofmachine gun fire Patton could hear the excited conversations of Germansoldiers who had just taken up a position in a trench a mere fortyyards away. As a career military man, Patton couldnt help but be fascinated by theircustoms. You have fought your way across 24 major rivers and innu-merable lesser streams. Our glorious march from the Normandy Beach across France to where we stand, before and beyond the Siegfried Line, with the wreckage of the German Army behind us should convince the most skeptical soldier that God has ridden with our banner. Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. Thirty years from now, when youare sitting around the fireside with your grandson onyour knee and he asks what you did in the great WorldWar II, you wont have to say, I shoveled shit in Louisiana.. With that the general rose from his chair, indicating that the meeting was concluded, and ONeill returned to his office to prepare the training letter Patton had requested. Winning converts was not easy, but Patton and Eisenhower were zealots. We straight-arm, and go around, anddodge, and go around . . Men, all this stuff you hear about America not wanting to fight, wanting to stay out of the war, is a lot of bullshit. The men implored Patton to escape from the Germans fire,but he refused to budge. . Foxholesonly slow up an offensive. Americans will not tolerate aloser. As one soldierrecalled: I am positive the Patton image was born on the first day hespoke in that bowl. The General Patton I saw there was the Army Commander to whom the welfare of the men under him was a matter of personal responsibility. Now lets cut the guts out of those Krauts and get the hell on to Berlin. Throughout the speech (Appendix 1) General Patton emphasises certain themes (Appendices 2 and 3 . . General Patton Speech | 6th Armored Division | 31 May 1944 Alyosha 394 subscribers Subscribe 2.3K Share 92K views 4 years ago General George S. Patton speech to the 6th Armored. Although I looked very carefully, I could see no indication of the fighting, but I did recognize the cactus hedge where the tanks got stuck. Sure we want to go home. The general was as affected by the Crusader sights as he was the Biblical locations. As a young officerin World War One, George S. Pattonwas part of thenewly formedUnited States Tank Corpsof theAmerican Expeditionary Forces. And when we get to Berlin,I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging sonof a bitch Hitler, just like Id shoot a snake! 20th Century Timeline Of World History: What Happened? To be successful, Patton believed, a man must plan, work hard, and pray. 1940 April 1 Served as Umpire, Spring Maneuvers, Fort Benning, Georgia. In his many trials, Patton turned to God and found remarkable serenity. . When he reached the other side of the river, Patton pretended to stumble, imitating William the Conqueror, who famously fell on his face when landing in England but transformed the bad omen into a propitious one by leaping to his feet with a handful of English soil, claiming it portended his complete possession of the country. Since all these genealogies, covering the knights from sometime in 1100 to date, are preserved in the library, it gives the greatest historical family tree in the world. Patton joined the Second Armored Division at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1940. Ive been looking forward to this for a long time, Patton said as he unzipped his fly and urinated into the river while an Army photographer recorded the moment for posterity. . Ambitions thwarted, his thirst for action still would not be denied. Americans love to fight, traditionally. The sudden transition from the highly-charged experience of combat, where one is com-manding men in life-or-death situations, to domestic tranquility can be jarring and difficult. He was promoted to first lieutenant. The American public embraced a pacifism inspired by a vision of the future in which war was a relic of the barbaric past. Privately, he noted to his father, There will be hundred[s] of Majors of Infantry but only one of Light T[anks]. He had his progress mapped out: 1st. It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as ateam. Americans love a winner.
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