Killing Patton

On June 5, 1944, in the British countryside, one day before the D-Day landings in Normandy and the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe, Patton delivers a speech to the men of his Third Army. Patton praises the virtue of battlefield courage, as “Americans despise cowards” (18). He also talks about the importance of an army fighting as a team.

One example of individual heroism takes place in October 1944, when two companies of Patton’s army attempt to take Fort Driant in France to secure the French city of Metz and begin the Allied push into Germany following D-Day. One private, Robert Holmlund, singlehandedly puts explosives into a hatch on top of the Fort. The ensuing confusion allows the Americans to penetrate Driant. However, the attack is eventually repulsed, and Holmlund is killed. After four days of bitter fighting, Patton must call off the assault. This is his first major defeat as general, one in which over half of the 140 men who began the assault have been killed or wounded.

In October 1944, Nazi Fuhrer Adolf Hitler is in bad health and still recovering physically and psychologically from an attempt made on his life on June 20 by dissident generals in the German army who felt that “Hitler will never sue for peace, and this could lead to the complete destruction of Germany” (44). Amongst them was Hitler’s most talented commander, Erwin Rommel, who now commits suicide via cyanide pill when SS soldiers surround his home.

Despite the loss of Rommel, Hitler still has confidence in a new winter offensive he is planning to launch on the western front. Codenamed “Operation Watch on the Rhine” (42-43), it aims to divide the British and American forces by pushing deep into Belgium and France. Hitler intends to destroy several Allied armies and decisively turn the course of the war.

The Supreme Commander Allied Forces Europe, General Dwight Eisenhower, has never directly fought in battle, but instead has “risen through the ranks and accrued power through intellect” and “shrewd diplomacy” (59). After his forces capture Aachen, their first German town, in October 1944, Eisenhower’s superior, Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall, now expects Eisenhower to defeat Germany by New Year’s Eve. Eisenhower believes this to be impossible given overstretched supply lines.

Eisenhower also has a troubled relationship with Patton. On the one hand, he needs the tactical skills and leadership qualities that led Patton to victories like those in the Italian campaign of 1943, when Patton was the first Allied general to secure the town of Messina. On the other hand, Patton’s behavior is often controversial and erratic. On two different occasions in August 1943, he slapped soldiers recovering in the hospital because he believed them to be “cowards” (63). Only Eisenhower’s intervention prevented Patton being removed after these incidents.

This chapter explores the situation on the Eastern Front and the position of the Soviet Union in 1944. Invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941, the USSR came close to defeat and almost lost their capital city, Moscow. However, the 1942 Battle of Stalingrad inflicted a huge defeat on Germany, surrounding and destroying a key German army. Since then the Soviets have been on the offensive. They have reclaimed their homeland—much of present-day Russia—and are now pushing through Eastern Europe into Germany itself.

The USSR’s defeat of Nazi Germany creates a sense of debt for the US and the UK: Over 20 million Soviet civilians and soldiers have been killed. At the same time, the alliance is problematic. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin is a ruthless dictator responsible for brutal repression in his own country. Britain fears that “When the war finally ends, [the Soviets] plan to grab as much land as possible” (80). Their concern is that after the war, the Soviets will dominate and control the Eastern European countries they have ostensibly liberated.