George S. Patton

George Smith Patton Jr. (11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945) was a U.S. Army general who led the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean during World War II and later commanded the Third Army in France and Germany following the June 1944 Normandy invasion. Born in San Gabriel, California, Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute and then West Point, where he struggled academically but excelled in drills. He designed the M1913 Cavalry Saber (the "Patton Saber"), studied fencing, and placed fifth in the modern pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. He saw his first combat during the 1916 Pancho Villa Expedition, the U.S. military’s first use of motor vehicles. In World War I, he led the U.S. tank school in France, commanded tanks in battle, and was wounded near the war’s end. Between the wars, he helped shape the army’s armored warfare doctrine and held various staff posts. At the start of World War II, he commanded the 2nd Armored Division.

Patton led U.S. forces in the invasion of Casablanca during Operation Torch in 1942 and quickly revived the demoralized II Corps. He commanded the Seventh Army in the Sicily invasion, becoming the first Allied commander to reach Messina. There, he slapped two shell-shocked soldiers, sparking controversy that led to his temporary removal from battlefield command. He then played a key role in Operation Fortitude, the deception campaign for the Normandy invasion. Given command of the Third Army at the start of the Allied invasion of France, he led a rapid armored drive across the country. During the Battle of the Bulge, his forces relieved besieged American troops at Bastogne, then pushed deep into Nazi Germany. After the war, he served as military governor of Bavaria but was relieved for making aggressive remarks about the Soviet Union and questioning denazification. He also made antisemitic statements. He commanded the Fifteenth Army for just over two months before dying from injuries sustained in a car accident on 21 December 1945.

Patton’s colorful image, hard-driving style, and battlefield success were often overshadowed by his controversial public comments. His philosophy of leading from the front and his vulgar, attention-getting speeches—like his famous address to the Third Army—were popular with his troops but less so with a divided Allied high command. His decision to send the doomed Task Force Baum to free his son-in-law, Lieutenant Colonel John K. Waters, from a POW camp further damaged his standing with superiors. His emphasis on rapid, aggressive offensives proved effective, and German commanders held him in high regard. The 1970 Oscar-winning film *Patton* helped cement his popular image.

Patton was born in San Gabriel, California, to George S. Patton and Ruth Wilson, whose father, Benjamin Davis Wilson, was Los Angeles’s second mayor. The wealthy family lived on a 128-acre estate in present-day San Marino. He had a younger sister, Anne, who was briefly engaged to John J. Pershing. His paternal grandfather was Confederate Colonel George S. Patton Sr. As a child, Patton struggled with reading and writing but later became an avid reader. He was homeschooled until age eleven, then attended a private school in Pasadena for six years. He was well-read in classical military history and admired figures like Hannibal, Joan of Arc, and Napoleon, as well as Confederate cavalryman John Singleton Mosby, a family friend. He was a devoted horseback rider.

Patton never considered a career outside the military. At seventeen, he sought a West Point appointment and also applied to universities with military programs. Accepted to Princeton, he instead chose the Virginia Military Institute, which his father and grandfather had attended. He attended VMI from 1903 to 1904, excelling in uniform and drill but struggling with reading and writing. Senator Thomas R. Bard nominated him for West Point, where he joined the Kappa Alpha Order. At West Point, he adjusted easily to the routine but failed mathematics and had to repeat his first year. He excelled in military drills, maintained average academics, and served as cadet sergeant major and later cadet adjutant.