George S. Patton
George Smith Patton, Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945)
was a United States Army officer best known for his leadership
while commanding corps and armies as a general during World War
II. He was also well known for his eccentricity and
controversial outspokenness.
Patton was commissioned in the U.S. Army after his graduation
from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1909. In
1916-17, he participated in the unsuccessful Pancho Villa
Expedition, a U.S. operation that attempted to capture the
Mexican revolutionary. |
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In World War I, he was the first officer assigned to the new
United States Tank Corps and saw action in France.[1][2] In
World War II, he commanded corps and armies in North Africa,
Sicily, and the European Theater of Operations. Near the end
of the Sicilian campaign, he jeopardized his career by
slapping a soldier (whom he regarded as a coward) while the
soldier was recuperating from battle fatigue at a hospital.
Relieved of his command by Allied Supreme Commander General
Dwight D. Eisenhower over the well-publicized incident, Patton
was relegated to acting as a decoy in Operation Quicksilver
instead of playing a major part in the Normandy Landings and
Operation Overlord; however, he was later given command of the
U.S. Third Army and ably led it in break
ing out of the hedgerows of Normandy and across France. A
surprise German offensive at the Battle of the Bulge resulted
in American units being surrounded at Bastogne, but Patton
rapidly disengaged his army from fighting in another sector
and moved it over 100 miles in 48 hours to help relieve the
siege.
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