Dear KMAG: 20210823 Joe Biden Didn’t Win ❀ Open Topic

Brit: “I’m afraid there is nothing Gen. Montgomery can do…at least not for some weeks.”

Gen. Smith: “What about you, George?”

Patton: “I can attack with 3 divisions in 48 hrs.”

.

As was his custom, Patton made it a point to be seen during the battle, always riding in an open jeep. The cold was so intense soldiers dressed in as many lay­ers of clothing as they could manage, but Patton’s only concession to the glacial temperatures was a heavy winter parka or an overcoat. He spent little time in his headquarters and most of each day on the road, to see and be seen by his troops and to endure the same wretched conditions.

Daily, he prowled the roads of the Ardennes, sitting ramrod straight, often with his arms folded , his face un­smiling. More than once his face froze. Word of his presence managed to filter through the amazing GI grapevine with astonishing rapidity, as did his words of praise for his troops, which were invari­ably reported down through the chain of command: “The Old Man says…” or “Georgie says….”

During his brilliantly orchestrated week-long defense of Saint Vith, Brigadier General Bruce C. Clarke informed a ser­geant manning a forward infantry out­ post that he had heard Patton’s Third Army was attacking from the south. “The sergeant thought for a minute and said, ‘That’s good news. If Georgie’s coming we’ve got it made.’

“I know of no other senior commander in Europe,” said Gen. Clarke years afterward, “who could have brought forth such a response from the men.”

One cold, dark, miserable afternoon Patton encountered a column of the Fourth Armored moving toward Bas­togne. Tanks and vehicles were sliding off the road in the thick ice. Someone recognized him and let out a shout that began to roll down the column as sol­diers in trucks and tanks began cheering. After the war, a GI told Beatrice Patton, the general’s wife: “Oh, yes, I knew him, though I only saw him once. We was stuck in the snow and he come by in a jeep. His face was awful red and he must have been about froze riding in that open jeep. He yelled to us to get out and push, and next thing I knew, there was Gen­eral Patton pushing in the mud right alongside of me. Sure, I knew him; he never asked a man to do what he wouldn’t do himself.”

The logistical feats accomplished by the Third Army over the next few days would prove nothing short of phenomenal. By the time they were through, the Third Army’s staff had established dozens of new depots and dumps, shifted 63,000 tons of supplies in five days, and moved an average of 4,500 tons of ammunition per day. Hundreds of thousands of new maps, weighing 57 tons in all, were distributed. Some 2,800 miles of road were reconnoitered by transport officers. An entirely new field communications system was set up, requiring 20,000 miles of wire to be strung.

Gen. Omar Bradley later offered the highest praise of Patton: “His gen­eralship during this difficult maneuver was magnificent. One of the most brilliant performances by any commander on either side in World War II. It was abso­lutely his cup of tea–rapid, open warfare combined with noble purpose and difficult goals. He relished every minute of it.”

…this was Patton’s and the Third Army’s finest hour. No one but Patton could have pulled off such a feat.