Dear Sir,
I read something on an e-mail site about General Patton
and the Spear of Destiny. Though some information
proved incorrect; Patton advanced with speed across
Southern Germany with the 3rd Army, not with the 7th
as was claimed by the host, though Patton did liberate
Sicily with the 7th, the host also claims that Patton
not only knew about the spear of destiny, but also
probably handled it himself. There are enough
coincidences to make such a suggestion: He liberated
Bavaria and was appointed as the Military Governor of
Bavaria after it's surrender. He probably passed
through Nuremberg, where the spear had apparently been
moved to from it's original home in the Hofsburg
Museum in Vienna by the Nazis, and he was lenient with
some Nazis, recognizing their administrative
abilities(although he was criticized for this, many ex
Nazis did work as admoinistrators in post war
Germany), and, according to the film, he believed in
the transmigration of souls, as did Hitler to some
extent. Patton had encyclopedic knowledge of the
classics, so he probaly knew of the spear. Do you,
Sir, have any information that either strengthens this
hypothesis, or refutes it? I am most curious.
Sincerely yours,
Michael S.
sterz7@yahoo.com please cc any comments on this to me as well. S.Foster@US.Army.mil

 

To whom it my concern,

I just got through celebrating my uncles 87th birthday, His name is Scyon Shear we had a very nice conversation we discussed the war in Germany and how difficult Gen. Patton was to get along with. They aways had my uncle park his tank and every time he did Patton would cuss and scream at him. He would always say he parked it in the wrong place, or he drove it to slow. Well one day they did get into an argument and my uncle told him. “were both wearing colt 45’s so why don’t you come over here and slap me like you did that other soldier” Patton simply replied with “ If the son of a mother whore German don’t kill you then I will” Patton never made good on his promise and my uncle was soon under the command of another Gen. so every thing turned out well. He lives in Azle Texas now and he was part of the 237 headquarters company between 1943-1948.

 

sir;
did general patton have any children? what ever bacame of them or his wife after his unfortunate death?
thank you
mike

 

I'm trying to locate Patton's apology to the 3rd (?) army for slapping a solider. I know I can transcribe it from a rental of the movie but I was hoping for the text.
Thanks
M. Hetman

If anyone has this, please forward me a copy of it as well. S.Foster@US.Army.mil Thanks

 

Patton's Mistake

In approximately Jan of 1944 Patton, Ike, and other top generals met to plan the invasion and one of the things that came up was the problem of our pathetic little sherman tank. Presented with the facts from two generals who had faced German armor and been mauled by them, he nevertheless adamantly blocked switching to the better equipped Pershing tank. It is believed that we could have had at least a 1000 of them ready by D-day.

Patton blocked it on the arguments that it was slower. Problem was that it was not, as the Pershing was a large step up in engine power and was actually supposed to be a little faster than a sherman. With its wider tracks it also could move over ground that a sherman would bog down in. They tried to point this out but his rank and big mouth would not allow them to get the info across to Ike and the others.

Another argument he gave was that armored doctrine stated that we should not be engaging enemy tanks anyhow and should simply be using superior maneuver capabilities to keep the enemy outflanked and never take him head on in tank to tank fighting. Obviously, that simply is not a realistic expectation except when things are really clicking such as his magnificent dash across france.

His friendship with Ike and Ike's respect for his experience won the day and the sherman was retained. The results, as I am sure you are well aware, were absolutely disastrous. While I concede that there would have been some element of risk in switching any weapons system before a major operation, this is the name of the game on the modern battlefield. Some would probably counter that the way in which Hitler overdid it sometimes with tank development and rushing them into production hurt Germany in many ways, it also paid many dividends in crews who lived to fight another day. The main weapon system he had that he did not rush into deployment in the proper role in as great of numbers as possible actually lost him the war, the Me262.

The thousands of men killed and injured needlessly in one of the most horrific ways imaginable to die, even on a battlefield, scream out that this mistake be known and never repeated again. What damage was done to the morale of our men and officers to see our main battle tank was an disgrace. Probably picked the Germans up a bit as well. We won anyhow but I wonder how much faster we would have gotten out of the bocage country, had our way with the Germans in the fall of 1944 instead of presented with options such as that misfortune in Arnhem, and then had the Bulge even have happened in some form or another how would it have went with large numbers of Pershings to go head to head with the panzers.

All In all I agree about Georgie and he was really one of the few who understood how important speed really was esp. in this conflict. If the Germans would have had another year or two who knows what the final outcome of things would have been. I also can't help but wonder what would have happened if the Pershing had been there and the carnage to our tank crews and the delays of inferior armor support had not been.

What do you think?

Mark W

Interesting. I've never heard that, nor do I know much about the advantages of the Pershing over the Sherman so I really don't have an opinion. However I will put it up on the page and let others kick it around.

I was under the impression that Patton was not brought in on the planning of Overlord at all?

--Sgt. Foster

 

Hi,
I'm writing a research paper on General Patton. The question I am attempting to answer is whether or not General Patton was a War Monger or a seer of the future. There are no doubt in my mind he was a great man, leader, and soldier, who's accomplishments in world war II are incalculable, but I haven't found enough information to confirm either side of the argument. If you have any thoughts as to the answer please let me know.

thanks

 

My father was in the 1303D Engineer General Services Regiment which was part of the 3rd Army. They were with the 3rd Army when it was constituted in England and served from the Normandy Breakout through the German surrender (then were sent to the Pacific).

My aunt (father's sister) said that my father, Lee E. Shelton, Sr. served as a driver for General Patton for several months in the field. I wanted to see if there was any record of this. Can you help?

Lee S
Maggie Valley, NC
Lee@Ensync.com

 

My uncle, William McFarlane, met Patton while his unit was being inspected by Patton in the fall of 1944. Bill had just been promoted, and had only tacked his new stripes onto his uniform. His unit was standing nearly knee-deep in mud in a company formation when Patton appeared. Dismounting from his vehicle, Patton slogged through the mud past several companies, then turned between two of them. Soon he was near Bill. Looking at Bill, Patton said "You know, those stripes don't look so good on someone with boots as muddy as yours are." Bill reached across himself, tore the stripes off one sleeve, and, extending the stripes to Patton, said "If you think they'd look better on you, you take them." In his letter home, Bill said that Patton stared him straight in the eye for about ten seconds, expressionless and stone-faced. Then Patton broke into a broad grin and wordlessly walked away. What we have drawn from this is that Patton admired one thing more than anything else in a soldier - nerve. Bill was killed in the opener of the Bulge on December 16, 1944.

 

 

General George.S.Patton Jr, for me is the ultimate hero, and the greatness of the man can't be put into words.He is a larger than life figure.Many will argue that he was'nt the best of the commanders of all times, but for me he simply is the greatest, way too large to be compared to others like Eisenhower or Montgomery.They were very good in their right, but the principles of battle coul'dnt be learnt better from anyone other than General patton.His, was a life, riddled with controversy, but his attitude towards life, is really awe inspiring.
Born around 40 years after the death of this great war hero, i have tried my best at getting to know the man, better through various books and of late, the wonderful portrayal of his life and times by the HistoryChannel.General patton has influenced my life a lot for a long time now. He is in my view a real life hero, and i actually take him as my idol.I am a firm believer in his approch towards war, in which he said, that the only 3 ways to win a war are"audacity,audacity and audacity".General patton,is simply the greatest.His words when he addressed the third army,where he quoted"we shall attack and attack until we are exhausted and then we shall attack again.These inspiring words are really close to my heart.
I feel, that generations to come, will find it hard to believe, that a man of such stature actually walked on this earth.
May his spirit live again

 

Sad to see that you did not include in your story of General Patton that he changed his mind about the German people and, in the end,
his clearer view (up and above the hate propaganda that GI's are expected to swallow) is what got him murdered...for that is what it was.
He views toward Germany became more compassionate and he would have been a thorn in the side of the 'victors'.....he was killed for daring to see things as they were. Patton saw the Communists as the terrorist they were...and as history has shown, they were. The Cold War
lasted for decades. We should have let Patton finish them off.

My reply to this:

I appreciate your input, and I agree with your thoughts on the Soviets
and that General Patton should have been allowed to march on them.
However there is no way Patton was murdered, there were too many
witnesses and nobody would have stood to gain anything through is murder
at that point.
--Foster

 

His Reply:

General Patton was a thorn in their side, and the fact that he was in
opposition to what was intended for the German people (the Morgenthau Plan)
and voiced his opposition made him an 'enemy' to the Powers That Be that had
other plans to occupy and
control Germany. Which they have, ever since 1945....and there are no plans
to un-occupy Germany that I know of. The Allies have never even made a
peace treaty with Germany, so in a sense, she is still a nation under
submission. I think that Patton would have
made a lot of waves had he lived because the German people knew he was on
their side, and that has/is a negative position to take.
I have read several eye-witness stories, too....and the idea the 'accident'
was NO ACCIDENT still holds water. I'm one of many
that feels that way.

 

Dear Sir, I am and have been a long time admirer of the General and I can't remember His personal Aid's Name. I know his first name was George. Can you help me.

Sincerely

Daniel B.

 

George Meeks