During World War II, George S. Patton led the US Seventh Army in North Africa and Sicily, and commanded the Third Army as it stormed through France, across Germany, and into Czechoslovakia. A man of contradictions, Patton was hard-charging, profane, and often obnoxious. He also had a softer aspect, and wrote poetry – although not very well. There was also the crazy side: Patton believed he was an eternal soldier, who had been reincarnated numerous times over the millennia as a warrior. A man of extremes, he elicited extreme reactions: people loved or hated him. Below are fifteen lesser known facts about one of America’s most famous generals.
15. The Abandoned Rear
After D-Day, George S. Patton led the US Third Army on a great sweep in the summer of 1944 that liberated a huge chunk of France. It was Patton’s second go around in France, as he had fought there before during World War I. In that earlier conflict, Patton had received a visit from a local village mayor, who tearfully asked why he had not been told a Doughboy had perished nearby. As Patton described it: “Being unaware of this sad fact and not liking to admit it to a stranger, I stalled until I found out that no one was dead. However, he insisted that we visit the ‘grave’“. When they got there, Patton and his subordinate officers found a freshly covered pit with sticks forming a cross and holding a plaque that read “Abandoned Rear”. It was the start of a weird comedy of errors.
