Warmatrix

George Smith Patton jr. was a flamboyant American general who earned nicknames such as 'Old Blood and Guts' and 'Green hornet'.
Patton was born in 1885 CE in California into a wealthy family that could trace its ancestry back to some early American leaders, something Patton always was proud of. Early on he was instilled with and interested in military history. After home tutelage he attended the Virginia Military Institute and West Point Academy. Though clearly intelligent, he struggled with the academic part of the curriculum, possibly because of dyslexia, eventually achieving medium levels. Patton was an accomplished horseman and excellent fencer.
After West Point, he mixed duty at several forts with participation in the 1912 CE olympics and helped design a cavalry saber. He assisted general Pershing in his expedition against Pancho Villa, gained his first military experience and was promoted to first lieutenant. From 1917 CE, during World War I, he served in France, where he became interested in tanks. Inquisitive and enterprising, he quickly became one of the leading American tank commanders and reached the rank of major. He led a brigade in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, where he was wounded and received several medals.
After the war, he developed a close friendship with later general and president Dwight Eisenhower. He served as a staff officer in several positions, though he loathed it, desiring real action. He continued to explore the concept of mechanized warfare but could not realize his vision of an offensive mobile tank force because of peacetime limitations to the army budget. He spent much of 1930's in frustration and depression. A polo accident inflicted him with phlebitis, which nearly killed him. By the late 1930's CE he had risen to the rank of colonel.
When World War II broke out, money for an armored force became available. Patton quickly rose to become the leading tank general of the USA. He trained many officers and staged large exercises involving hundreds of tanks. Throughout his career, he stressed the importance of speed and aggression in tank offensives. He preferred the tactical level over the strategic one and his superiors gave him assignments that suited that view. He had a good grasp of the technical limitations and possibilities of his vehicles, handled logistics with ease and made good use of combined arms tactics. For maneuvers, he planned well but was always ready to improvise and used his speed to limit exposure of his troops to enemy fire. His favorite method of attack was to pin the enemy down with infantry and then outflank him with mechanized forces.
In 1942 CE Patton got the chance to test his theories in actual combat. He was given command of a task force that landed in northwestern Africa, charmed the French and afterwards whipped the II Corps into shape. During Operation Husky, the allied invasion of Sicily, he made an unauthorized advance from his beachhead to Palermo, then turned east and ended up in Messina before his British rival Montogomery got there. However the attack had cost many lives and Patton's personal reputation was marred by several incidents of indifference and cruelty. The final drop spilled when he slapped two hospitalized soldiers in Sicily for cowardice. He was recalled a given a staff function and later command of an entirely fictional army in Dover to frighten the Germans.
As a commander, Patton made a point of being seen. He stood on strict discipline, cleanliness and bravery. He was demanding and impatient, scoffed at people who did not meet his standards, though cared for those who did. Patton swore profusely, using it to make a connection with his soldiers. He drove his men hard, not only the speed of his offensives but also demanding courage and sacrifices. Sometimes this worked well, for example when he took over command of the II Corps in Africa. At other times it backfired, like in Sicily.
His skills in battle were such that in 1944 CE Patton was back in the field, commanding the US 3rd Army. When the allies broke out of the Normandy beachhead, he could practice his favorite tactic of rapid advance. A completely mechanized force, air dominance, good intelligence and plentiful trucks allowed 3rd Army to race eastward, never giving the retreating German army a chance to dig in its heels. Close to Metz, Patton was halted by lack of fuel, frustrated to see the majority of it being assigned to his rival Montgomery. He took the city two months later, though without his usual flourish.
In the winter he was back in shape. His army raced to relieve the besieged paratroops at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Despite harsh weather, the relief manouver was executed at high speed; it probably was Patton's best in the war. In the next year 3rd Army joined with other troops pouring into Germany and advanced all the way into Czechoslovakia. When the Germans surrendered Patton wanted to push on to Prague, but was halted by his superiors, who did not want a follow-up conflict with the USSR. Patton briefly oversaw the dismantling of a concentration camp and despite being appalled at what he saw there, expressed anti-semitism himself. After a brief leave at home he was appointed military governor of Bavaria. He was disappointed at the prospect of having to stop commanding troops in war, again offended many people and was relieved of his governorship before two months were over. He traveled Europe for a while, then suffered a traffic accident where he was mortally wounded, dying 12 days later.
Patton was a colorful character who deliberately put himself in the spotlights. His brash remarks, ivory-gripped revolvers and rehearsed 'war-face' expression all contributed to a striking image. His wit enlivened the days but his bluntness and disdain for cowards, communists and many others earned him many enemies. Contradictions like combining devout christianity with a belief in reincarnation makes many people label him as crazy, but Patton's character is more complex than that; it is sometimes hard to discern which of things he did and said he genuinely believed in and which were just show, or even both. What is certain is that he saw his career as a warrior as his destiny.
With his extravertness Patton created a very large image of himself. As a general, he could live up to it in mobile warfare with rapid advances, in which he excelled. The Germans, who only took real notice of him after D-Day, called him the American Guderian. In static battles, like at Metz, his impatience worked against him and he was outclassed by others.