Day 213 – 52 Books in 52 Weeks

Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885 – 1945 by Martin Blumenson is my latest foray into biographies.

After reading so much about Hitler and WWII in the past eight months, I wanted to read about the general who made such a difference in the war. This book, though not an in-depth biography, pulls out the basics and attempts to show the man as he was.

I think the first thing that struck me was that George S. Patton, Jr. was dyslexic. It wasn’t known at the time, the abnormality wasn’t even named until long after his death. Obviously this made reading and writing very difficult for him. But he purposed himself to learn.

Blumenson also gives the reader insight into Patton’s drive for perfection in the military. First, he came from a line of military men (except his father). He was fascinated with history, especially military history, and was a voracious student of the topic. Through both of these, and other situations, he pushed himself to live up to the reputation of his forefathers, and wanted nothing more than to be recognized as a general and receive the praise due such a title.

And push himself he did. He studied harder than classmates. He was always the sharpest dressed of any military figure around him. He learned from his mistakes and kept on trying to improve himself and his skills.

As he gradually gained command, loathing staff positions, he always put himself out with his men, never wanting to sit in the relative safety of headquarters. Though he garnered success in WWI, using the first tanks developed for warfare, when he returned to the U.S. he became more of a speaker: passing along his knowledge of warfare, especially the use of tanks.

In 1941 as the U.S. was gearing up for a second World War, he was already training a tank division – drawing publicity for them (and himself) as viable tools for war. In June of that year, there was a set of maneuvers to pit his division against another. The simulated combat was to show the proficiency of units and commanders.

At first, Patton’s division seemed unimpressive. But it didn’t take him long to adapt and he ended up completing the maneuvers (scheduled to take two days of action) in only 9 hours. “He had, there was no doubt, mastered the art of blitzkrieg” (page 157).

The book chronicles his life through WWII: North Africa, Sicily, Germany. It talks of his disagreements with Dwight Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, and the British commander Bernard Montgomery. It shows his push to be the first in whatever was at hand, and his contempt for Eisenhower who “followed” orders from the British.

Blumenson shows us just a glimpse of Patton’s brilliance on the battlefield. He shows us his arrogance (outward) and self-doubt (inward). He shows us that his men would follow him anywhere, such was their trust and respect of him. He shows us his fiery swearing and his poetic gentleness. He talks of Patton’s exploits and how his mouth often got him in trouble in the press – but also shows how the press took much of what he said and twisted it. Then he takes us right up to Patton’s death from a freak car accident that left everyone unscratched, but left Patton with skin ripped off of his skull, a broken nose and broken neck which paralyzed him from the neck down. He died two weeks later from pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure.

Blumenson says on page 296, “A German senior officer captured in march revealed: ‘The greatest threat… was the whereabouts of the feared U. S. Third Army. General Patton is always the main topic of military discussion… General Patton is the most feared general on all fronts… The tactics of General Patton are daring and unpredictable…'” Even Stalin expressed admiration for Patton.

A man so pounded on by the press of the day as being vulgar and crude, and often called for his dismissal, was the one man the enemy feared on the battlefield. They didn’t fear Dwight D. Eisenhower. They didn’t fear Bernard Montgomery. They didn’t fear Omar Bradley. They feared the four-star general, head of the Third Army – a dyslexic ‘cowboy’ named George S. Patton, Jr.

Good story, but I would have loved to read more about his personal life and hear from more of those who served under him. But given the space allotted, Blumenson does a good job of covering all the bases – whetting the appetite for more.