“The war looks over to me.”
WHEN SAMPLERS OF PUBLIC OPINION asked, “What commander serving under Eisenhower do you admire most?” the replies invariably named Patton. The Navy too was impressed by Patton’s exploits, and the naval detachments ferrying Third Army troops and supplies across the Rhine called themselves “U.S.S. Blood and Guts.” Giraud came for a visit, and Patton told him,
Our success has been chiefly due to luck. He replied, “No, to audacity,” and I believe he was right.
To Beatrice:
The war looks over to me. We seem to be able to go anywhere, though “The enemy is still resisting fiercely in front of the British Second Army.” We went 29 miles to day and took another 8,000 [prisoners] while doing it. They went 2 miles.
Interview, GSP, Jr., with Brigadier General Bolzen, 18th Panzer Grenadier Division, March 30, 1945
Patton: Tell the general that . . . he does not have to answer any questions that I ask . . . I am wondering how long this unnecessary killing will have to go on . . . Are they going to keep on getting killed to no purpose?
Bolzen: The ordinary fighting man and the professional soldier have long seen the unnecessary continuance of fighting and recognize this, but the honor to which they are bound as soldiers makes them continue to fight, especially the professional soldier. As long as the country is at war, they are honor-bound to fight . . .
Patton: How is the war going to end, and do we have to kill them all?
Bolzen: I believe that the speedy advances of your forces will end it. Large groups will be captured as you go on . . .
Patton: Do you think that there will be any underground movement, fighting from ambushes, etc.?
Bolzen: The population in general, no . . . The average run of the population . . . wants to be spared any further war . . .
Patton: It seems foolish [for the Germans] to [continue to] fight.
GSP, Jr., Press Conference, Oberstein, Germany, March 30, 1945
Patton: I first want to thank all of you for helping me out with those remarks I asked you to make about weapons. I read several editorials from home and while I was not quoted, it was damn well said. I also wish to thank the members of the British press for the very fine write-ups we have received in England . . .
Qur losses in this operation have been extremely small. We have been trading about 12 to 1 . . . and it is all made possible by speed.
I hope that you will continue as you have so nicely done, giving these officers and men the credit . . . I think if the Germans could all read what you wrote, they would surrender quicker . . .
Question: Could you say which way we are going?
Patton: I don’t know, and I’m sure nobody else knows. It has gotten to the point where you go where you damn well please . . .
Question: Is there any American Army slated to go to Berlin?
Patton: . . . I don’t get much interested in what is more than ten miles further ahead. I don’t know where I am going – I hope I can get to China.
Bradley telephoned that the Third Army could move to the Werra and Weser Rivers rapidly and then toward the Elbe River, but more slowly. “I told him that I considered any slowing up extremely dangerous, as we have the enemy on the run and should keep him that way.”
But there appeared to be good and sufficient reason for the advancing Armies to be generally parallel, and Patton explained to his corps commanders that they had to confine themselves to moving ahead approximately 15 miles per day.
In his diary, Patton noted that Eisenhower and Bradley felt it would be risky to go faster.
Whenever those two get together, they get timid. I am sure that had a bold policy throughout been used in this war, it would have long since been over.
There had been talk in the United States of making some public acknowledgment to Patton for his successes. On March 30, the House of Representatives responded to this feeling and unanimously adopted a motion to express – through Eisenhower – “our congratulations and sincere thanks for the magnificent victories” to Devers, Spaatz, Bradley, Hodges, Patton, Simpson, Doolittle, Brereton, Patch, and Gerow.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April 1, 1945
There seems to be an attempt to keep all at the same level. Congress voted to thank me and me only, and ended up by thanking everyone . . .
Just this second persuaded the tent maker to let me keep on. What a war.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Arvin H. Brown, April 1, 1945
I agree with you that the difficulty in war is the fact that it imposes the loss of life to back one’s decisions. On the other hand, you cannot command successfully if you let this interfere with what you conceive to be your duty.
Writing to Marshall to ask whether he – or anyone else – would like to have a handsome bust of Hitler that Patton’s men had just captured, Patton suggested that if a hole were carved out of the top, it would make an excellent spittoon.
Diary, April 3
The roads here are in extremely good condition, and all the Germans were working violently, cleaning up their towns. Mainz is the first very large city I have seen so completely destroyed, and it certainly is, I would say, two-thirds ruins . . .
We are ordered to practically stop and wait for the arrival of the First and Ninth Armies.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April 5, 1945
We never met any opposition because the bigger and better Germans fight Monty – he says so. Also he advertises so much that they know where he is coming. I fool them.
Now I am waiting for Courtney and Charley so we will end the war in line. I could join the Russians in a week if I were turned loose. Damn equality.
He had his three corps commanders in for lunch to work out the new boundaries among them. There
is always a bitter fight as to roads, so I let them settle it amongst themselves, merely retaining for myself the office of umpire. After a long and acrimonious debate, they went away happy.
Gay’s Journal, April 5
General Walker is always the most willing and cooperative. He apparently will fight any time, any place, with anything that the Army commander desires to give him. General Middleton is the most methodical, probably the best tactician, very firm in his relations with the other corps commanders . . . General Eddy is very nervous, very much inclined to be grasping, and always worrying that some other corps commander is getting a better deal than he is, but when the decision is made, he always does as he is told.
Reflecting on the decision to restrain the advance, Patton thought it a mistake, at least “from a merely military standpoint,” because there was hardly any opposition. “However,” he admitted,
there may be reasons beyond my knowledge which make it desirable to advance [the Armies] abreast. By so doing, no one gets undue credit.
This was Eisenhower’s implicit policy throughout the European campaigns. No single commander, no single nation was going to win the war alone. Victory had to be shared and shared equally.
Because of the need to regroup, “which is the first time the Third Army has ever indulged in this sport,” Patton had to halt his offensive temporarily. But he told his corps commanders “to keep pushing along so as to prevent the enemy from getting set.”
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April 6, 1945
Just got back from decorating a medic with the Medal of Honor. A boat full of wounded was caught under machine gun fire on the Saar. The crew was killed or jumped. This man swam out under fire and toed it to safety. He said, “I don’t know why I did it; some one had to.”
Diary, April 6
The XII Corps telephoned . . . that they had overrun and captured the German gold reserve, or at least part of it. We decided not to notify higher headquarters until we had better information, as it would be stupid to claim we had found the gold reserve and then not have done so.
Diary, April 7
Eddy stated that he had entered the gold reserve vault and had found over a billion dollars in paper money, but that the gold part was sealed in a safe behind a steel door . . . I directed him to blow the vault and definitely determine what was in it.
McCloy came to visit, and Patton took him driving to show him the sights. While going through Frankfurt, he
called Mr. McCloy’s attention to the wanton and unnecessary bombing of civilian cities. He agreed with me and later stated that he had mentioned this to Generals Devers and Patch, who had the same opinion. We all feel that indiscriminate bombing has no military value and is cruel and wasteful, and that all such efforts should always be on purely military targets and on selected commodities which are scarce. In the case of Germany, it would be on oil.
Diary, April 9
McCloy . . . said that he intended to make a public statement to the effect that I am not only a great military commander but probably the best instructor general in the army. He said that there had been efforts to make it appear that I could do nothing but attack in a heedless manner.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April 9, 1945
We have over 400,000 prisoners of war since August 1 . . . No one is now in our class.
We start attacking in the morning but will go slow so the others can catch up.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April 10, 1945
We started an operation to day to gain about six miles and made from 10 to 15. All of us attack officially in the morning. We move our CP forward 95 miles, and it will still be too far back.
Mr. [Bernard] Baruch came to lunch. He is 75 and just as keen as can be.
Diary, April 10
Mr. Baruch . . . was most amusing. After lunch he had a meeting with the correspondents, at which he told them nothing for a long time.
Gay’s Journal, April 10
The situation reference displaced persons continues to be aggravated. There is not in the possession of the Armies a definite policy emanating from higher headquarters, or perhaps there are no definite instructions as to how to handle these people. Most of them are like animals, or worse, and unless force can be used on them to insure reasonable sanitary measures, it would appear that disease, perhaps something bordering on a plague, is in the offing.
Diary, April 11
I was particularly impressed with the number of empty gasoline cans which had not been collected, so I directed . . . the Assistant Chief Quartermaster of the Army to take a trip over the road followed by two trucks and pick up every can he found.
I also issued orders that all civilian-impressed or looted autos, bicycles, or motorcycles would be apprehended and turned in to ordnance. It will be impossible to supply gasoline for this Army if every soldier in this Army has an automobile, which seems to be the present ambition. Furthermore, the bicycles are used for one day and they then tire of them, and the same thing applies to motorcycles. The German, whether we like him or not, has to live and has no transportation.
I issued an order on hats. As summer approaches, there is no reason for the sloppy appearance of this Army, which, however, Mr. McCloy says is the best looking Army he has seen.
There is a persistent rumor of a German attempt to murder somebody, possibly myself, by a small glider-borne operation. Everybody but Willie and me is nervous about this. However, I do take my carbine to my truck at night now.
First on Eisenhower’s list “for immediate promotion to four star rank” was Patton, who, he told Marshall, was
resourceful, courageous, and determined. In Sicily his drive and initiative contributed markedly to the speed with which that stronghold was reduced. In this theater he . . . conducted a magnificent pursuit and exploitation directly across France . . . including the occupation of the Brittany peninsula. In later operations, including the battle of Ardennes, of the Eifel, of the Saar, and of the later thrusts into Germany, his leadership has been characterized by boldness and skillful fighting ability.
Eisenhower, Bradley, and Patton drove to the mine containing the German gold reserve. Walker and Middleton met them, then all motored to Ohrdruf Nord, a camp for military and civilian prisoners. Patton’s reaction to this “prison camp for slave labor, who had been employed in a munitions factory in the vicinity” was pure shock.
This was one of the most appalling sights I have ever seen. One of the former inmates acted as impressario and showed us first a gallows where men were hanged for attempting to escape. The hanging was done with a piece of piano wire, and the man being hanged was not dropped far enough to break his neck but simply strangled by the piano wire . . .
The wire is so adjusted that after a drop of about two feet, the man’s toes can just touch the ground so that death takes some time. Two prisoners next to be hanged are required to kick the plank from under him.
The impressario . . . was such a well fed looking man that I had an idea he may have been one of the executioners.
Two days later, this guide was torn limb from limb by returning inmates.
Just beyond . . . was a pile of about 40 bodies, more or less naked, all of whom had been shot through the head at short range. The ground was covered with dried blood. These men had become so exhausted as to be useless for labor and were disposed of in this humane (?) manner.
In a shed near this place was a pile of about 40 completely naked human bodies in the last stages of emaciation. These bodies were lightly sprinkled with lime, not for the purpose of destroying them, but for the purpose of removing the stench.
When the shed was full – I presume its capacity to be about 200, the bodies were taken to a pit a mile from the camp where they were buried . . .
When we began to approach with our troops, the Germans thought it expedient to remove the evidence of their crime. Therefore, they had some of the slaves exhume the bodies and place them on a mammoth griddle composed of 60-centimeter railway tracks laid on brick foundations. They poured pitch on the bodies and then built a fire of pinewood and coal under them. They were not very successful in their operation because there was a pile of human bones, skulls, charred torsos on or under the griddle which must have accounted for many hundreds. In the pit there were arms, legs, and bodies sticking out of the green water which partially filled it.
Walker and Middleton had very wisely decided to have as many soldiers as possible visit the scene, which I believe will teach our men to look out for the Germans. The mayor of the town, together with his wife, when confronted with the spectacle, went home and hanged themselves. There are several others in the vicinity who I think will be found dead.
Eisenhower’s remarks, as noted by Gay:
The evidence of inhuman treatment, starvation, beating, and killing of these prisoners . . . by the Germans was beyond the American mind to comprehend. Hundreds and hundreds of bodies were left around the area. Some 200 or more had been dug up, apparently with the idea of burning them so that there would not be evidence of their inhuman treatment, but the advance had been so rapid that they had to leave them on the burning pyre.
Eisenhower and Bradley returned to Patton’s headquarters and spent the night. They had a very pleasant evening, in the course of which General Eisenhower gave me a proposed stop line and explained his reasons, which it is not expedient at this time to set down.
Gay had no such objections, and he recorded Eisenhower’s views:
From a tactical point of view, it was highly inadvisable for the American Army to take Berlin, and he hoped political influence would not cause him to take the city. It had no tactical or strategical value, and would place upon American forces the burden of caring for thousands and thousands of Germans, displaced persons, Allied prisoners of war, etc.
General Patton replied, “Ike, I don’t see how you figure that one. We had better take Berlin and quick, and [then go eastward] on to the Oder [River].”
But this was not to be.
Diary, April 12
I went to bed rather late and noted that I had failed to wind my watch, so turned on the radio to see if I could get the time. Just as I turned it on, the announcer reported the death of the President. I immediately informed Generals Eisenhower and Bradley, and we had quite a discussion as to what might happen. It seems very unfortunate that in order to secure political preference, people are made Vice Presidents who were never intended, neither by Party nor by the Lord to be Presidents.
How Truman could replace and measure up to Roosevelt was difficult to see.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to McCloy, April 13, 1945
Yesterday, I saw the most horrible sight I have ever seen. It was a German slave camp . . . . .
We took all the soldiers we could to see it, as I believe it is one of the best arguments against fraternization that I know.
GSP, Jr., Press Conference, Herzfeld, Germany, April 13,. 1945
Patton: If any of you haven’t visited the charnel house near here, you should go. It is the most horrible sight I have ever seen. We had as many soldiers as possible . . . visit it so as to know that kind of people they are fighting. I think they were duly impressed, and I told them to tell their friends . . .
Question: What is holding the Germans together?
Patton: Fear of “They.” Everybody is afraid of everybody else. They say if we surrender they will raise hell with Willie or Charlie. I do not believe there will be much underground stuff.
Attending a ceremony at Mainz to open a bridge,
I was requested to cut the ribbon across the bridge and was handed a pair of scissors for the purpose. I made the statement that I am not a tailor and asked for a bayonet, with which I cut the ribbon.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Scott, April 15, 1945
We have lately been liberating the slave camps, and honestly, words are inadequate to express the horror of those institutions.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Eisenhower, April 15, 1945
We have found at a place four miles north of Weimar a similar camp only much worse . . .
I told the press to go up and . . . build up another page of the necessary evidence as to the brutality of the Germans.
This was Buchenwald, one of the most notorious of the concentration camps, and Patton called Bradley to suggest that Eisenhower send photographers and senior representatives of the press to get “the horror details.”
Diary, April 15
The political prisoners who were sent here to die were fed 800 calories a day and died on the average – so it is said —of 100 a night.
I went through two of the buildings. On each side were four tiers of bunks in which the inmates lay at right angles to the wall. They looked exactly like animated mummies and seemed to me on about the same level of intelligence. When we went through they attempted to cheer but were too feeble.
We then went to the place where they had apparently put the finishing touches on those who had died or were about to die. In a basement which was entered by a chute, they had a number of iron hooks on the wall like those you hang the side of a beef on. To these hooks they had a short piece of stout cord with a loop spliced on each end. This was put around a man’s neck. Two men then lifted him and the loops were placed over the hook. If anyone showed signs of life, they had a club like a potato masher with which they bashed in the brains.
Upstairs there were six furnaces much like a baker’s oven, connected with the basement by an elevator. Apparently they put six bodies on the elevator at a time, hoisted them up to the furnaces, and put them in.
Gay’s impressions:
The scenes witnessed there are beyond the normal mind to believe. No race except a people dominated by an ideology of sadism could have committed such gruesome crimes . . . inmates, all in a bad stage of starvation . . . even those who lived, in my opinion, will never recover mentally...
On a paved courtyard were said to be 170 bodies, all dead of starvation. They were naked. The bodies were wasted away, the legs the size of an ordinary man’s arm or smaller . . . These dead bodies were apparently shoveled into incinerators or crematories in which there were some eight or ten ovens . . . In them were bones and parts of the bodies that had been burned there. Beneath this was the torture chamber in which some of the prisoners were hung . . .
The sight and the stench of these living dead . . . was entirely too much . . . It is a shame that more people cannot see these things, particularly politicians, who, after all, bring on wars, and doubly a shame that they cannot be seen by those people back in our own country . . . who have criticized minor events of alleged cruelty on the part of American soldiers and will frantically preach to the people that the Germans are grand people, and that they should be given our love and munificent gratitude.
No race and no people other than those which are strictly sadists could commit crimes like these. To take prisoners out and shoot them is kind, but to deliberately starve them to death is an atrocity. I doubt if the world will ever know how many were starved to death, as no records were kept and the bodies burned.
According to Patton’s diary, when he asked where he was to go after getting to the present stop line, Bradley stated he did not consider my supplies adequate to go anywhere. I stated that he was in error.
I believe that this is simply an excuse for lack of any ideas as to what to do next, for which he is probably not wholly responsible, as it is presumable that the Combined Chiefs of Staff had not yet told Eisenhower.
I sometimes get very disgusted at the lack of initiative and drive on the part of the 12 th Army Group. They now seem convinced that there are some bogies east of the Elbe River which are apt to jump up and destroy us. Personally, I believe that continued vigorous advance would completely destroy what little German resistance now exists.
There was, as a matter of fact, some intelligence information that Hitler was planning to leave Berlin for a National Redoubt area in the mountains of Germany and Austria, there to defend to the last; also that young German boys called “Werewolves” had been specially trained in sabotage and demolitions to harass the advancing Armies and later the occupation forces.
Writing to Marshall on April 15, Eisenhower said he intended, now that Germany was split into two parts, to send the 21 Army Group to Liibeck in the north and the 12th Army Group to the so-called Redoubt area in the south, both objectives being “vastly more important than the capture of Berlin.”
Eisenhower also described his visit to Buchenwald:
The visual evidence and the verbal testimony of starvation, cruelty, and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one room where there were piled up twenty or thirty naked men, killed by starvation, George Patton would not even enter. He said he would get sick if he did so. I made the visit deliberately, in order to be in a position to give first-hand evidence of these things if ever, in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to “propaganda.”
He urged Marshall to fly to Europe in the very near future, for Marshall “would be proud of the army you have produced,” particularly the higher commanders.
There is no weakness except for the one feature of Patton’s unpredictability so far as his judgment (usually in small things) is concerned . . . Patton’s latest crackpot actions may possibly get some publicity . . . Three or four newspapers have written very bitter articles about Patton, on this [Hammelburg] incident, and to my disgust they call it another example of “Army Blundering.” I took Patton’s hide off.
Baruch sent his thanks for Patton’s courtesies, said that all Americans were proud of Patton, and assured him that “I have not forgotten what you said about your desire to tank around in China.”
Patton replied:
Meeting you was a very great pleasure because, when one meets famous men, one is sometimes let down. In other words, they do not live up to their reputations. In meeting you, this was certainly not the case. You were just as great as I had always pictured you.
Meeting with Bradley at Wiesbaden, Patton was glad to learn that he was to get three brand-new armored divisions, which would have “an opportunity of fighting in what I consider to be the last stages of the war.” His Third Army was to attack from Wuerzburg to Linz in a southeasterly direction, while the Seventh Army turned due south, and the First and Ninth Armies remained on the defensive.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April ij, 1945
There was a big meeting yesterday and we got the ball for what looks like the final play . . .
Some times I feel that I may be nearing the end of this life. I have liberated J. [John Waters] and licked the Germans, so what else is there to do?
Well, if I do get it, remember that I love you.
He had his four corps commanders in and explained “the new setup,” then flew to Paris, where he and Hughes “sat up too late, as usual, talking.”
At 11 P.M., Gay heard over the radio that President Harry S. Truman had nominated Patton for promotion to full general.
Letter, Hughes to Beatrice Patton, April 18,
I have just put George on his plane for return to the wars . . .
When we went to the plane, Codman, the plane crew, and about ten others were all lined up stiff as ram-rods and grinning from ear to ear. They had just finished putting an extra star on George’s plane.
At breakfast with George the waiter handed me a Stars and Stripes and pointed to the announcement of George’s promotion. I read it and passed the paper to George without comment. He read the headlines and threw the paper back on the table. I picked it up and passed it to him again. He glanced at it the second time and discarded it. I picked it up the third time and said “read that,” pointing to the announcement. He did and then leaned back in the chair and amused everybody who had been hovering in the vicinity by saying, “Well, I’ll be——.”
He was looking fine and is still carrying on, trying to kill Germans and get this war over with.
Diary, April 18
While I am glad to be a full General, I would have appreciated it more had I been in the initial group [promoted – along with Bradley, Devers, and Clark], as I have never had an ambition to be an also-ran.
Codman secured for me the last two 4-star pins in existence in Paris and also a 4-star flag.
His date of rank was April 14. Hodges, also promoted, had his four stars from the following day.
Diary, April 19
Eisenhower explained that he was anxious to have us start our attack in the direction of Linz, but that due to the failure of the British to make sufficient progress, it might be necessary for him to send a corps up there, and he did not want to become overextended until that situation was cleared up. The situation as far as the Third Army goes is very satisfactory.
GSP, Jr., Press Conference, Herzfeld, Germany, April 20, 1945
Patton: I want to thank you for the publicity on that camp which is having a very good effect . . . This new direction of attack . . . We don’t want to spill the beans as to where we are going to meet the Russians . . .
Question: When do you expect to meet the Russians?
Patton: Just as fast as God will let me. It depends how fast I can go...
Question: We would like to congratulate you on your four stars.
Patton: Thank you . . . One more thing, I think we had an all time low in casualties yesterday, 111 for the whole Army.
Diary, April 20
Flew to Headquarters XX Corps at Schloss Wiessenstein, which is the most magnificent and most hideous building I have ever seen. It was built around 1700. It is full of murals and also has a very fine art collection with a number of very bad statues all over it – mostly plaster. The stable, which is directly across from the main building, has a saddle-room full of murals much better than most drawing rooms in America . . .
We flew from there to the Headquarters of the III Corps [in an L-5 cub] . . . Just before we got there, a plane which looked like a Spitfire made three passes at us, but was unsuccessful. On the third pass, it flew so close to the ground that it could not pull out and crashed. The planes in this group had RAF markings on them, and I believe they were probably a Polish unit flying for the RAF. Why they were out of their area, I don’t know.
The incident was disturbing but inexplicable. Had the Polish flyer misread the markings on Patton’s plane?
I told the corps commanders to move out from the [jumpoff] line and make from three to four miles a day until we get the go signal. On getting back to headquarters, I found that Bradley had already telephoned that we could go.
“If the question of somebody going to China to fight the Japanese comes up” he wrote McCarthy, Secretary of the War Department General Staff, “please count me in.”
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April 21, 1945
We go all out in the morning for a junction witii the Russians near Linz.
Willie ate something and got paralized but is now better. I would have felt terrible had he died. To him I am always right . . .
The country here is the most beautiful I have ever seen. All the trees are in bloom and there are yellow fields of mustard.
There is a big green house where we have our mess. All the plants were dying for water, so I personally watered them. I am not as hard as painted.
As usual, the day before an attack there is nothing to do.
He sent photos of Buchenwald to Marshall and wrote:
I was so deeply moved by this thing that I had the leading citizens of Weimar, to the extent of some 1,500, marched through the camp and made to look at the horrid spectacle. I do not believe that even the Germans realized to what depths they had sunk.
The Third Army is attacking in what I trust will be the last act of this war, but as I wrote you, I am still hoping to do some fighting in China should you see fit to let me.
Patton was pleased to hear that Beatrice made a further gift to the Richard Jenson Memorial Fund in the form of 125 shares of Deere and Company stock, equivalent to the original gift of $5000. According to Harbord, letters would soon go to the headmasters of the leading private schools to ask for nominations of students qualified to go to West Point as recipients of the fund – “A worthy and fine type American boy [who] must have an American name.”
When his classmate Robert H. Fletcher asked what effect education had in producing successful generals, Patton reminded him that according to “old Colonel Feberger,” the qualities of generalship were a desire to fight, good health, historical knowledge, and intelligence. Patton could “claim some eminence in the first three” but was “not so outstanding” in the fourth. The Command and General Staff College at Leavenworth and the Army War College gave officers familiarity with a body of definite rules, and this education stood to war as spelling to literature. Schooling produced no combat leaders but improved men who naturally possessed the peculiar qualities of combat leadership. What Patton had was self-confidence and “a sixth sence by which I can always know to a moral certainty what the enemy is going to do.”
I agree with you that peace will be much more difficult than war. In fact, war for me has not been difficult, but has been a pleasant adventure . . . The best thing . . . would be to get a clean hit in the last minute of the last fight and then flit around on a cloud and watch you all tear my reputation to pieces or get yourselves torn to pieces defending me.
Marshall offered Hodges and his First Army headquarters to Mac-Arthur, who was glad to have them.
Patton was no doubt aware of this development. He had probably always thought that MacArthur would be far from happy to have him. Two prima donnas, two colorful personalities in a single theater were one too many. Perhaps for this reason, Patton always spoke of going to China rather than to the Pacific. In China, Stilwell was the theater commander before he was replaced by Wedemeyer, and both were friends of Patton’s. In addition, Marshall intimated that an expeditionary force might be sent to China if the Chinese army could open a suitable port; and, further, that he had Patton in mind as the commander of that force.
Diary, April 27
I flew over Nuremburg, which is the most completely destroyed place I have ever seen. It is really rather pathetic to see such a historical monument so completely removed.
On that day, the Third Army processed the 600,000th prisoner of war.
GSP, Jr., Press Conference, Erlangen, Germany, April 27, 1945
Patton: I appreciate your staying mum on the change of direction . . . I am very much obliged. That was a very nice operation for which the staff gets the praise. We sideslipped two corps and continued to attack . . .
Question: Do you expect the Germans to try to hold . . ?
Patton: I hope they do . . . I really don’t know . . . I don’t see what the fools are fighting for . . . There is nothing of interest happening. I was down there today and crossed the [Danube] river, and it wasn’t even worth pissing in.
There is a sign down there, “Danube River, just another Damn River.” . . . The river doesn’t even look blue there; it looked very muddy . . .
Question: Can you say anything about the Redoubt?
Patton: I think it is a figment of the imagination. It is just a good word . . .
Question: How much longer do you think the war will last here?
Patton: The 10th of May is when I lose my bet.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to son George, April 28, 1945
The war is sort of petering out. We go anywhere we want to with very limited opposition. Personally I cannot see why the Germans keep on fighting . . .
If you succeed in graduating a year from now, you will be able to join the Third Army in China.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April 28, 1945
I have not heard from any of you since John was rescued so I suppose that having done that, my usefulness is ended.
This part of the war is rather dull, a sort of “Last roundup” . . .
There is a rumor that the Germans are trying to surrender so I am pushing harder.
Diary, April 28
Personally I cannot see that there is very much more glory in this war, and I am afraid it will end on an anti-climax.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, April 30, 1945
The [fourth] star is as much yours as mine, and I am glad you like it.
We move Wednesday to an Arch Ducal palace at Regensburg . . . never beheld so much gaudy junk. Each room, and there were at least a hundred, had three times too much stuff in it . . .
The war is very dull . . .
I wish we could take a drive in this country in peace. It is full of beauty and ruins – not the ones I have made but old ones too.
I always think of interesting things to tell you while I am driving or flying and then when I get time to write I forget them.
Diary, April 30
Just finished recording speech to be delivered on a national hookup in conjunction with other Army commanders on V-E day . . .
There was a rumor . . . that Hitler was dead and that Himmler was about to surrender. Personally I do not put any credence in it, but I believe that most of the German troops will surrender because they had nothing but defeat since the initial landing in Normandy.
Diary, May 1
Noticed that all the tanks [in the 14th Armored Division] were covered with sandbags, which in no way afforded any further protection and greatly increased the load on springs and engines. I ordered these removed . . .
Visited a prison camp of some 30,000 Allied prisoners . . . I gave them a few minutes’ talk on the fact that under difficult conditions they had maintained their prestige as officers and soldiers. There was considerable cheering, clapping, and pictures taken.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Frederick Ayer, May 2, 1945
The war is sort of dragging its end out to a non-spectacular termination . . .
Judging from the last war, when one gets to the point where the enemy starts making rumors of peace, his fighting value completely disappears. We have been taking tremendous numbers of prisoners.
Headquarters Third Army moved from Erlangen to Regensburg, “which in French is Ratisbon. This is where Napoleon fought a battle in one of his advances on Vienna and about which a poem is written.”
Diary, May 3
Information was obtained over the radio last night of the unconditional surrender of all troops in Italy and southern Austria. This will probably be contagious, and the war may end any minute . . .
[Was] nearly killed by a bull cart coming out of a side street. We missed the end of the pole by a few inches.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice [May 3, 1945}
Last night the German Armies in Italy surrendered . . . Those in front of me will quit to day or tomorrow, and I will be out of a job. I feel lower than whale tracks on the bottom of the ocean. I love war and responsibility and excitement. Peace is going to be hell on me. I will probably be a great nusance . . .
I would like to come home for at least a few days. I miss you.
Diary, May 4
The V Corps . . . was put in this Army today. This gives us the biggest Army we have had, 18 divisions in all and over 500,000 men...
At 7:30, Bradley called up and said the green light was on for the attack on Czechoslovakia. We immediately called the V Corps and told them to get going...
Things like this are what is going to make the peace so terrible, because nothing exciting will ever happen.
Diary, May 5
It will be necessary for them [V Corps] to halt on the stop line through Pilsen, but they could send reconnaissance to Prague . . .
In view of the radio report about the Patriots having taken Prague, it seems desirable to me to push on and help them.
Apparently the Third Army is doing the last offensive of the war.
“If I am fortunate enough to get to China,” he wrote a friend, “I shall certainly do my best to see that you come along.”
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Charles F. Ayer, May 6, 1945
I certainly hope to be in the U.S. for awhile before going to China. However, I may be kept over here commanding an Army, or I may be sent God knows where, or —and this is off-the-record – I may ask for retirement and go sailing. . .
This morning the Third Army is the only one left attacking; the enemy has surrendered everywhere else, and the resistance in front of us is not serious.
Diary, May 6
The halt line through Pilsen is mandatory . . . Eisenhower does not wish at this late date to have airy international complications. It seems to me that as great a nation as America should let the other people worry about the complications. Personally I would go to the line of the Moldau River and tell the Russians that is where I intended to stop.
Bradley also directed us to discontinue our advance east along the Danube to make contact with the Russians, and let them make contact with us . . . I doubt the wisdom of this.
An alleged 100,000 White Russians are attempting to surrender to us. These people have fought for the Germans against the Russians and are in a pitiable state. However, they will have to be treated as displaced persons. I am having them moved west of the Czechoslovakian border [to save them] . . .
We have moved the III Corps to the vicinity of Nurnburg to start in occupying Bavaria.
Diary, May 7
Mr. Patterson, Under Secretary of War, spent the night, and we left by cub to visit the XX Corps . . . We found that the Imperial Spanish Riding Academy, which has been teaching high school riding in Vienna since the time of Charles V, had been moved to the vicinity of the XX Corps headquarters. After lunch they gave us an exhibition of riding and made an address.
Translation of address made by Mr. Podhajsky in the horse stables of Schloss Arco at St. Martin / Innkreis, Austria, May 7, 1945
General Patton, I am announcing the end of the performance and I thank you and the Honorable Mr. Patterson . . . as well as all generals for the great honor you have paid this Spanish Imperial Riding Academy by your gracious visit.. .
I ask you, General Patton, and the representatives of the US government to take under your protecting hand this old Austrian Academy, a cultural institution of the noble art of riding, unique in Europe, and perhaps unique in the world. This school demonstrates the development of culture of the 16th century and it represents the era of the Baroque almost kept intact.
Diary
It was rather peculiar to realize that with a world tearing itself apart in war, about twenty middle-aged men in perfect physical condition, and about an equal number of grooms, had spent their time teaching horses tricks. As much as I like horses, it seems to me there is a place for everything . . .
The Secretary was extremely cordial and had a wonderful memory for names and could state where he had formerly met each officer. We had a very pleasant evening and I found him extremely talkative and had the good sense to let him do the talking.
Stiller was present and according to his recollections, Patton said to Secretary Patterson,
“Mr. Secretary, for God’s sake, when you go home, stop this point system; stop breaking up these Armies; give us an opportunity to keep 30% of our battlewise troops home on leave if you wish, etc. – send us replacements and let us start training here, keeping our forces intact. Let’s keep our boots polished, bayonets sharpened, and present a picture of force and strength to these people [the Russians]. This is the only language they understand and respect. If you fail to do this, then I would like to say to you that we have had a victory over the Germans and have disarmed them, but have lost the war.”
The Secretary replied, “Oh, George, you have been so close to this thing so long, you have lost sight of the big picture. You don’t realize the strength of these people.”
Gen. P. said, “Mr. Secretary, it is your privilege to say ‘Oh, George/ if you wish, but for God’s sake listen to what I am trying to tell you.”
Mr. P. said, “What would you have us do, George?”
Gen. P. said, “I would have you keep these Armies intact. I would have your State Department, or the people in charge, tell the people concerned where their border is, and give them a limited time to get back across. Warn them that if they fail to do so, we will push them back across it.”
The Secretary said, “You don’t realize the strength of these people.”
Gen. P. said, “Yes, I have seen them. I understand the situation. Their supply system is inadequate to maintain them in a serious action such as I could put to them. They have chickens in their coops and cattle on the hoof – that’s their supply system. They could probably maintain themselves in the type of fighting I could give them for five days. After that it would make no difference how many million men they have, and if you wanted Moscow, I could giwe it to you.
“They lived on the land coming down. There is insufficient left for them to maintain themselves going back! Let’s not give them time to build up their supplies. If we do, then I repeat, we have had a victory over the Germans and disarmed them; we have failed in the liberation of Europe; we have lost the war!
“There is nothing democratic about war. It’s a straight dictatorship. The use of force to attain the end desired. We the Armed Forces of the U.S.A. have put our government in the position to dictate the peace. We did not come over here to acquire jurisdiction over either the people or their countries. We came to give them back the right to govern themselves. We must either finish the job now – while we are here and ready – or later under less favorable circumstances.”
Even as the war was coming to an end, Patton was forecasting the cold war of the postwar period. In part his estimate was a realistic appreciation of power politics, his recognition that the United States and the Soviet Union were emerging as the leading nations in the world. They had opposing interests, and in that context he believed that conflict was inevitable. He was sure that redeployment and demobilization would weaken the United States and strengthen the Russians, who would threaten to overrun all of Europe.
In part, no doubt, his bellicose attitude was nurtured by his reluctance to see the war come to an end. The excitement and the glory were already fading, and if an armed conflict was inevitable, as he believed, why not at once when the Americans still had combat-effective forces in being?
His view of the Soviet danger would color his attitude during the occupation.
Germany officially surrendered, the capitulation taking effect in the first minute of May 9.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, May 8, 1945
Two and a half years ago to day we landed in Africa and now it is all over . . .
We will move . . . near Munich soon and take up the governing of this part of Germany. I hope I don’t stay there long. I want to go home for a while on my way to China.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Eisenhower, May 8, 1945
My dear Ike: Please accept my most sincere congratulations on the accomplishment of probably the most difficult job in the history of the world under the most difficult conditions. No one is happier than I at your magnificent success. Devotedly yours,
Diary, May 8
This morning at the regular briefing I spoke to the assembled officers . . . I added that I hope we will have other similar briefings in China. I thanked them for what they had done . . .
There is going to be a tremendous let down unless we watch ourselves ...
I said goodby to the war correspondents and was excessively photographed by them and with them. I also signed a large number of short snorters and handed out a general letter of thanks, which I had personally signed . . .
I also received today a very fine letter of congratulations from the Secretary of War which reads as follows: “I congratulate you and your heroic soldiers of the Third Army. I commend you for the dashing and spectacular victories which have played a great part in bringing about this glorious day. The exploits of the Third Army have been in the highest traditions of the armies that have defended America throughout its history. You and your gallant forces well deserve the nation’s homage.”
GSP, Jr., Press Conference, Regensburg, May 8, 1945
Patton: I certainly appreciate your efforts in informing the people back home of the various units composing this Army and their whereabouts. I have personally received hundreds of letters from parents of soldiers I don’t know emphasizing that point, and I want to thank you for it . . .
Are there any questions?
Gay: General, I had a telephone message . . . Colonel Polk found the worst concentration camp yet . . .
Patton: . . . Two or three of you people can use my plane to get up there and take pictures. You can drive up if you want to, but I thought several of you would like to go by plane.
Question: Would you explain why we didn’t go into Prague?
Patton: I can tell you exactly – we were told not to. I don’t know the exact reasons but those were orders. Of course there are probably many reasons which we don’t know which would explain this, as there may be cause of international incidents up there we don’t know anything about...
Question: Do you have any objection about releasing the story on the gold?
Patton: I have no objection to anything.
Question: There is a question as to who owns this gold.
Patton: I don’t give a damn ...
Question: Are SS troops [taken prisoner] to be handled any differently?
Patton: No. SS means no more in Germany than being a Democrat in America – that is not to be quoted. I mean by that that initially the SS people were special sons-of-bitches, but as the war progressed, they ran out of sons-of-bitches and then they put anybody in there. Some of the top SS men will be treated as criminals, but there is no reason for trying someone who was drafted into this outfit . . .
Question: Is there any time limit for the return of prisoners to their homes?
Patton: I think that is in the terms of surrender. I haven’t read the terms of the surrender. I catch them and somebody else can cook them...
Well, I wish you goodby and all the best of luck.
GSP, Jr., Radio Speech (prerecorded) delivered in the United States, May 8, 1945
Now that victory in Europe has been achieved, let us review the Third Army’s part in this epic struggle . . .
To those at home we promise that with their unremitting assistance we shall continue, so that with the help of Almighty God, and through the inspired leadership of our President and the High Command, we shall conquer not only Germany but also Japan until the last danger to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness shall perish from the earth.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Beatrice, May 9, 1945
Your telegram . . . [and your] modest estimate of me means more than the opinion of the rest of the world ...
All the Germans are trying to surrender to us so that the Russians wont get them. It is realy a serious problem. There are hundreds of thousands of them, all with out food.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Hull, May 9, 1945
I will even be more your debtor if you can get me sent to China, so please don’t forget.
Diary, May 9
Inspected the Skoda Munitions Plant . . . and I found a new form of bogie suspension for tanks, of which I took some pictures. I believe that for light tanks it is very satisfactory . . .
We issued orders . . . to take over control of Czechoslovakia up to the stop line and to prevent, so far as possible, German units from crossing. However, Bradley indicated that it was permissable for German civilians to cross.
Letter, GSP, Jr., to Handy, May 10, 1945
Please don’t forget that I still am very anxious to fight in China.
Diary, May 10
I issued General Orders No. 98, terminating the war today . . .
Lunched with the Supreme Commander and four Army commanders and their air officers. After lunch General Eisenhower talked to us very confidentially on the necessity for solidarity in the event that any of us are called before a Congressional Committee. He outlined what he thought was the proper form of organization [for the occupation]. While none of us exactly agreed with it, it was not sufficiently contrary to our views to prevent our supporting it in general.
He then made a speech which had to me the symptoms of political aspirations, on cooperation with the British, Russians, and the Chinese, but particularly with the British.
It is my opinion that this talking cooperation is for the purpose of covering up probable criticism of strategical blunders which he unquestionably committed during the campaign. Whether or not these were his own or due to too much cooperation with the British, I don’t know. I am inclined to think that he over-cooperated.
So ended the war for George Patton, not with a bang but a whimper.
He could hardly know that ahead of him lay further battles of another sort.