Patton Essay Research Paper PattonWorld War II

Patton Essay, Research Paper

Patton

World War II was the most destructive war in history. It began in 1939 as a

European conflict between Germany and a British and French alliance, but eventually

included most of the nations of the world. Most of the war was fought with the same

types of weapons used in World War I. The greatest advances were in aircraft and tanks.

Patton was the first soldier in the tank corps. He created the training procedures, the

regulations and the methods of instruction. At that time the American public saw Patton

as an arrogant man who enraged Americans because he slapped a soldier who was

hospitalized for post traumatic stress disorder, which at that time was called combat

fatigue. The movie portrays General George Patton as an intense, fanatical patriot who

arrogantly struts with a swagger stick, which was actually a riding crop with a hidden

sword inside of it, and ivory handled pistols in front of a huge American flag.

Difference Between the Real Patton and the Movie Patton

The real Patton was a dyslexic, who came from a wealthy background, and was

his own worst enemy. The real Patton had a high pitched voice, unlike George C. Scott’s

deep and rough voice. At the beginning of the movie, Patton’s delivering his famous

speech to the Third Army delivered on June 4, 1944. In the movie, during the opening

speech, Patton also makes the statement, “No bastard ever won a war by dying for his

country, you win it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country!”. He

actually made this statement in 1941 at Fort Benning, Georgia to a small group of troops

in training. Obviously the statement was memorable enough for the writers of the movie

to include it into the opening scene. When Patton is wearing the uniform of a four star

general and has decorations that were awarded to him by various European countries.

However, in reality, at this point in time, he was still a lieutenant general and the

decorations were awarded to him after the war. Patton is shown in Morocco, where in

1941 he was the commander of the 2nd Armored Division. He was assigned to seize

Cassablanca, which he did. He went to the headquarters of Admiral Michelier with pearl

handled pistols and a tommy gun and impressed the Sultan of Morocco. One of the

beginning scenes inthe movie shows Patton being presented with the order of Ouissan

Alaouite. The citation actually says the memorable line in the movie, “The lions in their

dens tremble at his approach.” The changes in North Africa began on August 31, 1942,

when Rommel attacked through the southern flank of the British line west of

El-’Alamein. General Bernard Law Montgomery fought with Patton, and forced Rommel

into a retreat. Throughout the movie, Rommel and Patton are seen as major adversaries.

Three American, three British, and one Canadian divisions landed on Sicily on July 10,

1943. One of these divisions was General Patton’s army. They pushed across the island

and overcame the last Axis opposition on August 17. The movie does not mention,

however, that Mussolini had been stripped of power on July 25, and the Italian

government had entered into negotiations that ended in an armistice on September 8.

The movie does deal with the famous slapping incident. The movie does not

mention that the soldier later became an abusive alcoholic. Even though Patton

eventually gives in and offers a public apology, the incident keeps him out of action.

Because of the negative public reaction, he ended up being a decoy during the

Normandy invasion. The movie does not give an understandable background for D-Day.

The tanks used in the major battle scenes in the movie were post war tanks and they were

not the same type of tanks that were actually used. Ironically, the tanks used on the

German side in the movie are called Patton 1s. When the Germans had reached the

Meuse and lower Rhine rivers and the Americans were coming up against the west wall.

The Allies’ most serious problem was that they had run out of supplies. The movie does

discuss this problem and Patton’s frustration with it. Omar Bradley is shown to be

conservative and level headed. Bradley begins the film serving under Patton and ends the

film as Patton’s superior. The two are shown to be friends even though each finds fault

with the other’s methods. In reality, Bradley did not like Patton and Patton despised

Bradley. The interesting thing is that Omar Bradley was the military consultant for the

Patton movie and made sure that the movie portrayed him (General Bradley played by

Karl Malden) in a positive light. On March 22 the U.S. Third Army, under Patton had

seized a bridge south of Mainz. The movie shows Patton’s march across the bridge but

did not include the fact that he deliberately urinated from the middle of the bridge.

Alikeness between the real Patton and the Movie Patton

The real Patton was correctly portrayed as a motivating speaker. Patton, in real

life and in the film was a born leader. The movie was accurate in showing Patton as a

dedicated student of military history, a master tactician and an arrogant, foul mouthed

difficult man. Patton was not a friendly, easy going person. He was harsh stubborn and

undiplomatic. Patton had a strong belief in God and always had a bible at hand. He also

believed in reincarnation. He believed that he had been on the battlefield when the

Carthaginians fought the Romans. He also believed that he had served under Napoleon

in a previous life. All of these were shown in the film. The movie shows the reality of

war. One of the opening scenes shows many of the dead Allies soldiers were being

stripped of the clothing, helmets and equipment by civilians. This scene in the movie

shows Tunisia in 1943, where this actually occurred. The movie also shows Patton with

his men in the snow making their way into battle ont their way for thre battle of the

bulge. Patton made many mistakes in diplomacy. The movie shows Patton making

comments that he believes are off the record. The press then printed these comments and

Patton is in trouble for insulting the Russians. Patton then has to promise to keep his big

mouth shut, or be left out of the war. Being part of the war was all that was important to

Patton. The movie also has a segment showing the Patton prayer. When the Third Army

headquarters were located in Nancy, France, they were bothered by bad weather. Patton

ordered the chaplain, whose real name was James H. O’Neill, to write a prayer about the

weather. The chaplain wrote a prayer. The prayer said, “Almighty and most merciful

Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate

rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously

harken to us as soldiers who call Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance

from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and

establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.” This is just one of the true

instances that showed Patton’s deep belief in God. Patton actually had copies of the

prayer made for each man in the Third Army, and when the weather cleared up, he told

the chaplain that he knew the prayer would work.

Historicals events Portrayed in the Movie

American and British Troops who fought together under General Dwight D.

Eisenhower began landing in Morocco and Algeria on November 8. The Germans sent

reinforcements into Tunis and managed to get the Fifth Panzer Army to stop Eisenhower

in western Tunisia by mid-December. Rommel went into the Mareth Line in southeastern

Tunisia in early February 1943 and started an attack against the Americans on February

14 that drove them back 50 miles and out of the Kasserine Pass. On June 6, 1944,

D-Day, the day of invasion for Overlord, the U.S. First Army, under General Omar N.

Bradley, and the British Second Army, established beachheads in Normandy, on the

French channel coast. The German resistance was strong. Allied air attacks over

northern France made it difficult for Rommel to move his reserves. Hitler became

convinced that the Normandy landings were a bluff and the main assault would come

north of the Seine River. Hitler believed this because Patton was being used as a decoy

and he did not believe that Patton would not be involved in a major offensive. As a

result of this belief, Hitler refused to release the divisions he had there and insisted on

drawing in reinforcements from more distant areas. By the end of June, Eisenhower had

850,000 men and 150,000 vehicles ashore in Normandy. Later that year, General Omar

Bradley gave Patton command of the Allied Third Army with which he pushes across

Western Europe to stop the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge. Bradley and

Montgomery sent their army groups north and east across the Seine on August 25.

Montgomery’s troops seized Antwerp on September 3, and the first American patrols

crossed the German border on September 11. Gasoline and ammunition were limited

and were being brought from French ports on the channel coast over 500 miles of roads

and railroads. The Battle of the Bulge was extremely important in winning the war. On

July 25, Bradley began the attack. Montgomery took over the British Second Army and

the Canadian First Army. Bradley took over command of the Twelfth Army Group which

consisted of the U.S. First and Third armies under General Courtney H. Hodges and

General George S. Patton. Following the Normandy invasion in June of 1944, Allied

forces went through France but became delayed along the German border in September.

On December 16, the Germans began a counteroffensive through the Ardennes country

and advanced 31 miles into Belgium and Luxembourg. They created a ?bulge? in the

Allied lines, but their advance was stopped near the Meuse in late December. The

Americans put up a strong opposition and were able to hold Saint-Vith and Bastogne.

The Germans managed to avoid being cut off by the Allies and withdrew in January. It

was not until the end of January that the last of the 50 mile bulge in the Allied lines was

removed. On the day that Patton’s Third Army had taken the German city of Trier,

Bradley sent orders not to try to capture it. The movie shows Patton sending him a

message saying that he already had captured it and asking if they wanted him to give it

back.

In early March, the armies moved up to the Rhine. The bridges were down

everywhere. By March 24, Montgomery sent members of the British Second Army and

the U.S. Ninth Army across the river. The U.S. First Army was occupying a bridge

between Bonn and Koblenz. On March 22 the U.S. Third Army, under Patton had seized

a bridge south of Mainz.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berardinelli, James, Patton- A film review.,The Patton Society, The Patton Web Pages,

1996-1997

Chandler, David G., Battle On Land, New York, Mallard Press, 1990

D’Este, Carlo, Patton: a Genius for War, New York, Harper Collins Publisher, 1995

Nye, Roger H., The Patton Mind, Avery Publishing Company, Garden City Park, NY,

1993

Patton, George S. Jr, Calvary Journal, The Patton Society, The Patton Web Pages,

1996-1997

Patton, George S. Jr, Address to the US 3rd Army, The Patton Society, The Patton Web

Pages, 1996-1997

Ziemke, Earl F., World War II, Encarta., Microsoft Corporation. Funk & Wagnall’s

Corporation,1994.