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I watched Patton last night. It had been a while since I saw it.
The opening scene is of a speech he gave to his troops.
I wondered how accurate it was and was surprised to learn it was almost verbatim. The real General Patton swore a lot more than what the movie portrayed. Of course they were trying to sell a movie and had to tone down his language a bit.
On this 4th of July, it saddens me to witness what our military is going through with all the PC and woke bs.
Anyway, here is the opening scene and below is a link to what he actually said.
Hagiographic Hollywood aside, you may want to ponder that Supreme Allied Command was put in the hands of a much more capable and politically adept man, namely Eisenhower.
Patton was an excellent and aggressive army commander, talented in driving men and materiel hard forward. He was also a bit of a poseur - ivory-handled revolvers and whatnot - and his politics got him into all sorts of trouble, even in the context of WWII where the fate of the Free World could be said to hang in the balance.
I suppose everybody has their favorites; certainly Patton was probably more respected by his enemies than his allies.
That's an interesting question, but we're veering into the History forum's lane. Anyway, if we were to try on the idea that Patton was a genius who should've been put in higher command roles, we get back to the crux of the problem: Unguarded words and actions can always jeopardize a career, and there's no avoiding politics as you rise to national prominence. If Patton had been more in control of himself, he might have had a bigger role.
That being said, it appears that he Germans considered him a very competent tactician - that is, one who carries out the plans of others. But they'd also argue, post-war, that he - in general - fought battles where the enemy was on the back foot already, and with a huge logistical advantage. Now, you may say that of course the Germans will argue that to put their own fight in a better light, and there's something to that. But they're not factually wrong, either.
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