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The Real Story of General George Patton, Jr’s Death & Final Days
Following his campaign in Western Europe, George S. Patton had difficulty adjusting to peacetime and was fatally injured in an automobile accident.
By Major General Michael Reynolds
The commander of the U.S. Third Army, General George Patton, Jr., took no great pleasure in the end of the war in Europe; he already knew that despite his lobbying of many influential figures in Washington, D.C., he had no hope of being reassigned to the Pacific Theater to command combat troops there. As he put it to his III Corps commander, Maj. Gen. James Van Fleet, “There is already a star [MacArthur] in that theater and you can only have one star in a sho
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47 thoughts on “The Real Story of General George Patton, Jr’s Death & Final Days”
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Very Deep story. Very Warm story. Very Human story. Wonderfully done!
Too bad it should have been the future President who really did do as much as Patton but got the credit. No comparison to Ike or Bradley
Omar Bradley was the MOST incompetent Commanding General. He was out partying while the Tet offensive happened. After knowing how our Soldiers were treated in Japanese Prison Camps, old Gutless left our boys to rot.
Didn’t know Bradley was in Vietnam,…………
What a gripping story and a great General, It’s no wonder where Donald trump gets his leadership from.
Huh ?
Amen
100% right, Amen & Amen
He was an exceptional warrior and leader. A very unique man indeed.
I HAD JUST WATCHED THE MOVIE OF GENERAL PATTON’S HISTORY DURING WORLD WAR 2 AND DECIDED TO DIG A LITTLE FURTHER AS MY HUSBAND WHO IS A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR SEEMED TO THINK THERE MAY HAVE BEEN FOUL PLAY AT THE TIME OF HIS DEATH.
THIS ARTICLE WAS MOST INTERESTING AND BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND IT SEEMS QUITE LIKELY IT WAS A TRAGIC ACCIDENT. VERY CONVENIENT ACCIDENT SO I SUPPOSE THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOME DOUBT IN SOME MINDS!!!!!! MY THEORY WOULD BE THAT THE GENERAL WAS NOT OF SOUND MIND AND HIS DEATH COULD BE A BLESSING IN DISGUISE FOR MANY POLITICIANS AND LEADERS. WAS HE MURDERED? YOUR GUESS IS AS GOOD AS MINE…………
Good article not enough data
Best personal history of Patton. Too bad he died. He should have been president. Rather than IKE.
Patton may have been a great war general, but the business of politics and running a country would not have been his cup of tea. Just like Churchill was a great war leader. The war was over and a different type of leadership was needed.
Been reading a book about Patton and ran across this. Great read.
Thank you so much for this comprehensive and heartfelt and I would have to say incredibly accurate account of my grandfathers final days.
Dear Helen!
Even though you don’t know me, it is a privilege for me to write to you!
I was born and raised in Brussels (Bxls), Belgium until I got remarried for the 2nd time to an Air Force aircraft mechanic from Spangdahlem, Germany. I left for the States (Mt Home, ID) in 1996 (was 32 at the time).
My whole youth, my family traveled from Bxls to Spangdahlem because part of my German family lived there. The road took us through Luxemburg and Dad showed us all about Patton’s Tank and the history of the Ardennes since we were going through them… Even in Bitburg and in the small villages around the B-50 that goes to Spangdahlem Air For Base like Dudeldorf you see traces of your Grandpa’s tanks on the sides of stones village entrance that were not much wider than the tanks.
I don’t know if you ever visit Luxemburg or did see part of Germany and retraced his voyage, but I wish I could because I always loved your Grandma tremendously and can’t read or see a film or documentary without crying…
Maybe because the Americans saved Europe (yes, but that was way before my time, I was born in 1965), maybe because they delivered Bxls and a tank stayed in my Mom’s courtyard for over a week, or maybe because every time I would visit my Godfather by Spangdahlem, I would pass the base and later on learn English, meet an airman, marry him and be stationed there for 4 yrs then go to Leipheim for 4 yrs? Who knows? But I’ve been in Garmish and numerous places where your Grandpa was and it ALWAYS moved me to tears!
I guess, he made me love the American Military so much that I decided to become American, get a high school degree, college, and enlisted myself into the military as Satellite and Wideband Communications until I retired from the Air National Guard…
That’s what your Grandpa did to me. I will ALWAYS say and think that he was the greatest General that the 20th century ever seen and I wished they could have unleashed him because the world would look quite different if they did. But like he said and probably thought deep in his heart, he was here to do what God wanted him to do, no more, no less!
I am extremely proud of our General Patton and I’m pretty sure you are too!
May God bless you and your family the way HE has blesses your Grandpa!
Retired SSgt Isabella Bradley
Amen
Hello Helen. I was stationed in Germany in the early 1970s and was hospitalized for several weeks at the US Army Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany. While there I was taken by wheelchair to a room which was supposedly that of the hospital room where General Patton had died. The room was empty except for a hospital bed and a few other pieces of standard furniture of that long-ago era. While I knew little of this great man save what minor things that I had learned in my youth I was moved to silence.
General Patton was once of the greatest military generals who ever walked the earth. He was at his best when commanding his men and was extremely instrumental in the victory of the allies over the Germans. His distrust of the Russians and their communist ideals was ignored by the politicians of the time, much to the detriment of eastern Europe. General Patton’s belief that the United States military should have driven the Russians back within their pre-war borders would have changed the history of Europe for the better. But he was ignored. Sadly, generals have no say in the world when a war comes to an end.
This is a wonderful account of his final days when his transition from a powerful general to a peacetime administrator showed that that was never going to be a role which he was able to do. His tragic death was the end of a great man to which the world owes a debt of gratitude beyond comprehension.
I’ve always admired Patton, he was a great leader of fighting men and a natural leader of men. He was a very opinionated man who spoke exactly what he wanted to say! With Patton, you always knew where you stood with him, no doubt or “grey area’s”! They should have cut him loose with the Third army and the 7th and there would have never been an East Berlin! Just Berlin! Politician were scared of him because he spoke the truth! America could use a great leader like him today! This is the best article on Patton I’ve ever read.
RIP, amen.
Great to know!
Ms Patton,
This is a bit off topic but perhaps you might clarify something for me.
In 1968/69 while a young USARMY engineer LT stationed in Kontum Province in the VN Central Highlands, I recall meeting a young armor LT named George Patton. Was he any relation to you by any chance and, if so, what ever happened to him?
He was one of several notable personalities I briefly crossed paths.
Another was Sean Flynn, Erroll Flynn’s son, who was a combat photograher at the same time and who almost certainly would have photographed someone as significant as a Patton descendant in combat.
Just curious.
Thank you.
Helen, In August of this year, I was at the American cemetery in Luxembourg where General George Payton is buried. I was overwhelmed and prayed in front of his grave. Salute to such a great man! Bless you. – Girish Thakar (412)901-0039
Would like to buy the book above, since my father Peter Beck surrendered to George Patton, the Russians on his heels. He always said Patton saved my life, I would not be home by now, but a war prisoner in Russia. A great man should be remembered for ever.
Thanks for posting the article-overall, good information. However, the dismissive paragraph regarding the General’s demise is lacking. There is information (although perhaps not necessarily reaching the level of “evidience”, be that as it may) of foul play. There are a number of sources available to consult and the reader can decide for themselves. One person even stated an admission of responsibility for his purported role in the attack-make of that what you will. One can start with O-Reilly’s book.
Patton is my hero. By not listening to him when he wanted to re-arm the German army, put him in charge with his third army and kick to Russians back to where they belong has been proven to be the worst blunder in military history.
Don’t disagree with the sentiment Robert, but rearming the Germans would have caused a revolt in the US and would have amounted to political suicide for Truman if he let it happen.
My high school civics teacher (in 1960) told us a few stories about his WWII infantry service in Europe. He agreed with Patton that the Russians were the enemy, and said the men on his troop ship heading home were willing to return to Europe and fight the Russians.
The US would have been defeated if it had gone to war with the Soviet Union in 1945.
James,
and just how would the US have succumbed to the Russians? We already had atomic weapons and had used them on Japanese cities twice-perhaps some historians have suggested as a demonstration and warning to Moscow…but I am interested in the details of how we would have lost to the Russians, in some detail of course ie our objectives vs theirs and precisely how we’d have failed in ours while they suceeded in defeating an American armed forces at the apogee of their war potential and still in Europe prior to Operation Magic Carpet….
all ears I am for some brilliant military strategy….
the floor is yours dude
The United States should have helped destroy the Soviet Union in 1941. It was too late by 1945, the US had made the USSR a superpower. A destroyed and bankrupted Europe would not have supported war against Stalin.
Extremely captivating story and well written with plenty of facts to back up the story. I especially liked the excerpts from his diary which shows Patton NOT to be the person that many have said, “to have had too many bumps to the head”, but a man of common sense who was derailed by political academists.
I served under his son at Ft Hood Texas.
Patton obviously saw into the future and what the world would be like in our time with Russia and china.
Some of the politics then was similar to what we see now in the general ranks. Ike was playing politics and Bradley did not act on the intelligence he was given at the Ardennes. Bradley‘s reputation is always polished by Ernie Pyle. The other issue is that I got Eisenhower and gave Mark Clark a pass in Italy. Lucian truscott had US Army six corps off the beach in Anzio And trapped the German 10th army in the mountains. He was not allowed to crush the German 10th army but was directed by Mark Clark to the Appian Hills where he got 10,000 GIs killed in a fight west of Rome so that Mark Clark good march into Rome.
German 10th army escaped to the defensive line and prolonged the war in Italy.
General Patton saved Bradley‘s ass at the battle of the bulge. Bradley should’ve been relieved of command.
Eisenhower and the allies handed over Eastern Europe to the Russians.
My dad was a classmate of Patton’s son.
I have been a student of General George s. Patton for some 40-45 years and this is a well written article, very accurate. For accurate reading concerning Patton, read Patton The Man Behind The Legend, 1885-1945. By: Martin Blumenson (author of: The Patton Papers). Best of regards, Sam Virzi, Hemet, CA.
I can’t understand why Patton wasn’t brought back to the US for burial at West Point, like his wife wanted.
Nobody would have thought anything unusual about it, and even would have thought it to be proper.
The “bureaucrat” military elites wanted Patton forgotten lest people find out how Eisenhower bungled the handling of the war after D-Day from which General Patton was excluded for slapping a soldier. Eisenhower, Bradley and the like had never been to a battlefield until after the battle. Dead and buried in Europe, few will look back at what went on in 1944, which is when the war could have ended had they of listened to him. No battle of the Bulge and probably a million plus lives saved, military and civilian.
Why does General Patton still lay in Europe? He should be reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery, in the country he loved so dearly.
In August this year, I was at American cemetery in Luxembourg where General Patton is buried. His wife preferred to have him buried along with his men who died in Battle of Bulge. The cemetery belongs to and is gifted to USA by Luxembourg and hence he is buried on American soil. Salute to a great general!
Excellent fact based article, very human… flaws and all including the facts of his anti semitism – I happen to be Jewish so I am keenly aware of this flaw in his character… He was from an extremely wealthy patrician family, anti semitism came naturally to him. His admiration for Germans was indeed troubling.. He was no fan of the Atomic Bomb -or perhaps that it was largely a creation of Jewish minds… His idea of what war was supposed to be was forever changed by atomic weapons.. His attack based agenda worked.. and yes had he been given sufficient resources, the war would have been much shorter and many lives would have been spared as a result… The history of Europe since WWII would have been very different.
General Patton belongs at West Point so that the cadets NEVER FORGET who he was, what he did for the Army and most importantly, their responsibility to the nation.
A comment now that time has given historians a bit more perspective. Patton was a field commander in the finest sense. He did his job and did it well. He acknowledged that he was a terrible politician. Eisenhauer’s job was both military and political. His task was to keep a group of disparate actors on the same page while still planning a strategy to win a war. He did both quite well. As far as the test of time goes, there has never, since the death of Charlemagne, been a settled Europe for more than a few decades. The present internals of the EU certainly reflect that even today. As has been said before in various iterations; you go to war with what you have, not what you wish you had.
Patton was a great war time general and a bad choice for an administrator. With hind sight many people think if we would have went to war right away with the Russians things would be different today. How could the deaths of so many more American solders made to day any better? The USSR is gone to the dust bin of history and so many of us would never been born if our fathers had died in that war[mine was a USAAF bomber pilot] and today no one can say for sure what would have become from another war.
General Patton was the greatest US Army combat general of WWII. None of today’s generals could ever come close. RIP, General.
Patton was just an average general, nothing more.
All he did was help defeat the remnants of the Afrika Korps after it had already been defeated by British and Commonwealth forces.
Model, Manstein, Guderian, Rommel, Kesselring and von Bock were the greatest generals of World War II.
Thank you for the long article. I enjoyed reading about the times from the end of the war in Europe to Patton’s tragic accident and death. He was, indeed, the consummate warrior, steeped in military and well trained for the terrible combat which followed. His offensive minded spirit may have rubbed his G.I.s the wrong way as he did not want to let up on a beaten enemy in NW France, but his Third Army, in France and especially the brilliant pre-planning and performance before and during the Germans “Wacht am Rhein” Ardennes attack, no doubt saved many G.I.s at Bastogne. He shortened the war in Europe and saved many lives, civilian and military, while predicting what would happen if the Russians were given free reign. (I doubt it would have been possible standing up to that juggernaut, even with our Air Force, to push them back to their borders, though. By that time their armor was easily superior to ours, and their soldiers knew how to defeat a well trained enemy while sustaining millions of casualties. I feel they would have fought anyone, even us, as fiercely as they fought the German Heer and the SS.) Gen. Patton was in the right place at the right time in history, doing what he had trained for all his adult life. We, as a nation and an Ally, were fortunate to have him on our side.
He was a hero. Crazy maybe but a hero nonetheless.