George Smith PATTON

                   George S. "Old Blood & Guts" Patton, General
George Patton was born in San Gabriel, California, on 11th November, 1885. He attended the West Point Military Academy but along with his friend, Courtney Hodges, was forced to leave after a year because of poor test results. Patton restarted the course and graduated in 1909 (46/103) and won a commission in the cavalry.
Patton, a talented sportsman, finished fifth in the modern pentathlon in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm. As well as being a great horseman and sailor, Patton also qualified as a pilot.
During the First World War Patton was sent to the Western Front in France where he served under General John Pershing before being given command of 304th Tank Brigade. Patton, who fought at St Mihiel Offensive was seriously wounded at Meuse Argonne and would have died but for the brave actions of Joe Angelo. During the war won the DSC and DSM in the war.
After the war Patton was assigned to the tank centre at Camp Meade where he met and became close friends with Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1932 Patton joined Eisenhower and Douglas MacArthur in dealing with the Bonus Army in Washington. MacArthur, controversially used tanks, four troops of cavalry with drawn sabers, and infantry with fixed bayonets, on the protesters. He justified his attack on former members of the US Army by claiming that the country was on the verge of a communist revolution. One of the leaders of the demonstration was Joe Angelo, the man who had saved Patton's life at Meuse Argonne.
On 1st October 1940 Patton was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the 2nd Armed Division based at Fort Benning. Rated highly by General George Marshall, in January 1942, Patton was placed in charge of the Desert Training Centre at Indio, California. Later that year Patton joined General Dwight D. Eisenhower in organizing Operation Torch.
Patton's troops arrived in North Africa in November 1942. After liberating Morocco he worked on planning the invasion of Sicily with Mark Clark before being sent to Tunisia as head of the 2nd Corps. Patton was a strict disciplinarian and he insisted that his men shaved every day and wore a tie in battle.
At the Casablanca Conference held in January 1943, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to launch an invasion of Sicily. It was hoped that if the island was taken Italy might withdraw from the war. It was also argued that a successful invasion would force Adolf Hitler to send troops from the Eastern Front and help to relieve pressure on the Red Army in the Soviet Union.
The operation was placed under the supreme command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower. General Harold Alexander was commander of ground operations and his 15th Army Group and Patton was placed in charge of the 7th Army.
On 10th July 1943, General Bernard Montgomery and the 8th Army landed at five points on the south-eastern tip of the island and the US 7th Army at three beaches to the west of the British forces. The Allied troops met little opposition and Patton and his troops quickly took Gela, Licata and Vittoria. The British landings were also unopposed and Syracuse was taken on the the same day. This was followed by Palazzolo (11th July), Augusta (13th July) and Vizzini (14th July), whereas the US troops took the Biscani airfield and Niscemi (14th July).
Patton now moved to the west of the island and General Omar Bradley headed north and the German Army was forced to retreat to behind the Simeto River. Patton took Palermo on 22nd July cutting off 50,000 Italian troops in the west of the island. Patton now turned east along the northern coast of the island towards the port of Messina.
Meanwhile General Bernard Montgomery and the 8th Army were being held up by German forces under Field Marshal Albrecht Kesselring. The Allies carried out several amphibious assaults attempted to cut off the Germans but they were unable to.