The Real General George Patton

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The Real General George 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 openin...

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... 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.

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