War as I Knew It Read online

  HEARTBREAKING NEWS

  On July 28, 1944, General Patton was given control of the troops of the Third Army then on the Continent of Europe.

  The First Army had begun its St. Ld push on July 26. Gaining in momentum in the succeeding days, it came to a climax when General Patton exploded his Third Army onto the Brittany Peninsula on August 1.

  In two weeks, troops of the Third Army had driven the fleeing Germans into the ports of Lorient and Brest and had cleared the Loire River to Angers. The drive of the Third Army to the east had bypassed Paris and had reached Reims, Verdun, and Commercy.

  By the end of August, the Germans were on the run. At this point, General Patton presented his case for a rapid advance to the east for the purpose of cutting the Siegfried Line before it could be manned. Bradley was very sympathetic, but SHAEF, Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, did not concur.

  All supplies—both gasoline and ammunition— were to be thrown into the First Army’s move north so Patton’s Third Army had no gas with which to move; he was heartbroken.

  “It was my opinion then that this was the momentous error of the war.”

  —General George S. Patton

  WAR

  AS I

  KNEW IT

  GEORGE S. PATTON, JR.

  Annotated by Colonel Paul D. Harkins

  A Bantam War Book

  This low-priced Bantam Book has been completely reset in a type face designed for easy reading, and was printed from new plates. It contains the complete text of the original hard-cover edition.

  NOT ONE WORD HAS BEEN OMITTED.

  WAR AS I KNEW IT

  A Bantam Book / published by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Houghton Mifflin edition first published November 1947 20 printings through April 1979 Serialized in Saturday Evening Post November 1947 and March 1976 Bantam edition / January 1980

  Drawings were prepared especially for this edition by Greg Beecham.

  The selection from “The Young British Soldier ” from Departmental Ditties and Barrack-Room Ballads, by Rudyard Kipling, copyright, 1892, 1893, 1899, 1927, by Rudyard Kipling, and the selection from “If,” from Rewards and Fairies, by Rudyard Kipling, copyright, 1910, by Rudyard Kipling, are reprinted by permission of Mrs. George Bambridge and Doubleday and Company, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright 1947 by Beatrice Patton Waters, Ruth Patton Totten, and George Smith Patton.

  Copyright © renewed 1975 by Major General George Patton, Ruth Patton Totten, John K. Waters Jr., and George P. Waters.

  Illustrations copyright © 1979 by Bantam Books, Inc.

  This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.

  For information address: Houghton Mifflin Company,

  1 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02107.

  ISBN 0-553-13638-0

  Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada

  Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, Inc. Its trademark, consisting of the words “Bantam Books” and the portrayal of a bantam, is Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10019.

  PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  Table of Contents

  INTRODUCTION

  PART ONE

  OPEN LETTERS FROM AFRICA AND SICILY

  OPERATION “TORCH” North Africa

  Visit of the Commanding General and Staff to General Nogues and the Sultan of Morocco

  The Sultan’s Anniversary

  Requiem Mass, Honoring American and French Dead

  Lunch with General Nogues, Rabat, Morocco

  ‘‘Fete Des Moutons” (Sheep Festival) Held at Rabat

  The Sultan’s Visit to Casablanca

  Visit to Marrakech and Boar Hunt

  Victory Parade Held at Tunis, May 20,19431

  Notes on the Arab

  Ceremony Held at Headquarters I Armored Corps

  OPERATION “HUSKY” The Invasion of Sicily

  The Capture of Palermo

  Sidelights on the Sicilian Campaign

  ‘‘The Flight into Egypt”

  The Holy Land

  Malta

  PART TWO

  OPERATION “OVERLORD”

  1 THE CAMPAIGN OF FRANCE, AVRANCHE3, BREST TO THE MOSELLE Touring France with an Army

  2 FORCING THE LINE OF THE MOSELLE The Flood

  3 THE CAPTURE OF METZ AND THE SAAR CAMPAIGN Stuck in the Mud 1

  4 THE BASTOGNE-ST. VITH CAMPAIGN—“THE BULGE” The Bulge

  5 THE EIFEL TO THE RHINE AND THE CAPTURE OF TRIER Many Rivers and Passive Defense

  6 THE CAPTURE OF COBLENTZ AND THE PALATINE CAMPAIGN The Beginning of the End

  7 FORCING THE RHINE, FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN AND ACROSS THE MULDE “The Rhine, the Rhine, the German Rhine”

  8 CROSSING THE DANUBE AND ENTERING CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND AUSTRIA The Last Round-up

  PART THREE

  RETROSPECT

  REFLECTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

  CONCERNING THE SOLDIER

  SMALL UNIT TACTICS

  Battle Tricks

  Miscellaneous Notes

  Command

  General

  EARNING MY PAY

  Appendix A OPERATION “TORCH”

  COMPOSITION OF II CORPS

  Appendix C OPERATION “HUSKY” LETTERS OF INSTRUCTION

  COMPOSITION OF AN ARMY ROSTER OF PRINCIPAL STAFF OFFICERS

  CORPS THAT SERVED WITH THIRD ARMY

  DIVISIONS THAT SERVED WITH THIRD ARMY COMMANDER

  ASST. DIV. COMMANDER

  Back Cover

  “My sword 1 give to him that shall succeed me in my pilgrimage, and my courage and skill to him that can get it. My works and scars l carry with me, to be a witness for me that l have fought His battles who now will be my rewarder ”

  So he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.

  Pilgrim’s Progress

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe work of an editor is not easy, especially when that editor is also a wife, and it is with a grateful heart that I acknowledge the help of many friends in preparing this book for publication. I am especially indebted to Colonel Paul D. Harkins, my husband’s deputy Chief of Staff throughout the war, for his first-hand knowledge and for the careful research embodied in his footnotes and prefaces; and to Douglas Southall Freeman, whom my husband held in honor as the greatest military biographer of our time, for his introduction to War As I Knew It.

  Beatrice Ayer Patton

  MAPS

  North African Campaign—

  French Northwest Africa 8-9

  Sicilian Campaign—Operation “Husky” 50

  Disposition and Movement of Third U.S. Army

  Troops from 1 August to 14 August 1944 102-103

  Battle Line and Disposition of Third U.S. Army

  Troops on 31 August 1944 118-119

  Disposition and Movement of Third U.S. Army to 15 September 1944 and Tactical Situation 25 September 1944 138

  Resumption of Offensive—Movement of Third U.S. Army and Battle Line on 8 November,

  I December, and 19 December 1944 160-161

  Movement of Third U.S. Army Troops—

  The Capture of Koblenz and the Palatinate Campaign Battle Line on 13 March and 22 March 1945 244-245

  Forcing the Rhine, Frankfurt-on-Main, and Across the Mulde 22 March, 31 March,

  II April, 21 April 1945 282-283

  Movement of Third U.S. Army Divisions

  1-9 May 1945 and Enemy Situation 9 May 1945 Crossing the Danube and Entering Czechoslovakia and Austria 300-301
/>   INTRODUCTION

  General George S. Patton, Jr., kept a full diary from July, 1942, until Dec. 5, 1945, four days before his fatal accident. His entries sometimes were made while the froth and emotion of battle were still upon him. They are always candid, frequently critical, and occasionally caustic, though they never are savage in the sense that they damn everybody who did not agree with him. The spirit of the diary is that of a commander who believed that a continuous bold offensive would end the war before the snow fell on the Ardennes in the winter of 1944-45. Every obstacle to such an offensive had to be overcome; every leader who opposed it must be challenged to show why the drive would not succeed; silence or dissent appeared in Patton’s eyes as overcaution or concession to Allies.

  This dominant tone of General Patton’s diary is so unmistakable and so clearly patriotic that it will not be misunderstood by historians; but because General Patton used words as he employed fire—to get decisive results quickly—he said many things in his diary that would hurt the feelings of individuals whose devotion and ability he would be quick to acknowledge. The diary includes more than one reference to leaders whom Patton himself criticized sharply and, as he thought, justly; but when those same individuals were treated unfairly or were blamed by others where Patton considered them correct in their action, he instantly became their defender. All this will be plain when time gives perspective. For the present, those military writers whom Mrs. Patton has consulted about the publication of the diary of 1942-45 agree with her that it should be withheld from publication.

  This decision might be disservice to the study of the West-European campaign of 1944-45 if General Patton had not written War I Knew He undertook this small book after the close of hostilities and he drew heavily from the diary for detail. Some pages of the narrative are almost verbatim the text of the diary, with personal references toned down or eliminated. Because the General himself had made extracts from the diary, the possibility of incorporating other parts of it in this volume had to be considered. This applied particularly to the account of the Battle of the Bulge, which is treated much more fully in the diary than in this text. Experiment showed that the inclusion of expurgated diary-entries might mislead the reader, and that printing those items in full would be doing what General Patton apparently had decided not to do when, with the diary on his desk, he wrote War As I Knew It.

  The text as here printed is, then, precisely as it came from the General’s swift pen with the single elimination of a criticism of one officer who, if he erred, most splendidly atoned. That incident was of no large importance in relation to the operations of the Third Army, and of none whatever in its effect on the campaign. For the rest, assurance may be given that, so far as somewhat careful comparison of the two documents has disclosed, the diary contains nothing of significance, with respect to the planning and the execution of the campaign, that is not summarized by the General in this volume. The reader loses only the strong flavor of the diary; the student may be confident that when the day-by-day is printed, it will not refute any sound conclusion based on this narrative. Something in addition may be learned from the diary by future soldiers concerning the morale of the Third Army. The vital subject of integrated command may be illustrated by other entries. Meantime, national defense loses no lesson that Patton thought America might learn from his experience. It is gratifying to be able to state this and thereby to justify withholding the diary itself at a time when Patton’s forthright criticism of individuals might offend their sensibilities without contributing to military security.

  General Patton had unfailing humor, soldierly-sharp powers of observation and interest that ranged from horses and yachts to archaeology and ethnology. He wrote with judgment and enthusiasm of much that he saw and he was most delightfully himself in his letters. These papers fall into two groups—those that were meant for the eyes of Mrs. Patton only, and those she quite properly had called “open letters,” which she was free to show the General’s friends. By good chance, some of the most charming of the “open letters” relate to the period of operations which General Patton covered lightly, or not at all in War As I Knew It. To introduce the man who appears in Normandy, it has seemed appropriate to publish the letters that relate to the campaign in Africa and in Sicily. These are not, strictly speaking, military papers, but they have interest in themselves besides showing what manner of man George Patton was.

  Including these letters, War As I Knew It represents a type of early narrative—one might say of provisional narrative—that had a place in the historiography of the Second World War. TTie present book corresponds, for example, to the memoirs that Jubal A. Early, John B. Hodd, Richard Taylor, and Joseph E. Johnston issued a few years after the collapse of the Southern Confederacy, with the happy difference that Patton had no defeat to excuse, no grievance to vent. Those early Confederate books were undocumented and in some particulars inaccurate but they have great historical value because they were written while some of the impressions of war were fresh.

  About 1960 Americans may expect more deliberate works of a character similar to the memoirs of Grant, of Sherman, and of Sheridan. Some of those future volumes will be more accurate historically than the military autobiographies issued immediately after the war. Gain in this respect may be offset by the failures of memory and by the treacherous and ineradicable impulse of a certain type of mind to read into the planning of military operations a purpose that could not have been foreseen. After 1965 or 1970 glamor will begin to envelop memoirs. Few will be valuable; most of them will deceive more than they will enlighten.

  By that time, it should be possible to write measurable accurate biographies of the leading figures of the war. The official source material for those “lives” is so vast that if only the more important army reports of the Second World War were printed, they would fill, it is estimated, 1000 volumes of the size of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. As no comprehensive publication of the reports of 1941-45 is contemplated, some documents of value may be lost and not be recovered again within the next twenty-five or thirty years. In spite of this, the picture of the leaders will be clear enough in two or three decades for the biographer to undertake his task. It is to be hoped that General Patton will be among the first to attract a competent biographer and that others will leave him alone. He was a man to win, to intrigue, and sometimes to enrage his fellow-commanders. Always he fulfilled the Napoleonic mandate of supplying by picturesque conduct the causerie de bivouac that makes soldiers swear at their commander and then swear by him. In the larger qualities of leadership, Patton’s daring reminds one of “Stonewall” Jackson. His determination to push straight to the Rhine of course recalls Sherman’s march to the sea. Patton was cast in the mold of great American soldiers; his personal papers are among the fullest left by an American General. He will be an ideal subject for a great biography.

  Douglas Southall Freeman

  Westbourne,

  Richmond, Virginia,

  July 26,1947

  PART ONE

  OPEN LETTERS FROM AFRICA AND SICILY

  OPERATION “TORCH”

  Although the material that follows on the African Campaign has little to do with the actual fighting, because of the restriction imposed by censorship at the time it was written, a brief summary of the military campaign will perhaps prove useful to orient the reader.

  On November 8, 1942, three task forces, of which Western Task Force was one, landed on the north coast of Africa.1 Its ground forces were commanded by Major General Patton and its headquarters were based on an Army table of organization, to be designated Fifth Army Headquarters after landing. A Western Task Force was composed of three task units: the northern, under Major General Lucien K. Truscott, landing at Port Lyautey; the central, under Major General Jonathan W. Anderson,

  ^he following story was told me by the Public Relations Officer of the War Department, Major General A. D. Surles. On the evening of November 7, 1942, his office was invade
d by the press. They begged for news; some even threatened the officer in charge. Finally, one said. “Come on, boys, let’s go to the White House; they’re always good to us there,” and the newsmen left the office in a body.

  Mr. Stephen Early, the President’s secretary, met them at the door of the White House office with his usual cordiality, invited them in, and urged them to be seated. When he had done the honors, he excused himself, saying, “I’ll be back in a minute.” Fifteen minutes went by; then half an hour, and the press began to wonder. Someone tried the door, They were locked in.

  At last, Mr. Early came in, waving a dispatch. “It’s all over boys!” he shouted. “Our troops have landed. Turn on the radio.” B. A. P.

  Subsequent orders changed this.

  landing at Fedhala;1 and the southern, under Major General Ernest A. Harmon, landing at Safi. The Army air elements were commanded by Brigadier General John K. Cannon. The task force consisted of about thirty-two thousand men. The armada was under the command of Admiral H. K. Hewitt until such time as the ground and air forces should be firmly established ashore. The Admiral zigzagged his convoy of approximately one hundred vessels across the Atlantic for fourteen days without incident, and assisted in the landings with bold support and tireless effort on the part of his entire personnel.