George S. Patton is remembered as one of the most aggressive and successful generals of World War II. His reputation for armored warfare and rapid advances is legendary. However, a closer look at his career reveals a deeply flawed man whose personal misconduct and poor decisions caused significant harm.
Patton was born in 1885 in California to a wealthy family. He struggled with reading and writing as a child, and historians now believe he likely had dyslexia. He fought to overcome this disability through sheer willpower. He chose to attend the Virginia Military Institute, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, before moving on to the U.S. Military Academy.
In 1910, he married Beatrice Banning, the daughter of an industrialist. They had three children over the next decade. Even as a father, Patton remained focused on his military career, impressing his superiors with his discipline and leadership, despite being somewhat difficult to manage.
Patton was a skilled athlete and fencer. He competed in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, placing fifth in the pentathlon and first among non-Swedish competitors. After the games, he studied fencing in France and eventually became a master of the sword. He was the first army officer to earn that title.
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Patton adapted quickly to new military technology. He established a light tank school in France and led the 1st Provisional Tank Brigade. In September 1918, he was wounded by a bullet in the leg during a mission into German territory. He recovered quickly, but the war ended before he could return to combat.
Between the wars, Patton was stationed in Hawaii in 1934. He was miserable without field work and turned to alcohol. During this time, he became involved in an affair with his wife’s 21-year-old niece, Jean Gordon. The relationship would continue for years.
By the start of World War II, Patton was a colonel. His promotions came quickly, and by 1942 he commanded the I Armored Corps. He was considered the world’s leading expert on armored combat doctrine. His ego was a known issue throughout his career.
During Operation Torch in North Africa, Patton led 33,000 men and 100 ships. His strategic ability allowed his forces to dominate the opposition and force a French surrender. He then took command of II Corps and made drastic changes to their behavior, turning them into disciplined soldiers in his image.
In July 1943, during the Sicily campaign, Patton’s men massacred 71 Italian prisoners and two Germans without cause. Patton helped his men cover up the incident to avoid negative press. The event was eventually exposed, but Patton faced no blame for his complicity.
During the same campaign, two soldiers under Patton’s command suffered from battle fatigue, which we now call PTSD. Patton slapped both of them, called them cowards, and ordered them back to the front lines. He even threatened one with execution. Dwight Eisenhower punished Patton for his actions, forcing him to apologize publicly and privately. The army refused to give him a field command for nearly a year.
Patton was reassigned to the Third Army in England to train new officers. The Germans feared Patton more than any other Allied general, so they assumed he was preparing the main invasion force. This deception kept German attention away from the real invasion at Normandy. Patton missed D-Day but was brought in shortly after to help with the invasion.
His tactics focused on speed and aggression. However, his narcissistic ego began to cast a shadow over his achievements. During his campaign in Lorraine from September to November 1944, his actions led to the deaths of over 50,000 soldiers, a third of his total force. Historian Carlo D’Este called the Lorraine campaign Patton’s greatest failure, despite its technical success.
Patton’s greatest tactical achievement came during the Battle of the Bulge. He had prepared three contingency plans to ensure his arrival in time. He mobilized six divisions and over 133,000 vehicles with just two words: “Start the mission.” His forces reached Bastogne in time to deliver relief and supplies to the besieged Allied troops. Patton later claimed this was the most outstanding achievement of the war.
After the Bulge, Patton wanted to keep pushing into Germany. When the army restricted his supplies, he had his men disguise themselves as the First Army to steal thousands of gallons of gasoline. Despite the shortage, his men made massive advances into German territory, effectively eliminating the German First and Seventh Armies.
During the march into Germany, Patton’s superiors ordered him to ignore the city of Trier, believing it would require too many troops to capture. Patton famously responded, “I took Trier with two divisions.” By this point, it was very difficult to argue with him.
Patton also planned a heroic mission to rescue prisoners from a camp near Hammelburg. One of the prisoners was his son-in-law. The raid went terribly wrong. They lost 57 vehicles, and of the 314 men sent, only 35 returned. Patton himself admitted it was a bad decision.
Despite these troubles, the Third Army remained one of the most successful Allied units. They fought continuously for 281 days and captured 32,763 square miles of German-held territory.
After the war ended in 1945, Patton struggled with peacetime. He gave a controversial speech in Bedford, Massachusetts, where he made dismissive comments about soldiers who died in battle, claiming the real heroes were the wounded. He later wrote that his usefulness to the world was over.
Patton became increasingly depressed and made horrific comments about Jewish people, calling them subhuman. In late 1945, he went on a hunting trip with his chief of staff, Major General Hobart Gay. Their car was struck by a U.S. Army truck. Patton suffered a severe head injury, breathing difficulties, a compression fracture, and dislocated neck vertebrae. He was paralyzed from the neck down.
While in the hospital, his wife Beatrice was the only person allowed to visit. Doctors told him he would never resume a normal life. He died on the night of December 21 from pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure at age 60. He was buried in Luxembourg alongside other Third Army casualties, as he had requested.
Patton’s legacy is deeply flawed. He was often a brilliant general, but his serious defects cost him and those close to him dearly. His affair with Jean Gordon continued for years. He saw her in London in 1944 and again in Bavaria in 1945. His entire family knew about the relationship. When his wife discovered he was still seeing her niece, she decided to leave him. He had to beg for forgiveness.
His daughter Ruth Ellen denied the affair rumors during her lifetime. But after her death, her writings revealed that the family was fully aware of the relationship and considered it a romantic attachment. Jean Gordon returned to the United States shortly after Patton’s death. She was completely devastated. In January 1946, she was found dead in a friend’s apartment, having been overcome by gas from a stove she had left on.
Patton’s victories on the battlefield do not excuse his behavior. His brilliance as a commander was real, but so were his cruelty, his arrogance, and the pain he inflicted on those around him.