General Patton's Death

Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Patton" was an interesting take on his death. Even in the film George C. Scott said something to the effect, "We have to quit being soldiers and start becoming diplomats". At the end of the war the nearly impossible tasks of rebuilding the world had no place for the undisciplined likes of Patton. Patton became a warrior trapped in peace time. I don't believe we will ever know the who and whys of his death but love him or hate him he scared the s--t out of the Nazis. I think it may be time to reread the book. RIP
 

From the day this happened it was thought that this was no accident at all. Patton could have publicly shamed how inept Eisenhower was as Allied Commander and rightfully so. Ike had never led any battlefield incursions in his entire life and never understood strategy like Patton. George could have really derailed Ike's road to the presidency.
 
My dad, who served under Patton during WWII , also served additional time during the European occupation . During that time, he stated that "things" were allot more laid back, and and not so secret . He went on to say that opinion was it was no accident ??

He also said that the real danger to Patton's life came once he entered the hospital.
 
Patton was a vicious anti-Semite who thought all the Jewish displaced persons he found after WW II were no better than animals and should have been killed. Thus, a Jewish truck driver probably put him out of his misery.
 
Patton certainly was a warrior's warrior and a soldier to the core. He knew his history and better yet, his enemy. History has shown how FDR, Churchill along with Eisenhower gave into all of Stalin's demands for fear he'd realign himself with the Axis. Patton was having none of it as he did not fear Stalin at all and was well aware of the brutality of Communism. When he wanted to push the Russians out of Germany, his mistake was asking Bradley to take it to Eisenhower. Ike of course, gave a definitive thumbs down and this time Patton obeyed him. Too bad. He would have exposed our leaders for what they really were and how they did not protect Poland nor the Chechs as was what they were supposed to do. FDR kept waffling about entering that war which could have been over much sooner had he not been such a wimp. He frustrated Churchill beyond the pale over this.

Yes, Patton knew too much and had no compunction in letting the world know his feelings, so it is very possible that he was eliminated. On the other hand, he may have had a massive coronary or thrown and embolism. I don't know why there was no autopsy. Beyond me.
 
fmdog44 said:
Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Patton" was an interesting take on his death. Even in the film George C. Scott said something to the effect, "We have to quit being soldiers and start becoming diplomats". At the end of the war the nearly impossible tasks of rebuilding the world had no place for the undisciplined likes of Patton. Patton became a warrior trapped in peace time. I don't believe we will ever know the who and whys of his death but love him or hate him he scared the s--t out of the Nazis. I think it may be time to reread the book. RIP
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My dad liked Patton. He said he was tough as nails.
 
Mitch86 said:
Patton was a vicious anti-Semite
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First time I heard this, so I did a little Google research. I had always respected Patton so wanted to know.

I could find evidence of him having used some rough anti-Semitic sounding language, things that would not pass our current sensibilities. But I could not find evidence of any actions he actually took treating Jewish people worse than others. He had a pretty foul mouth by today's standards, so it is not clear to me that he really was so much actually anti-Semitic as he was politically incorrect.

Could be I missed something. I still respect him, but now a bit less. Perhaps this is something like George Washington or Thomas Jefferson owning slaves...

An example of the worst of what I found: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/george-patton
 
rgp said:
My dad, who served under Patton during WWII , also served additional time during the European occupation . During that time, he stated that "things" were allot more laid back, and and not so secret . He went on to say that opinion was it was no accident ??

He also said that the real danger to Patton's life came once he entered the hospital.
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My step father served under Patton.
 
Fascinating read, thanks Mike, when you read about how that truck suddenly turned in front of his jeep , it's clear it was deliberate. What a story.
 


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