The Third Armys sick rate equaled its battle casualty rate. September 12 Patton joined 15th Cavalry, Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and was assigned to Troop K. 1910 May 26 Patton and Beatrice Banning Ayer were married; they would later have three children. Americans love to fight, traditionally. Few would have predicted that Eisenhower would become the most brilliant star of the West Point class of 1915the class the stars fell on.. . Americans love to fight. It was quite impressive. Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. 4. 1927 June Pattons father, George Smith Patton, died. I want the praying done., Chaplain ONeill: Yes, sir. At twenty-nine, he was not yet a first lieutenant. August 3 Patton visited a field hospital in Sicily, Italy, and slapped Charles Kuhl for what he considered cowardice as Kuhl suffered no physical wounds. . Find out more about George S. Patton below! This individual heroic stuff is pure horseshit. We must be eager to kill, to inflict on the enemythe hated enemy wounds, death and destruction. By providing aplausible reason for Pattons removal, the notorious slapping incidentscontributed to the success of the deception. Americans love to fight. General Patton's speech to the Third Army was given on June 5, 1944, the eve of the Allied invasion of Europe. We were lucky in Africa, in Sicily, and in Italy. And when we get to Berlin, I am going to personally shoot that paperhanginggoddamned son of a bitch just like I would a snake., The troops cheered Pattons remarks. Both men were commanding tank units. George Smith Patton Jr was born on the 11 th November, 1885, into a family with a long record of military service. Patton could, famously and frequently, swear up a storm. To learn more,click here for our comprehensive guide to General Patton. I dont want them to. The General wanted a prayerhe wanted one right now and he wanted it published to the Command. In this sense, prayer was no different from training, leadership, technology, or firepower. May 18 Patton was ordered to report to General Pershing in Washington, D.C.; appointed Commanding Officer, Headquarters Troop, AEF. The Nazis are the enemy. . He had a massive library, a "who's who," of ancient and modern war.. There is still a tendency in each separate unit . It was a two-piece dark greencorduroy outfit. All rights reserved. Nor should we forget our comrades of the other armies and of the Air Force, particularly of the XIX Tactical Air Command, by whose side or under whose wings we have had the honor to fight. Even if you arehit, you can still fight back. Let the Germans do that. I will probably get slapped down by the Church union.. As the chaplain noted, however, strictly speaking it was the Third Army commanders letter, not ONeills. The day after ONeill had shown Patton the prayer for fair weather for battle and the accompanying Christmas greeting, he presented the general with Training Letter No. George C. Scott, portraying Patton, standing in front of an immensely huge American flag, delivers his version of Patton's "Speech to the Third Army" on June 5th, 1944, the eve of the Allied invasion . A very safe rule to follow is that in case of doubt,push on just a little further and then keep on pushing . . The best is the enemy of the good was one of his favorite maxims. But we must urge, instruct, and indoctrinate every fighting man to pray as well as fight. His most importantpriority was training men for war. Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr. Old "Blood and Guts" himself, about whom many a colorful chapter would be written for the school boys of tomorrow. Why, by God, Iactually pity those poor sons of bitches were going upagainst. Americans love a winner. Brave, undisciplinedmen have no chance against the discipline andvalor of other men. An armored division is the most powerful organizationever devised by the mind of men . . HistoryOnTheNet 2000-2019. . With every good wish to each of you for a very Happy Christmas, and my personal congratulations for your splendid and courageous work since landing on the beach. Patton pointed out that there was not enough ammunition, food, or gasoline to support all the armies. I do not want to be hit there again. . People must have very little confidence to fear assassination in such a place. . 1909 June 11 Patton was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, 15th Cavalry. Enough to allow the Allies to break the backbone of the Von Runstedt offensive and turn a temporary setback into a crushing defeat for the enemy. He chose the latter, thinking it the quickest way to combat and further promotion. He lifted his face up from the dirt, gazed out over the Germanlines, and then lifted his eyes up to the cloudsand saw faces. . My men dont dig foxholes. 5. October 2 Patton was relieved for statements made to the press about former Nazi Party members. He had not failed them; he had shown his courage and faced his fears. . Eisenhower, on the other hand, was usually underrated, his easygoing manner masking a burning ambition. He stood up, grabbed his walking stick, and turned to the soldiersbehind him. Rip them up the belly. George Patton. The admiring troops immediately dubbedhim the Green Hornet. He wrote to his wife from his hospital bed on 12 October 1918, saying, Peace looks possible, but I rather hope not for I would like to have a few more fights. After a vigorous debate, Bradley conceded. In 1943, two years before his death, Patton had spoken at an Armistice Day service honoring American dead, saying, I consider it no sacrifice to die for my country. I am sure we will have great success. On reaching Jerusalem, we were met by Major General D. F. McConnell, who commands the district. . Two weeks later, General Patton took over command of II Corps from Fre-dendall and wrote this letter to the troops now under his command: All of us have been in battle. . Duty is the essence of manhood. The pommels of Crusaders swords were usually carved in the form of a stone or a piece of lead, which in an earlier date had actually been tied there. I believe that prayer completes that circuit. Misses do not kill, but a bullet in the heart or a bayonet in the guts do. It is a magnificent experience wherein all the elements that have made man superior to the beasts are present: courage, self-sacrifice, loyalty, help to others, devotion to duty. All rights reserved. The Chaplain preached a sermon on sacrifice and the usual bull, so as I put the wreath at the foot of the flagpole, I said, I consider it no sacrifice to die for my country. . Thebilious bastards who write that kind of stuff for theSaturday Evening Post dont know any more about realfighting under fire than they know about f***ing! . General Patton Speech | 6th Armored Division | 31 May 1944 Alyosha 394 subscribers Subscribe 2.3K Share 92K views 4 years ago General George S. Patton speech to the 6th Armored. JulyAugust Patton received individual instruction in fencing at Saumur, France. Instead he demanded sermons and prayers which emphasized courage and victory. The Army Engineer was called in, and we finally decided that our field topographical company could print the prayer on a small-sized card, making enough copies for distribution to the army. Patton arrived in Europe in 1917 as a captain. So Patton called Bradley again. To ensure that his order was carried out, he spent the bitterly cold day driving from one unit to another. The knights also had to take four vowsPoverty, Chastity, Humility, and Obedience. I got a medal for charging at the enemy, butI have had to spend a lot of time explaining how I gotshot in the behind! In order to be a Knight of Malta, it was necessary to have sixteen crosses of nobility, so that when anyone came up to be a knight, he had to present his genealogy, which was then studied by a college of heralds, and, if proven correct, permitted to join. July 25 Spent time in Beverly, Massachusetts hospital with a broken leg. Patton personally oversaw the logistics of the tanks in their first combat use by American forces. For this,. In many ways Patton and Eisenhower were strikingly different. General Patton's Famous "Blood and Guts" Speech to His Troops Anyone who has ever viewed the motion picture PATTON will never forget the opening. One account of what happened after Pattons telephone call to ONeill is related by Colonel Paul Harkins, Pattons deputy chief of staff. He sought topresent the striking image of a leader, an image that demanded attention and inspired his troops by its swagger. . He said, God damn! A heavy ivory-handled revolver rested in a shoulder holsterdraped under his left arm. Some day I want to see the Germans raise up on theirpiss-soaked hind legs and howl, Jesus Christ, its thatgoddamned Third Army again and that son of a bitchPatton.. The present analysis examines the discourse used by General George Patton in a motivational speech from World War II, given to "the Third Army" on June 5th, 1944, before the Allied invasion. An armored division is the most powerful organizationever devised by the mind of men . By God, I do! Born in 1885, Patton attended the Virginia Military Institute and the United States Military . In 1922 the United States military ranked seventeenth in size among nations with a standing army. In union there is strength! . ONeill later recalled. There is one great thing you men will be able to saywhen you go home. In 1915, he was sent to Fort Bliss, Texas, where the cavalry troops were all turned out in Patton swords: It was a fine sight all with sabers drawn and all my sabers. Two days later, the U.S. armies in Europe were engaged in the greatest battle ever fought by American forces. Remember that these enemies, whom we shall have the honor to destroy, are good soldiers and stark fighters. But Patton could look to more recent lessons about weather and battle. Making the situation even more painful, it was the practice in the U.S. Army to reduce returning officers to the rank they held before the war. One cannot read Pattons diaries, letters, speeches, and personal papers without being struck by the frequency with which he appeals to God and turns to the Bible for inspiration. Uncertain of the role, if any, he might play in the coming invasion of Europe, Patton took a sightseeing trip to the Holy Land and Malta. A good soldier is not made merely by making him think and work. May 12 Patton launched Operation Cowboy in Hostau, Czechoslovakia, rescuing 1,200 horses, including 375 of the Lipizzan breed, from potential Soviet slaughter. I will run the school. December 14, 1944 Chaplains of the Third Army: At this stage of the operations I would call upon the chaplains and the men of the Third United States Army to focus their attention on the importance of prayer. General Patton is best known for leading the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany in the wake of the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. But the twomen were caught in enemy crossfire, and rescuing Patton seemedimpossible. I dont want to get any messages saying, I am holdingmy position. We are not holding a goddamned thing. . Fortunately for our fame as soldiers, our enemy is worthy of us. Each treated of a variety of subjects of corrective or training value to a chaplain working with troops in the field. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get thebastards who started it. Under Pershings command, Every horse and man was fit; weaklings had gone; baggage was still at the minimum, and discipline was perfect. Death, in time, comes to allmen. Pattons army was victorious at El Guettar, and the Germans learned that the United States Army, led by its new commander, was no longer to be taken lightly. At times he was an insufferable egotist, and he often sought to intimidate with a well-practiced scowl. When Kublai Khan attacked the Japanese island of Kyushu with his fleet of forty-four hundred ships in 1281, he encountered a typhoon that destroyed half his fleet. It was in this capacity that Patton met Field Marshal Haig. To be successful, Patton believed, a man must plan, work hard, and pray. The men implored Patton to escape from the Germans fire,but he refused to budge. The Chaplain came up the next day. With all the pomp and ceremony befitting an officer of his rank, the room is called to attention as he ascends the stage. 1885 November 11 Patton was born in San Gabriel, Los Angeles County, California. A heavy ivory-handled revolver rested in a shoulder holsterdraped under his left arm. . April 11 Patton was made the commanding officer of the 2nd Armored Division. Throughout his life he prayed daily and attended church almost every Sunday, even in wartime. . Each deserves credit. He talked about Gideon in the Bible, said that men should pray no matter where they were, in church or out of it, that if they did not pray, sooner or later they would crack up. To all this I commented agreement, that one of the major training objectives of my office was to help soldiers recover and make their lives effective in this third realm, prayer. Throughout the speech (Appendix 1) General Patton emphasises certain themes (Appendices 2 and 3 . He had now achieved his destiny, Patton thought, joining the warriorkinsmen who had gone before. Enough War for a Lifetime. In his private supplications to God, however, a different Patton emerges humble, uncertain, and seeking guidance. But it was not just a speech, it was a performance. Pattons presence was still asecret to the enemy. . It is thus one of historysironies that General Pattons greatest victory might have come in abattle in which he played no active role. It would do no harm to reimpress this training on chaplains. . It being near Christmas, we also asked General Patton to include a Christmas greeting to the troops on the same card with the prayer. The soldier who cracks up does not need sympathy or comfort as much as he needs strength. We are brave. Look at the weather. He ranked Bradley and Army Air Force GeneralCarl Spaatz atnumber one, with Walter Bedell Smith number two. Preachers who committed that particular sin he called pulpit killers. Clergy-men who insisted thou shalt not kill knew less about the Bible than he did, Patton argued. He lost more men to cold, famine, and disease than to Russian bullets. The II Corps, under the command of Major General Lloyd Fredendall, was driven back twenty-one miles in nine days. The sudden transition from the highly-charged experience of combat, where one is com-manding men in life-or-death situations, to domestic tranquility can be jarring and difficult. . George S. Patton was one of America's most famous and colorful generals. Shoot them in the guts. They both contemplated leaving the service, but they both stuck it out, just as a later generation of officers, in the post-Vietnam eramen like Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powellwould again rebuild the army into the worlds greatest military force. Getty Images. The public Patton was brash, self-confident, and boastful. . The encounter seemed to confirm Hitlers contempt for the battle-worthiness of American soldiers. I dont want them to. On or about the fourteenth of December, 1944, General Patton called Chaplain ONeill, Third Army Chaplain, and myself into his office in Third Headquarters at Nancy. Not surprisingly, the chaplain concluded his sermon exactly ten minutes later. He immediately became calm, shakingoff his tremors of fear. He insisted it was not a sin to kill if one served on the side of God, citing the Old Testament story of David slaying Goliath. The following is the complete text of General George Patton's speech to the United States . . By that I mean that the riflemanwants to shoot, the tanker wants to charge, the artillerymanto fire . Now lets cut the guts out of those Krauts and get the hell on to Berlin. . . I dont want to get any messages saying, I am holdingmy position. We are not holding a goddamned thing. Tough days may be ahead of us before we eat our rations in the Chancellery of the Deutsches Reich. 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