He WAS a soldiers general!
Colin.
I'm sure you read my OTHER response under the Links section. Half love the guy, the other half... 
He did kick some a**!
Sorry guys. He was not a "Soldiers General" to me but a fame seeker who could not
live without a war. I feel that well over the halfway mark (of combat soldiers) had little
use for him and his glory seeking. As far as his " He did kick some a**! ", actually he
himself did no azz kicking to the enemy as a person. His lavish living conditions and
his ivory handled Colt single action revolver didnt set well with the Dogfaces.. Granted,
R.H.I P. , but he overdid it. Yes, BTDT in WW 2 as a Dogface infantryman.
Sorry guys. He was not a "Soldiers General" to me
I think most soldiers who served under him would agree. The typical soldier liked a strong leader who could take them into a good fight, but they didn't like taking risks and being pushed to exhaustion.
There is some good info about Patton in Atkinson's book "An Army At Dawn". It said that Patton was in one of the troop ships waiting to land in N. Africa when the French coastal batteries opened up. The shelling (or the concussion from their return fire) knocked Patton's personal kit out of the landing craft and it fell into the sea. He had just strapped on his pistols. But he went around complaining that he didn't have a #%$& toothbrush.
I give Patton credit for his initiative to form the early American tank corps. He also founded the Desert Training Center in southern California which allowed large exercises in tank warfare. It was later renamed the California-Arizona Maneuver Area .
Steve
Well I have my own thoughts but let me tell you this :
Last year I visited the Hamm Luxembourg Cemetary .
I saw all the whte crosses ...... quiet , so quiet . Row after row , name after name , trooper after trooper .
But on the of that ll , a single white cross was standing on it's own , faced towards all the other , thousands of them , crosses .... like a general looking over his soldiers .
I felt very cold .
I know there are all different oppinions about Patton !
But what I feld , right there , was unbelievable . Goosebums .
![Luxemburg%2017.jpg]()
I visiited the Hamm cemtery on a cold day in march 1973 and saw the grave of Patton. Had the same feeling as Lennon.
NOTE: Patton was not a combat casualty! So they needed special permisson to bury him there. While at Hamm we visited the German cemetery. There the bodies were not buried in incividual graves, mounds of 1000s in one grave. The darks grey crosses were more chilling, 1000s of unknown!
Bless them all.
My Uncle Rusty was a tank sergeant in Patton's 3rd Army. He met him twice and seemed to think he (Patton) knew what tank warfare was about, according to my cousins. 
Jim
Even though you will find men on both sides who either adored or hated him, you cannot fault his tactics and supreme knowledge of warfare. When he took over in Africa and brought about a victory for the Americans, he damn well knew what he was doing and what he was up against. I'm sure you've seen the scene from Patton the movie where he ambushes the Afrika Corps and laughs out loud, grinning from ear to ear exclaiming, Rommel I read your book, you SOB! He knew the art and damn well knew the history.
It simply shows that many GI's and others would have loved to slap the SOB. But others I talk to including GI's who served under him, DID LOVE HIM! Just facts of life. So we can all agree to disagree. That's the spice of life! 