With two stars. George S. Patton soon after his arrival in North Africa, November, 1942.
Our duty . . . is plain. We must utterly defeat the enemy.
Fortunately for our fame as soldiers, our enemy is worthy of us. The German is a war-trained veteran - confident, brave, ruthless.
We are brave. We are better-equipped, better fed, and in the place of his blood-gutted Woten, we have with us the God of our fathers known of old. The justice of our cause and not the greatness of our race makes us confident.
But we are not ruthless, not vicious, not aggressive, therein lies our weakness.
Men of the 6th Durham Light Infantry chat with an American paratrooper in Avola, 11 July 1943
… About the time we got through explaining this to them, two Hurricane Bombers came over and strafed the beach, and all the soldiers jumped right back into the same holes they had dug. I continued to walk up and down and soon shamed them into getting up.
Civilians in Palermo’s theater district cheer and wave to the Americans, whom they treated as liberators.
… we captured the two Generals, both of whom said that they were glad to be captured because the Sicilians were not human beings, but animals. The bag in prisoners for the day must have been close to ten thousand.
Patton, Eisenhower and Montgomery at a press conference at the end of the Sicily campaign. Whatever the tensions under the surface, the Allies presented a united, confident face to the public.
I am convinced that my action in this case was entirely correct, and that, had other officers had the courage to do likewise, the shameful use of ‘battle fatigue’ as an excuse for cowardice would have been infinitely reduced.
American troops advancing into Messina, the final objective on Sicily.
Born at sea, baptized in blood, and crowned with victory, in the course of thirty-eight days of incessant battle and unceasing labor, you have added a glorious chapter to the history of war.
We Need More Like Him. Maybe we can start Winning Wars Again