General Patton's Speech to the 3rd Army 1. That way I can keep firing my pistols! All rights reserved. In this case all the capitals were omitted and subsequently illuminated by hand. Behind Patton's blood and guts personality was an absolute professional, one of the most competent army commanders our side put into the field; the Germans were painstaking in their analysis of the leaders who faced . George S. Patton was one of America's most famous and colorful generals. Angelo knew that Pattonhadbeen gravely wounded and needed medical attention. 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. You can also buy the book by clicking on the buttons to the left. Each deserves credit. Once the Third Army had become operational, my mode of contact with the chaplains had been chiefly through Training Letters issued from time to time to the Chaplains in the four corps and the 22 to 26 divisions comprising the Third Army. . He came from Israels smallest tribe. . Patton's speeches typically included humor, almost always profane and often self-deprecatory: I do not know of a better way to die than to be facing the enemy. . The 1970 film "Patton" starts out the way the real Gen. George S. Patton would have wanted it to: with one of the famed general's off-the-cuff, down-to-reality speeches to his men in the 3rd Army. Pattons Third Army could attack twenty-four hours after getting the signal. An armored division is the most powerful organizationever devised by the mind of men . The weather was still clear when we walked into General Pattons office. Death must not be feared. . Americans play towin all of the time. We must utterly defeat the enemy. But we are not ruthless, not vicious, not aggressive, therein lies our weakness. When she returned, her husband had already died. George Campbell Scott, portraying Patton, standing in front of an. World War Two Timeline From The Great War To Germanys Surrender, When Patton Enlisted the Entire Third Army to Pray for Fair Weather, California Do not sell my personal information. living Goddamned guts and use them to grease the treads of our tanks. The Third Army has no roster of Retreats. . Patton of the brisk, purposeful stride. The shortest way home isthrough Berlin and Tokyo. 2. By God, I do! Many elements of the speech were recycled over and over. . September 1 Patton re-entered as Cadet, U.S. Military Academy. Patton headed backout into the enemy fire, certain of meeting death. . . I believe that prayer completes that circuit. I guess I need it. The chaplain entered, said a few prayers and Patton thanked him. To be successful, Patton believed, a man must plan, work hard, and pray. This is because a lot of people back home are praying for us. . In April 1941 Patton, who had been acting commander of theSecond Armored Division for six months, was given permanentcommand and promoted to major general. You have liberated or conquered more than 82,000 square miles of territory, including 1,500 cities and towns, and some 12,000 inhabited places. The 664th Engineer Topographical Company worked around the clock to reproduce 250,000 cards bearing the prayer for fair weather and General Pattons Christmas greeting. . Every man has a job to do and he must do it. General George S. Patton dies General George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. 3rd Army, dies from injuries suffered not in battle but in a freak car accident. He dragged his commander to a shallowcrater and bandaged his wound, which was bleeding profusely, whilethe Germans kept firing at their position. . A very safe rule to follow is that in case of doubt,push on just a little further and then keep on pushing . 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 film won a Best-Picture Oscar as well as Best Actor for George C. Scott. Over endless dinners and drinks they would debate and discuss tank tactics and strategy, expanding their discussions to include a small but growing circle of like-minded men. . The following is the complete text of General George Patton's speech to the United States . The true story of the friendship-and rivalry-among the greatest American generals of World War II. . General Patton was notblessed with a deep, booming voice. 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. He was dying; but he had no fear of death. But we must urge, instruct, and indoctrinate every fighting man to pray as well as fight. Trusted by his troops and feared by the enemy, General George Patton was one of America's most dynamic--and controversial--war commanders. The General Patton I saw there was the Army Commander to whom the welfare of the men under him was a matter of personal responsibility. Death, in time, comes to allmen. If youre not alert, some time a German son of abitch is going to sneak up behind you and beat you todeath with a sockful of shit! Patton decried this national mood and the dismantling of the army in a letter to his sister dated October 18, 1919: The United States in general and the army in particular is in a hell of a mess and there seems to be no end to it . Seventh Armyin theMediterraneanandEuropean theaters of World War II. Her ashes were later strewn over her husbands grave. The title was slightly amended to Patton, Blood and Guts, when the 14 Oct 1968 DV reported that Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. would shoot the movie "in the Dimension 150 process and release it for exhibition in that system." Few would have predicted that Eisenhower would become the most brilliant star of the West Point class of 1915the class the stars fell on.. 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! The enduring valor of the combat troops has been paralleled and made possible by the often unpublicized activities of the supply, administrative, and medical services of this Army and of the Communications Zone troops supporting it. Patton of the brisk, purposeful stride. The order came directly from Patton himself. From General Pattons speech to he Second Armored Division, December 1941: I shall be delighted to lead you against any enemy, confident in the fact that your disciplined valor and high training will bring vic-tory. December 20 Weather in the Ardennes cleared. Foxholesonly slow up an offensive. 1920 June 20 Patton reverted to the permanent rank of captain. All men are afraid in battle. The author stated that General Patton . We are advancing constantlyand we are not interested in holding onto anything except the enemys balls! The knights also had to take four vowsPoverty, Chastity, Humility, and Obedience. We entered the city through the gate which Tancred stormed when the city was first taken (A.D. 1099). Unable to offer further protest, he was taken to anevacuation hospital behind the lines. Before heading tothe field hospital, he insisted that the ambulance driver take him tothe headquarters of the Thirty-fifth Division, where he began to dictatea report on the situation at the battle front. . Despite his many successes, his aggressive, colorful personal style and his temper often caused issues with his superiors. Were not just going to shoot the sons of bitches, weregoing to rip out their living goddamned guts and usethem to grease the treads of our tanks. . It lives, sleeps, eats, and fights as ateam. . $15.24 8 Used from $4.06 4 New from $15.24. He felt that love was all around him, like a subdued light. . . June 9 Patton and James Doolittle were honored at a parade in Los Angeles, California. By that evening, the Germans had discovered Pattons forces, and perhaps more important, Pattons British rival, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, was preparing to cross the Rhine as well. Shoot them in the guts. I will run the school. But as a devout Christianwhatever the profanity in his speeches suggested otherwisehe couldnt help but be moved by walking in the footsteps ofJesus. He followed his tanks into combat, even helping to dig a path for them through two trenches (and whacking a recalcitrant soldier over the head with a shovel). 1918 January 26 Patton was promoted to the temporary rank of major. George S. Patton (1885-1945) was a high-ranking WWII general, who led the U.S. 7th Army in its invasion of Sicily and northern France in the summer of 1944. Thetrouser legs were skinny and shoved into his black, laced-up fieldboots. We want this war over with. July 24 Patton served as Commanding Officer, 5th Cavalry, Fort Clark, Texas. This was not just any battle, but a winner takes all. . We have never retreated; we have suffered no defeats, no famine, no epidemics. This is a helluva way to die, General Patton told Gay. 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 was 60 years old. This pommel was in the shape of a blunt acorn. General George S. Patton, the famous war-time leader, died not from wounds in battle but rather from a car accident. He asked her what time it was, and when she told him, he said that he was tired and told her she should go eat dinner; they could finish the chapter when she returned. Remember too that your God is with you. I was shot in the behind in World War I! . So Patton called Bradley again. They were waiting for the arrival of that legendary figure, 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. Instead he demanded sermons and prayers which emphasized courage and victory. I dont want to hear of any soldier under my commandbeing captured unless he has been hit. The first part presents the background, the second the speech itself, interrupted by brief The quicker they are whipped,the quicker we can go home. 1943 March 6 Patton was named the commanding officer of the US II Corps. At 1900, Eddy and Grow came to the house to beg me to call off the attack due to the bad weather, heavy rains, and swollen rivers. October 2 Patton was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general. During the course of this war I have received promotions and decorations far above and beyond my individual merit. The following day General Patton arrived at the pontoon bridge his engineers had constructed over the Rhine. . If the band played a piece first with the piccolo, then withthe brass horn, then with the clarinet, and then withthe trumpet, there would be a hell of a lot of noise butno music. Battle is not a terrifying ordeal to be endured. It never occurred to me until this flight that, at the time the Jews crossed, it was unnecessary for them to ford anything, because there is a stretch of desert from Bitter Lake to the Mediterranean which had no water on it. . Why, by God, Iactually pity those poor sons of bitches were going upagainst. In his invasion of Russia in 1812, Napoleon was unprepared for Russias brutal climate, and thousands of his soldiers perished in the severe winter. After we had left the church, we followed the Way of the Cross, which is a dirty street, to the point where the Roman Forum had stood. Pestilence and famine have not touched us. Patton became famous during this time for his tough motivating speeches to his troupes and earned the nickname "old blood and guts." Invasion of Italy After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. entered World War II. The quicker they are whipped,the quicker we can go home. . Coy Eklund, an officer on Pattons staff, confirms a story about Pattons insistence on inspirational sermons: It is no myth that one Sunday morning, after attending church services as he always did, he stalked into my office in the Army barracks in Nancy, France, where I was the senior duty officer. This article is from the bookPatton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer2012by Michael Keane. The German is a war-trained veteranconfident, brave, ruthless. Like the rest of the world, General Patton learned of the Normandy invasion by listening to the BBC at seven oclock on the morning of June 6, 1944. Eisenhower was self-effacing and came from dirt-poor beginnings. . Get him up here. Occupation Zone after World War II. Americans play towin all of the time. By June 1920, the regular army was reduced to only 130,000 men. One hundred ninety-two men were killed, 2,624 wounded, and 2,459 were captured or went missing. 1946 March 19 Pattons remains were moved to a different gravesite within the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg. He had a massive library, a "who's who," of ancient and modern war.. I want the praying done., Chaplain ONeill: Yes, sir. It was useless to try to move from the relative safety ofthe small hollow blown in the earth. But we have to pray for ourselves, too. . . For a man driven by a belief in his own destiny to lead troops in war-fare, peace was more frightening than war. . We are not trying to make the best of these days. . George S. Patton. A very safe rule to follow is that in case of doubt,push on just a little further and then keep on pushing . He credited her strength of character with strengthening his own. We are now fairly started on that phase of the campaign which I hope will be the final one. 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