Comments by "John Burns" (@johnburns4017) on "America's General - George Patton Biography" video.

  1. Patton was an average US general promoted to super star status by the US media - the US never had any exceptional generals. Montgomery said Patton would be good as a Corps commander. Patton at Metz advanced 10 miles in three months. The poorly devised Panzer Brigade concept was deployed there with green German troops. The Panzer Brigades were a rushed concept attempting to plug the gaps while the proper panzer divisions were re-fitting and rebuilt after the summer 1944 battles. The Panzer Brigades had green crews with little time to train, did not know their tanks properly, had no recon elements and didn't even meet their unit commander until his arrival at the front. These were not elite forces. 17th SS were not amongst the premier Waffen SS panzer divisions. It was not even a panzer division but a panzer grenadier division, only equipped with assault guns, not tanks, with only a quarter of the number of AFVs as a panzer division. The 17th SS was badly mauled in Normandy and not up to strength at Arracourt in The Lorraine. Patton's Third Army was almost always where the best German divisions in the west were NOT. ♦ Who did the 3rd Army engage? ♦ Who did 3rd Army defeat? ♦ Patton never once faced a full strength Waffen SS panzer division nor a Tiger battalion. In The Lorraine, the 3rd Army faced a rabble. Even the German commander of Army Group G in The Lorraine, Hermann Balck, who took over in September 1944 said: "I have never been in command of such irregularly assembled and ill-equipped troops. The fact that we have been able to straighten out the situation again… can only be attributed to the bad and hesitating command of the Americans." Patton was mostly facing a second rate rabble in The Lorraine. Patton was neither on the advance nor being heavily engaged at the time he turned north to Bastogne when the Germans pounded through US lines. The road from Luxembourg to Bastogne was pretty well devoid of German forces, with Bastogne being on the very southern German flank. Only when Patton neared Bastogne did he engage some German armour but not a great amount at all. The Fuhrer Grenadier Brigade wasn't one of the best German armoured units, while 26th Volks-Grenadier only had a dozen Hetzers, and the small element of Panzer Lehr (Kampfgruppe 901) left behind only had a small number of tanks operational. Its not as if Patton had to smash through full panzer divisions or Tiger battalions on his way to Bastogne, he never. Patton's armoured forces outnumbered the Germans by at least 6 to 1. Patton faced very little German armour when he broke through to Bastogne because the vast majority of the German 5th Panzer Army had already left Bastogne in their rear moving westwards to the River Meuse. They were still engaging forces under Montgomery's 21st Army Group. Leading elements were engaging the Americans and British under Montgomery's command near Dinant by the Meuse. Monty's armies halted the German advance and pushed them back. In Normandy in 1944, the panzer divisions had been largely worn down, primarily by the British and Canadians around Caen. The First US Army around St Lo then Mortain helped a little. Over 90% of German armour was destroyed by the British. Once again, Patton faced very little opposition in his break out in Operation Cobra performing mainly an infantry role. Nor did Patton advance any quicker across eastern France mainly devoid of German troops, than the British and Canadians did, who were in Brussels by early September seizing the vital port of Antwerp intact. Patton repeatedly denigrated his subordinates. ♦ In Sicily he castigated Omar Bradley for the tactics Bradley's II Corps were employing ♦ He accused the commander of 3rd Infantry Division, Truscott of being "afraid to fight". ♦ In the Ardennes he castigated Middleton of the US VIII Corps and Millikin of the US III Corps. ♦ When his advance from Bastogne to Houffalize stalled he criticised the 11th Armoured Division for being "very green and taking unnecessary casualties to no effect". ♦ He called the 17th Airborne Division "hysterical" in reporting their losses. After the German attack in the Ardennes, US air force units were put under Coningham of the RAF. Coningham, gave Patton massive ground attack plane support and he still stalled. Patton's failure to concentrate his forces on a narrow front and his decision to commit two green divisions to battle without adequate reconnaissance resulted in his stall. Patton rarely took any responsibility for his own failures. It was always somebody else at fault, including his subordinates. A poor general who thought he was reincarnated. Oh, and wore cowboy guns. Patton detested Hodges, did not like Bradley disobeying his orders, and Eisenhowers orders. He also hated Montgomery. About the only person he ever liked was himself. Read Monty and Patton: Two Paths to Victory by Michael Reynolds
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  2. After the German Bulge attack, the US First and Third armies had to be put under Montgomery's control, as were parts of the USAAF put under RAF control. Patton stopped during his advance towards Bastogne in the Ardennes after the Germans pounded through US lines, but was unsuccessful. On the night of the 22nd December 1944, Patton ordered Combat Command B of 4th Armored Division to advance through the village of Chaumont in the night, but a small number of German troops with anti tank weapons opened up stopping the American attack with the US forces having to pull back. The next day, the 23rd, Conigham of the RAF gave Patton US fighter bomber support which strafed the village of Chaumont weakening the defenders being the only reason why the attack resumed the next afternoon. However a German counter attack north of Chaumont knocked out 12 Shermans with Combat Command B retreating once again. It took Patton almost 3 days just to get through the village of Chaumont. Patton's forces arrived at Chaumont late on the 22nd December. They didn't get through Chaumont village until Christmas Day, the 25th! Hardly racing at breakneck speed. to stop the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge. Patton had less than 20 km of German held ground to cover during his actual 'attack' towards Bastogne, with the vast majority of his move towards Bastogne through American held lines devoid of the Germans. Patton's start line for the attack was at Vaux-les-Rosieres, just 15km south west of Bastogne and yet he still took 5 days to get through to Bastogne. Patton is the most overrated general in history. An average to low general who is regarded by the US media as a superstar.
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  3. In 1944 General Bradley, commander of the 12th US Army Group was starving US General Hodges' First Army of supplies, against Eisenhower's orders, giving them to Patton who was -attempting to run off into unimportant territory to the east away from the important Ruhr - again. Eisenhower wanted a northern thrust over the Rhine with the British 21st Army Group under Montgomery and some divisions of the US First Army which obviously would not work with the resources starved First Army. A lesser operation was devised by Montgomery called Market Garden with only one crossing of the Rhine. The resource starved divisions of US First Army was eliminated from the operation which was supposed to be on the right flank. Market Garden would also eliminate V rocket launching sites, of which London wanted eliminating ASAP, and give a 60 mile long salient buffer between German forces and the important port of Antwerp, the only port taken intact. This operation would only have one corps above Eindhoven. This was a disgrace considering the forces in Europe at the time. Eisenhower had no grasp of the situation as it was and no strong strategy to advance. He had no grip on Bradley and Patton who were deliberately siphoning away resources to undermine Montgomery. Bradley and Patton should have been fired for insubordination.
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  4.  @bigwoody4704  Rambo, Monty had to take control of two out of control US armies in the Bulge, they were that bad.
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  5.  @bigwoody4704  Hi Rambo, that was drivel by Collins. Monty wanted the 40 division thrust to Berlin, which Eisenhower rejected. That is what what happens when an amateur, who was only a colonel a few years previously, is supreme commander.
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  6.  @bigwoody4704  Rambo, what else did the screaming voices tell you?
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  7. Devin Petersen Patton was an average US general, no more. No one of power or influence. You must stop making things up.
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  8. Oh No! Him?
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  9. Patton only moved 10 miles in 3 months at Metz. The likelihood of him defeating the Soviets with 75mm Sherman tanks is laughable. He is a US media creation.
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  10. vick Zx Montgomery led the Normandy campaign with less casualties than predicted with the allies way ahead by D-Day plus 90. Ground forces command was taken from him and given to Eisenhower, who was also supreme commander. Eisenhower adopted a ridiculous broad front strategy, while Montgomery wanted a 30-40 division thrust to the North to take the Ruhr and onto Berlin over the flat north German plains. Montgomery at times openly expressed is view of US generals as being little more than inexperienced amateurs. Although the US had some excellent corps commanders, which Monty pointed out. He constantly told Eisenhower to give him ground command while he stayed supreme commander (a political role). Monty had to take control of two US armies at the Battle of the Bulge. He stopped the Germans turning them back. He again insisted on being ground forces commander pointing to the inept performance of US generals. US generals were up in arms over it and Eisenhower was ready to fire Montgomery (the reality was that Eisenhower could not fire a British private). Those he should have fired were US generals for their performance in the Bulge. Most US generals were colonels only a few years before while Monty was a general since 1917. Monty had an impressive track record, while the US generals never. Bradley took the US First Army into the Hurtgen Forest defeat suffering 33,000 casualties. Patton hardly moved in the Lorraine and suffered over 50,000 casualties.. The US suffered 100,000 in the Battle of the Bulge, then Normandy on top. They were losing men like crazy because of the incompetence of their generals, who appeared not to value the lives of their men. So much so, men destined for the Far East were diverted to Europe to make up the numbers and ensure there was enough troops. They could see the losses mounting at the same rate. The British had nowhere near the casualties of the US armies. In the end the US had more men in Europe than the British & Canadians. Yet, the British ended up with far more ground troops against the Japanese than the USA. It was supposed to be the reverse. 2.6 million of the British army marched into Burma, plus the Eastern and Pacific fleets and the RAF. Montgomery did all to reduce casualties of the armies under him, British and US. He knew that a demoralised army can fight below its weight, and seeing 1,000s of killed and wounded coming back from the front is a great downer for troops. Monty understood how soldiers ticked; saving their lives and morale was key.
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  11. You need to understand how WW2 went.
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  12. The British interviewed all the German generals after WW2. Few had actually heard of this average US general named Patton. The best general in WW2 was Montgomery. He controlled army groups and went through 9 countries not once suffering a reverse. He was in charge of all armies in Normandy. Montgomery said that Patton would good as as a corps commander only.
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  13. Aryeh Yehudah Ajzenberg Read my posts about a week back on Patton.
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  14. It was poorly researched. Read my posts about a week ago on Patton.
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  15. Devin Petersen Do you think men from space killed this average US general as well?
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  16. Mark Harrison What does it matter? He was a nobody anyway.
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  17. Anonymous Anonymous It is best you read my posts on the media creation Patton.
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  18. Yes, Patton used A-10s as well.
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