A brilliant blend of biography & autobiography: The war years

Army, Mar 1997 by Roger Cirillo

The Patton Papers, 1940-1945. Martin Blumenson. Da Capo Press. 889 pages; photographs; index; $19.95, paper. Originally published in 1974.

By Lt. Col. Roger Cirillo U.S. Army retired

Possibly no general in modern American history has captured the imagination as has Gen. George S. Patton Jr. His life as he recorded it is found in The Patton Papers by Martin Blumenson. The second volume, covering the years 1940 through 1945, tells Patton's wartime story.

In 1940, 55-year-old Col. Patton was rescued from the obscurity he feared. Finally returned to the tanks, which he helped introduce to the American Army in World War I, Patton soon became the symbol of mobile warfare. He was a glowering figure on the cover of Life Magazine-a fearsome visage designed to give Americans heart as they prepared for war and hoped to avoid the contest.

Patton, however, prayed for war to come. When it did, his exploits fulfilled the destiny that he believed would always be his, that of a successful battlefield commander leading armies to victory. His exertions spanned North Africa, Sicily and Northwest Europe. He commanded the American forces that landed in Morocco in November 1942, the first major Allied invasion, then in turn the II Corps in Tunisia, Seventh Army in Sicily and Third Army in Europe. Patton's performance, especially his pursuit across France, his relief of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge, his lightning crossing of the Rhine, and his drive across Germany and into Czechoslovakia, was a model of the Army's mobile operations. He was the American Rommel.

The Supreme Allied Commander, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, recognized Patton as a rare kind of general, a master. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, Patton's immediate superior at 12th Army Group, publicly echoed the sentiment.

Continually under siege yet never failing in battle, Patton was virtually unchallenged as a military genius. He had a great talent, but it came in a highly explosive package. His self-created persona, his strident thirst for acclaim, his ill-disguised contempt for allies and many of his own contemporaries, and worst, his mercurial temperment and seemingly undisciplined "colorful" language led to unfortunate and embarrassing episodes. His bitterest critics thought he was not worth keeping.

Despite the criticism, one unchallengeable fact remains. No one in his chain of command, from his Army Group Commander to the President ever demanded his forced return from the war zone. Though often under a cloud, Patton was consistently given important combat missions. "Georgie" was too unique to spare-always a victorious fighting commander who inspired heroism in his troops and fear in the enemy. Patton was a fighting soldier, and America needed him.

Students of Patton or, indeed, of World War II have to hear Patton's side of the story before they can make an informed judgment on the man. In his diary and letters to his wife, Patton recorded his moods, his opinions, his view of events and his ideas, thus leaving a record of how he saw his wartime service. Though a sanitized book called War As I Knew It was published in his name, The Patton Papers, in essence, is his candid view of events. Blending diary entries, letters and document excerpts, Martin Blumenson unobtrusively lets Patton define himself in a coherent story. Adding context and commentary, Blumenson artfully creates a seamless blend of biography and autobiography. His stage management of material is as brilliant as any of Patton's battles. He lets Patton be Patton, offering Patton's words, which show genius, insight, foibles and vulnerabilities, and he carefully sets them in an ongoing chronicle. The resulting product is a rare conjunction of genius-a true military genius's life and work interpreted and defined by a historical genius and literary giant. No student of World War II can afford to be without this book.

Blumenson's earlier volume covers the years before 1940 and is essential to understanding Patton the man. While the publisher has chosen, temporarily it is hoped, to reissue only the popular wartime account, both volumes are essential for any true assessment. When they are read together, the Patton that emerges is the authentic Patton, not the costumed giant celebrated by hero worshippers or the callous glory hunter damned by his critics. Given Patton's own evidence and the author's context, the reader comes to know Patton.

Insightful, inspiring and a delight to read, this new paperback edition belongs on every professional soldier's bookshelf or, for that matter, on every American's.

LT COL. ROGER CIRILLO, USA Ret., is the author of The Ardennes-Alsace Campaign in the U.S. Army in World War II commemorative series.