Patton- Crazy?

[fdiron]

You got to be kidding right?  The World's most famous scientist wrote a letter, only a letter, and that was his contribution to World War II.  On top of that, he had to be coerced to write it by the brains-behind-the-atomic-bomb.  

  I believe that Einstein truly was a great scientists, but his eccentricities and other factors caused him to be slightly out of touch with reality.  The U.S. could have used his help to stop the war SOONER.  With that, I have nothing more to add to this matter about Einstein.

[wsnpr]

I think most politicians are scum. The politicians are the ones who usually start the wars, not the generals.
Any general that purposely and needlessly sacrifices the lives of his men to gain a place in history sounds kind of a scummy thing to do. Any general that gains the military objective choosing the most efficient way (read that as less soldiers in his command becoming casualties) is not scum. Provided of coarse there is a clear choice to the commander at that time.
Regards,
wSNPR

[SC-Sp00k]

You need not respect the man, but you must respect the rank.
That is a soldiers woe.

How many respected Patton as a man?

I'd have hated his guts im sure.

[Masherbrum]

Patton was a great thinker along the lines of Rommel.  Good terrain instinct.  He read Rommel's book.   Rommel is a tough act to follow.  He ate what his troops ate, kept EVERY POW alive and fed them (ignored EVERY order from Hitler to kill them).  

Patton was fortunate enough to have the quantity of tanks.  But, his instinct is what without a doubt separated him from the rest of the American generals.  He was cavalry, and even though they were a "new mechanized cavalry", those old school generals missed the gallant horses.  Even though, he loved Tanks and saw them as the ideal weapon, he missed horses, all cavalryy did.  He was a hard bellybutton that didn't want excuses, but wanted results.  I think anyone who enjoys war is crazy to some extent.  It is easy when you aren't in one to say how great war would be.   When your "dream" comes true, all of that goes in the toejamter.  

The "slapping of the soldier" incident in Sicily, was total BS.  The media took the story and ran with it.   He was showing the soldier tough love, that's all.   That was Patton's way (maybe not the right way) of dealing with the situation.   Ike was too busy kissing Monty's bellybutton to properly deal with the incident, so "Omar, you deal with it".   Patton was never given the respect he deserved because of his "don't stop until you run out of gas, and when you run out of gas, push your tank!" attitude, Rommel had the same attitude and was in the same boat as he was, superior minds in a seaful of idiots.   The ONLY other General with more of a mind than Rommel was his Idol, Heinz Guderian.

Patton believing he was re-incarnated does NOT make him crazy.  

The drivers of both vehicles that killed should have been put on a firing squad though.

Karaya2

PS - when "any war generals" are brought up why is Vo Giap never given any respect?

[easymo]

Quote from his book
   In a recent interview published in The Wall Street Journal, former colonel Bui Tin who served on the general staff of the North Vietnamese Army and received the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam on April 30, 1975 confirmed the American Tet 1968 military victory: "Our loses were staggering and a complete surprise. Giap later told me that Tet had been a military defeat, though we had gained the planned political advantages when Johnson agreed to negotiate and did not run for reelection.
    The second and third waves in May and September were, in retrospect, mistakes. Our forces in the South were nearly wiped out by all the fighting in 1968. It took us until 1971 to reestablish our presence but we had to use North Vietnamese troops as local guerrillas. If the American forces had not begun to withdraw under Nixon in 1969, they could have punished us severely.
    We suffered badly in 1969 and 1970 as it was." And on strategy: "If Johnson had granted Westmoreland's requests to enter Laos and block the Ho Chi Minh trail, Hanoi could not have won the war.... it was the only way to bring sufficient military power to bear on the fighting in the South. Building and maintaining the trail was a huge effort involving tens of thousands of
soldiers, drivers, repair teams, medical stations, communication units .... our operations were never compromised by attacks on the trail. At times, accurate B-52 strikes would cause real damage, but we put so much in at the top of the trail that enough men and weapons to prolong the war always came out the bottom .... if all the bombing had been concentrated at one time, it would
have hurt our efforts. But the bombing was expanded in slow stages under Johnson and it didn't worry us. We had plenty of time to prepare alternative routes and facilities. We always had stockpiles of rice ready to feed the people for months if a harvest was damaged. The Soviets bought rice from Thailand for us. And the left: "Support for the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9AM to follow the growth of the antiwar movement.
    Visits to Hanoi by Jane Fonda and former Attorney General Ramsey
Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and would struggle along with us .... those people represented the conscience of America .... part of it's war- making capability, and we turning that power in our favor." Bui Tin went on to serve as the editor of the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Disillusioned with the reality of Vietnamese communism Bui Tin now lives in Paris.

[Toad]

Originally posted by easymo
Disillusioned with the reality of Vietnamese communism Bui Tin now lives in Paris.

Pretty much says it all right there, eh?  

[Elfenwolf]

Yeah, Toad. He prefers French-style socialism over Vietnamese-style socialism.

Easymo, good read and thanks for posting.