George S. Patton
1885–1945 1 entry
Biography
George S. Patton was an American general, one of the most daring and controversial commanders of the Second World War. Born in 1885 in San Gabriel, California, into a family with a long military tradition, he graduated from West Point, competed in the modern pentathlon at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm and in the First World War led the new American tank corps in France.
In the Second World War he commanded American troops in North Africa and Sicily, and in 1944 his Third Army swept across France and in December turned north to relieve the encircled town of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Brilliant at fast and bold advances, he was also known for his sharp tongue and rash behaviour, which more than once cost him his command. He died in December 1945 in Heidelberg, in Germany, after a car accident, and is buried among his soldiers at the American cemetery in Luxembourg.
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