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The Patton Papers
Uses George S. Patton's private diaries, letters, speeches, reports, and orders to present his own view of his life.
1089 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
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About the author
Martin Blumenson
68 books13 followersMartin Blumenson was a soldier in the US army, and a military historian, and a recognised authority on the life of Gen. George S. Patton Jr.
Blumenson received a Bachelors and Masters degree from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. He received a second master's degree in history from Harvard University. He also was an exellent pianist, performing at Carnegie Hall as a young man.
He served as a U.S. Army officer in northwestern Europe during World War II.
After the war he lived in France for a number of years, where he met his wife of 55 years, Genevieve Adelbert Blumenson, who died in 2000.
Blumenson again served with the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and later worked in the Office of the Chief of Military History until 1967. After this he became an adviser on civil disorders for the Johnson administration.
Blumenson received a Bachelors and Masters degree from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. He received a second master's degree in history from Harvard University. He also was an exellent pianist, performing at Carnegie Hall as a young man.
He served as a U.S. Army officer in northwestern Europe during World War II.
After the war he lived in France for a number of years, where he met his wife of 55 years, Genevieve Adelbert Blumenson, who died in 2000.
Blumenson again served with the U.S. Army during the Korean War, and later worked in the Office of the Chief of Military History until 1967. After this he became an adviser on civil disorders for the Johnson administration.
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April 2, 2021
This review is really based on the first volume; I read the second, but it was decades ago, and I don't really remember much about it. But this volume is surely an engrossing dive into the life and mind of one of the most successful and colorful generals in American history.
Even while at West Point, Patton was something of a martinet and ambitious climber. His fire-eating bloodthirstiness is a bit much. He lacked patience and forbearance. But Patton was apparently well-liked and admired by his many friends and well-rated and valued by his superiors. He was opinionated and outspoken, but he supported his commanding officers loyally. He showed unusual energy, activity, and professional competence. He was constantly reading military history and thinking about how it applied to the contemporaneous situation. He is engaging for his lifelong passionate devotion to both his profession and his wife.
On graduating, Patton married his teenage sweetheart, Beatrice, even though she came from a non-military family and would not help his career--in fact, her father at first disapproved of his profession. She did bring him substantial wealth (his own family was also quite well-to-do), but the deep affection between them is obvious. He wrote her detailed letters almost daily, even when fighting in France. He also wrote lots of poetry and sent it to her. Most of it was unpublishable doggerel, but you've got to admire his spirit. Three years after his mother died, he wrote and affectionate letter to her and put it with her memorabilia. He was a sentimentalist as well as a cold-blooded killer.
As a 2nd lieutenant, Patton made himself the Army's expert on swordsmanship. He fenced in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics on the US Modern Pentathlon team. He designed a new straight saber, designed to be used chiefly by charging with the point, which was adopted by the Army and used until sabers were dropped in 1935. He rewrote the Army's manual on the use of the saber and was made Master of the Sword at the Cavalry School. For the Mexican Expedition of 1916, he served under Pershing, becoming his aide and his protégé. This lifelong relationship was very important to Patton, and the Pattons and the Pershings became family friends. Patton accompanied Pershing to France in 1917 to prepare the way for the AEF, and his experience teaching help him find his way to heading the American Tank School there, and then to command a light tank battalion in battle. When he was on foot at the front directing the tanks, he became pinned down with a hundred or so infantrymen separated from their units. In true Patton fashion, he said "Follow me!" and charged the machine gun. Six soldiers followed him. All of them were shot down. Patton got a serious but non-life-threatening would in the leg and remained pinned down for several hours, tended by a loyal soldier. By rights he should have died; instead he got the Distinguish Service Cross (for which he shamelessly lobbied). After the war he did not become a tank advocate and theorist like some others; his passion and loyalty was to the horse. He played polo and rode to the hounds with relish; he bought, sold, and kept horses (as well as yachts). He acknowledged that tanks and armored cars had an important role, but he though cavalry would always be necessary to go where vehicles could not. In the late 30s he designed and made a prototype for a kind of saber-bayonet for cavalry use and offered it to the Army. By 1940 he was a colonel commanding the 3rd Cavalry Regiment at Ft. Myer, VA, where his personal wealth made it easy for him to move in the elevated social circles around the Capital. But he was an umpire in the 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers that pitted armored formations against mounted, and he saw that the time of the horse was over. He was tapped to command one of the first two armored brigades in the US Army.
Even while at West Point, Patton was something of a martinet and ambitious climber. His fire-eating bloodthirstiness is a bit much. He lacked patience and forbearance. But Patton was apparently well-liked and admired by his many friends and well-rated and valued by his superiors. He was opinionated and outspoken, but he supported his commanding officers loyally. He showed unusual energy, activity, and professional competence. He was constantly reading military history and thinking about how it applied to the contemporaneous situation. He is engaging for his lifelong passionate devotion to both his profession and his wife.
On graduating, Patton married his teenage sweetheart, Beatrice, even though she came from a non-military family and would not help his career--in fact, her father at first disapproved of his profession. She did bring him substantial wealth (his own family was also quite well-to-do), but the deep affection between them is obvious. He wrote her detailed letters almost daily, even when fighting in France. He also wrote lots of poetry and sent it to her. Most of it was unpublishable doggerel, but you've got to admire his spirit. Three years after his mother died, he wrote and affectionate letter to her and put it with her memorabilia. He was a sentimentalist as well as a cold-blooded killer.
As a 2nd lieutenant, Patton made himself the Army's expert on swordsmanship. He fenced in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics on the US Modern Pentathlon team. He designed a new straight saber, designed to be used chiefly by charging with the point, which was adopted by the Army and used until sabers were dropped in 1935. He rewrote the Army's manual on the use of the saber and was made Master of the Sword at the Cavalry School. For the Mexican Expedition of 1916, he served under Pershing, becoming his aide and his protégé. This lifelong relationship was very important to Patton, and the Pattons and the Pershings became family friends. Patton accompanied Pershing to France in 1917 to prepare the way for the AEF, and his experience teaching help him find his way to heading the American Tank School there, and then to command a light tank battalion in battle. When he was on foot at the front directing the tanks, he became pinned down with a hundred or so infantrymen separated from their units. In true Patton fashion, he said "Follow me!" and charged the machine gun. Six soldiers followed him. All of them were shot down. Patton got a serious but non-life-threatening would in the leg and remained pinned down for several hours, tended by a loyal soldier. By rights he should have died; instead he got the Distinguish Service Cross (for which he shamelessly lobbied). After the war he did not become a tank advocate and theorist like some others; his passion and loyalty was to the horse. He played polo and rode to the hounds with relish; he bought, sold, and kept horses (as well as yachts). He acknowledged that tanks and armored cars had an important role, but he though cavalry would always be necessary to go where vehicles could not. In the late 30s he designed and made a prototype for a kind of saber-bayonet for cavalry use and offered it to the Army. By 1940 he was a colonel commanding the 3rd Cavalry Regiment at Ft. Myer, VA, where his personal wealth made it easy for him to move in the elevated social circles around the Capital. But he was an umpire in the 1940 Louisiana Maneuvers that pitted armored formations against mounted, and he saw that the time of the horse was over. He was tapped to command one of the first two armored brigades in the US Army.
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