Patton And His Third Army

by Brenton G. Wallace

This was no accident

“We shall attack and attack until we are exhausted, and then we shall attack again.”

We knew that General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, had the highest esteem for General Patton and his Third Army, and we had heard that the Germans, having felt his quality in Sicily, feared him greatly. But we did not then know why Third Army Headquarters was left near the little town of Knutsford, a few miles south of Manchester and why our troops were scattered through England and North Ireland for more than three weeks after the invasion started. It was part of the “cover plan,” as it was called. Keeping General Patton and his army where they were, and being sure to let the German agents find out that they were there, constituted such a threat to Germany, and her leaders so feared a direct thrust by the Third Army at some other point, that they kept 17 divisions along the Pas de Calais section of the Channel coast, afraid to use them as reinforcements in Normandy.

On 28 June, the Third Army finally

got orders to move. Secretly we slipped quietly and quickly down into southern England.

They say a foreign country is a place where everything is funny but the jokes.

The qualifications of a good staff officer are — ability, tact, the confidence of the Commander, courageous frankness and loyalty.

Not so in Third Army Headquarters, however. Nothing was done there for show or appearance. Everything was practical and for a purpose. The “Old Man” hated show and sham. He was interested in one thing only — efficiency; and his spirit permeated the whole organization. You had a feeling that Third Army was going in only one direction — forward.

A number of persons have asked if General Patton was not very difficult to work for, always driving you on. He was just the opposite and as I mentioned, his spirit carried through the whole staff. Everything around Headquarters was quiet, orderly, smooth and efficient.

The Old Man would not tolerate unnecessary noise or confusion. You either knew your job, or you didn’t. If you didn’t, or if you were the cause of any friction in the Headquarters, you were quickly and quietly gotten rid of, “rolled” as we called it — sent to some other organization. But if you knew your job you were allowed to perform it in your own way and were never told how to do a thing, only requested in a quiet gentlemanly way to do it. The rest was up to you. Results were all that counted.

AS mentioned at the end of Chapter 1, Third Army Headquarters received orders on 3 July 1944 that on the following day, 4 July, it would secretly move down from southern England, at Braemer House near Salisbury, to the ports along the southern coast and embark for the beaches of Normandy.

The three factors in a successful attack in warfare are surprise, speed and firepower.