You want to talk memorable scenes in Patton? Everyone always throws back the opening speech, George C. Scott juxtaposed against a towering American flag, gruffly speaking of our national love for the “sting” of battle.
Me?
Yeah, I like Patton the warrior. But I love Patton the mystic. The poet. The historian.
My favorite scene in Patton wasn’t the defeat of the Afrika Corps, or the seizure of Palermo, of even the legendary opening speech. It was this scene. “I was here.”
Hardass generals are a dime dozen. Patton’s roughness isn’t what immortalized him.
It was his poet’s heart. That’s what made Patton Patton.
Okay, “give me 400,000 gallons and I’ll go to Berlin!” wasn’t bad either.
Ever wonder how the Cold War would’ve have shaped up had Ike given Patton that gas?
There is a great discussion of “What if Eisenhower had raced for Berlin” in a book called “What if America” (ISBN 1-4050-4169-2) edited by Robert Cowley. Basically the premise was that the US could have gotten to Berlin easily by advancing from Dessau and coming on Berlin from the south. With much of the Wehrmacht tied down on the Oder River.
They point out that while it could have been done, Eisenhower was probably right-for the wrong reasons. In the end the Soviets would have reacted when they found out what we were doing and whether it would have been politically acceptable to fight the our Soviet “allies” when end of the war fever was marked in the US is problematic at best. Even Churchill acknowledged it in his memoirs.
I love counterfactual history and have all of Cowley’s books.
Going after Berlin would have fallen to Montgomery…and we’d still be waiting.
But if Patton had gotten that gas, he would have sliced into southern Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovokia like a hot knife through warm butter. The Warsaw Pact would have looked a LOT different…East Germany would have been smaller; Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia members of NATO. A dramatic shift in the balance of forces.
COLD WAR WOUDDA WENT HOT, THAT’S WHAT
The Warsaw Pact would have been a lot different…..but I think Ike and Truman never thought it would come to the Cold War. Otherwise we would have supported more of Churchill’s ideas. He had Stalin pretty well sized up.
I don’t think Ike was thinking beyond the end of WWII. He was very focused on what I call, “the little big picture.” He did a fine job of Supreme Commander along the lines of the focused effort to defeat Germany, but did not think about the follow-on.
Patton always believed in fighting the next battle and the next one after that. He clearly saw the Russkies as a threat and was ready to go.
John – if you want some excellent insight into Patton, read The Patton Papers. It is two volumes compiled by Martin Blumenson of Patton’s letters and notes. It is a lot of reading, but well worth it.
Well, here is something different to discuss. A war song for the ages. A soldier’s lament. Made me cry.
I Wanna Go Home
The author has given permission to those currently serving in the military who buy the song to share it with nine of their best buddies, wives, husbands, parents, or children.
If you like it, pass it on.