George Patton



George Patton (b. 1885) was the Confederacy's expert on barrels during the Second Great War and was a staunch Freedom Party man. He began the war in 1941 as a Brigadier General in charge of the barrels of the Army of Kentucky and he commanded Operation Blackbeard. He took advantage of his troops superior numbers and their better weapons by advancing quickly and using blitzkrieg tactics. His men loved him due to the fact that his barrels would always come up in convenient situations and they were able to clear out the enemy troops. In a few months he was able to cut the United States in half. After he had proven himself in Ohio, Patton was moved to northern Virginia in late 1941, to defend against the U.S. offensive there. He was able to make the U.S. army's advance there slow and costly. He was able to lead a successful counterattack when the U.S. was driving close to the Rapahannock. The counterattack didn't achieve its original goal of driving the U.S. to the Rapidan, but it did drive the U.S. army back. Once the U.S. advance continued, he was able to stop the advance at Fredricksburg. Soon after he was moved to lead C.S. troops during Operation Coalscuttle in the summer of 1942. In this operation he was initially successful. He was able to sweep through eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. However at the Battle of Pittsburgh he was faced by city warfare, which was terrible for barrels. His barrel crews took heavy casualties and weren't able to move as fast as they would have. Once the U.S. army surrounded Pittsburgh and Operation Rosebud was successful, Patton's troops were in constant retreat through the city. He was flown out of the city before the surrender.

Patton's next command was a failed flanking attack designed to disrupt Morrell's drive on Chattanooga in the summer of 1943. The attack failed. Patton commanded the defenses of Chattanooga, an assignment which chafed on the offensive-minded general. He promised Jake Featherston that he would defend Chattanooga house-to-house, just as US forces had defended Pittsburgh to such great effect. However, when US paratroopers landed in his rear, he was forced to withdraw into Georgia. His subordinates--notably Clarence Potter, whom he despised to the point of challenging to a duel--were concerned that he would counterattack recklessly in a desperate attempt to stave off Morrell's drive on Atlanta.

See: Inconsistencies in Turtledove's Work.