George Patton

George Smith Patton, Jr. (1885–1945) was a leading, distinguished, and controversial United States Army General during World War II.

Prior to World War II, Patton was part of the unsuccessful expedition to capture Pancho Villa. He also saw action in France, where he became an advocate for tank warfare.

During the War, Patton saw action in North Africa, Sicily, and Europe. He earned a reputation as a dogged fighter. He died in December, 1945, as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident.

George Patton in The Man With the Iron Heart
George Patton's (1885-1945) contempt for the vanquished Germany blinded him to the threat of the German Freedom Front. His personal arrogance and infatuation for decor made him an obvious target, as he routinely sat in the back of his jeep and/or stood up in the machine-gun turret. Thus, he became an ideal target, and was killed by a Werewolf assassin, who blew up Patton's truck with a panzershrek in September, 1945. His driver, Smitty, survived.

Patton was eulogized by Dwight Eisenhower, who took the occasion of Patton's funeral to exhort his men to keep in the fight.

George Patton in Worldwar
George Patton was one of the United States most successful generals in the war against the Race's Conquest Fleet.

In 1942, after the U.S. had entered World War II, but before it could deploy troops, the Race's Conquest Fleet invaded Earth. For the first time in eighty years, the U.S. found itself fighting a major war on its own soil, as the Race pushed hard into midwest, subduing much of Indiana, Missouri, and Illinois before their drive halted at Chicago. At the end of the year, Patton, along with Omar Bradley, seized on the Race's disdain for the winter cold, and successfully launched a counter-offensive, effectively ringing the Lizard forces as they advanced from Chicago. This was one of the first major successes human forces had in stopping a Race offensive.

Prior to the offensive, Patton met Chicago physicist Jens Larssen, as the latter was on his cross-country journey back to the University of Chicago. For security reasons, Patton held Larssen before the offensive. Unfortunately for Larssen, this contributed to his wife's presumption that he was dead.

At the end of the fighting, Patton toured the bombed out ruins of Chicago, which was the site of the detonation of the first American atomic bomb.

George Patton in Southern Victory
George Patton was the Confederacy's expert on barrels during the Second Great War and was a staunch Freedom Party man. He had avidly studied U.S. general and barrel expert Irving Morrell's tactics while preparing for the Second Great War.

Patton began 1941 as a Brigadier General in charge of the barrels of the Army of Kentucky and commander of Operation Blackbeard. He took advantage of his troops superior numbers and their better weapons by advancing quickly and using lighting 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 Rappahannock River. 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 Fredericksburg.

Soon after Patton 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 flanking attack designed to disrupt Irving 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 President 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.

By early 1944, Patton had finally realized that simply attacking the U.S. forces in Atlanta would be a waste of men. Under the cover a cloudly night, Patton ordered a hasty retreat into Alabama. After a few weeks of retreat, Patton decided that he would use Birmingham as Morrell had used Pittsburgh. However, the U.S. use of the superbomb on the Confederate cities of Newport News and Charleston made this plan impossible. Patton agreed to parley, and, on condition that he could speak to his men, he and the Army of Kentucky surrendered to U.S. General Ironhewer.

In Patton's emotional speech, he complimented his men, and cautioned them against taking up arms against the U.S.

See: Inconsistencies in Turtledove's Work.