3. arméns emblem
"In short and in sum, the Third Army under General Patton went farther and faster than any other army in the history of warfare."
Alan Axelrod: Patton on Leadership. Paramus : Prentice Hall, cop. 1999.
 Mina bilder från platsen där General Patton är begravd. (Beklagar att denna länk inte fungerar just nu!) Andra pansardivisionens marsch. Komponerad av Pattons hustru Beatrice. Inledningen är sirén-ljudet från Pattons half-track. Hur jag är släkt med General Patton kan du förhoppningsvis se här. | General Patton talar! Do everything you ask of those you command. Do more than is required of you. Do not fear failure. Do not take counsel of your fears. In case of doubt, attack! Lack of orders is no excuse for inaction. Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men. Say what you mean and mean what you say. The soldier is the army. There is only one type of discipline, perfect discipline. There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and is much less prevalent. One of the most frequently noted characteristics of great men who have remained great is loyalty to their subordinates. You are never beaten until you admit it, hence don't. -Detta påminner starkt om Claudianus: "victoria nulla est / quam quae confessos animo quoque subiugat hostes". Dvs: "en seger är verklig först när fienden inför sig själv har bekänt sig besegrad". It is only by doing things others have not that one can advance. A pint of sweat will save a gallon of blood. Eller som de sade under finska vinterkriget: Svett sparar blod! All glory is fleeting. A leader is a man who can adapt principles to circumstances. Battle is not a terrifying ordeal to be endured. It is a magnificent experience wherein all the elements that have made man superior to the beasts are present: courage, self-sacrifice, loyalty, help to others, devotion to duty. The test of success is not what you do when on your top. Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom. If you treat a skunk nicely he will not piss on you - as often. Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. The only way to win a war is to attack and keep on attacking and after you have done that keep attacking some more. If you want an army to fight and risk death, you've got to get up there and lead it. An army is like spaghetti. You can't push a piece of spaghetti, you've got to pull it. A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied when it's too late. General Omar N. Bradley om att lyda order Källa: Bradley: A Soldier's Story of the Allied Campaigns from Tunis to the Elbe, London : Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1951, s. 138. Weeks later after the Sicilian campaign was ended Patton visited Monty at the latter's CP. During their conversation George complained of the injustice of Alexander's Army Group directive on the Vizzini-Caltagirone road. [Denna väg var först avsedd för Pattons framryckning, men Montgomery lyckades få den överförd till sig, vilket ledde till att Pattons trupper tvingades göra helt om.] Monty looked at him with amusement. "George", he said, "let me give you some advice. If you get an order from Army Group that you don't like, why just ignore it. That's what I do." Montgomery, of course, had oversimplified his explanation. He was first a good, if sometimes perverse, soldier. He didn't ignore his orders though sometimes he seemed to skirt them, while being careful to avoid a showdown. Basically Montgomery's comment to Patton reflected a common attitude in the British command, a view sometimes difficult for an American officer to understand. Unlike the U. S. Army where an order calls for instant compliance, the British viewed an order as a basis for discussion between commanders. If a difference of opinion developed, it would be ironed out and the order might be amended. In contrast, we in the American army sought to work out our differences before issuing an order. Once an order was published it could not be changed except by the issuing authority. Had I known of this British characteristic I most certainly would have appealed to Patton to protest the Army Group decision on the road. General Bradley om Pattons lojalitet Källa: Bradley: A Soldier's Story of the Allied Campaigns from Tunis to the Elbe, London : Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1951, s. xiiif General Patton was one of my stanchest friends and the most unhesitantly loyal of all my commanders. He was a magnificent soldier, one whom the American people can admire not only as a great commander but as a unique and remarkable man. --- I prefer to remember Patton as a man, as a man with all the frailties and faults of a human being, as a man whose greatness is therefore all the more a triumph. Åter till framsidan. |