Easton Press: FIVE-STAR GENERAL GEORGE PATTON: WORLD WAR II: SICILY: EUROPE

Description: Easton Press leather edition of Martin Blumenson's "Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945," one of the LIBRARY OF MILITARY HISTORY series, a COLLECTOR'S edition, Period Photographs, published in 1987. COLLECTOR'S NOTES is included. Bound in brown leather, the book has ivory French moire end leaves, satin book marker, hubbed spine, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, gold gilding on three edges---in Very Good/near FINE condition---except for 'moderate' gilt loss on front and back boards---see photos---and a blank attached bookplate on second blank page. George Smith Patton, who lived from 1885 – 1945, was a general in the U.S. Army. Born into wealth in 1885, Patton attended the VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE and the U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY at West Point where he was a poor student. Patton later said he had dyslexia. Patton married Beatrice Banning at Beverly Farms, Massachusetts in 1910, the wedding of the social season. Patton later apologized for "hurting Bea" on their wedding night. Patton believed that sex drive and hot blood went into soldiering, and he did his utmost to establish himself as a fearsome and virile warrior. Their daughter, Beatrice Jr. was born in 1911. The Pattons became parents to a son, George Smith Patton, Jr. in 1923. Like the Greek warrior Achilles, Patton recorded, he "would be willing to live in torture, die tomorrow if one day I could be really great," and he preferred death to a "long, uneventful life." His wife, Beatrice, a novelist, and their three children suffered greatly as Georgie went through periodic drinking bouts and began an affair with his wife's step-niece that, it was thought, lasted for years. After he received his general's star in 1940, he wrote to a colleague, "All that is needed is a nice juicy war." He got it. Patton studied fencing and designed the M1919 Cavalry Saber, more commonly known as the "Patton Saber," He and Bea, Papa, Mama, and Nita sailed to Europe where Patton competed in modern pentathlon in the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. He competed fiercely and won fifth place. Patton entered combat during the Pancho Villa Expedition of 1916, the United States' first military action using motor vehicles. He fought in WORLD WAR I: he commanded the U.S. tank school in France, then led tanks into combat and was wounded near the end of the war. In the interwar period, Patton became a central figure in the development of the army's armored warfare doctrine, serving in numerous staff positions throughout the country. Patton led U.S. troops into the Mediterranean theater with an invasion of CASABLANCA during Operation Torch in 1942, and soon established himself as an effective commander by rapidly rehabilitating the demoralized II Corps. He commanded the U.S. Seventh Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily, where he was the first Allied commander to reach Messina. There he was embroiled in controversy after he slapped two shell-shocked soldiers and was temporarily removed from battlefield command. At the start of the Western Allied invasion of France, Patton was given command of the Third Army, which conducted a highly successful rapid armored drive across France. Under his decisive leadership, the Third Army took the lead in relieving beleaguered American troops at BASTOGNE during the BATTLE OF THE BULGE, after which his forces drove deep into NAZI GERMANY by the end of the war. During the Allied occupation of Germany, Patton was named military governor of Bavaria, but was relieved for making aggressive statements towards the Soviet Union and trivializing denazification. He commanded the U.S. Fifteenth Army for slightly more than two months. Severely injured in an auto accident, he died in Germany twelve days later, on December 21, 1945. Patton's colorful image, hard-driving personality, and success as a commander were at times overshadowed by his controversial public statements. His philosophy of leading from the front, and his ability to inspire troops with attention-getting, vulgarity-laden speeches, such as his famous address to the Third Army, was received favorably by his troops, but much less so by a sharply divided Allied high command. His emphasis on rapid and aggressive offensive action proved effective, and he was regarded highly by his opponents. Patton served with DWIGHT EISENHOWER, OMAR BRADLEY, and British general BERNARD MONTGOMERY. Blumenson, who joined Patton's Third Army headquarters in Luxembourg in 1945, said that he never talked with him; "I gazed at him in wonder from afar. His exploits were already legendary. He was an imposing figure. Whether riding in a jeep, standing at attention, or listening to a briefing, he dominated the scene." 320 pages, including an Index. I offer Combined shipping.

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End Time: 2025-01-01T16:58:40.000Z

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