Standing on the Precipise of History…

History is rife with tales of feats of heroism, but less is known about the rocky paths that lead to greatness. Preparation for a pivotal moment in history may lie in challenges set for themselves by leaders, lessons learned in life’s small battles and moments spent in quiet contemplation.

After a lifetime of preparation, heavy with a sense of destiny, George S. Patton, Jr. would have to wait to prove himself in the period between World War I and World War II. His hero, British General Sir Edmund Allenby, who Patton met while serving with the British in the First World War, theorized that for every man who made history several more were born at the wrong time to affect destiny. Being in the right place in the right time – being lucky – was part of the equation.

Testing that luck, Patton decided to try his hand at sailing a schooner from California to Hawaii, a post he returned to in the years between the wars. Telling Beatrice that he preferred death to being a nobody, Patton bought the Arcturus and took courses in celestial navigation in preparation for his trip.

In May of 1935, a crew of six that included his wife Beatrice and sailor Joe Ekeland set sail. The journey took 15 days and covered 2,238 miles. It yielded a notebook, “When and If We Ever Buy a Boat,” written by George and Beatrice.

Colonel and Mrs. Patton sail from San Francisco to a new post in Hawaii with friends, Gordon Prince, Doc Graves, Anna Prince, and Joe Ekcland on the Arcturus.

The trip did little to forestall Patton’s sense of being out of the game and overlooked. In her book THE BUTTON BOX, Ruth Ellen Patton Totten recalled her father’s fiftieth birthday:

When he woke up that morning he refused to get up because he said his life was over. He turned his face to the wall and refused to eat breakfast. It took Ma several hours to persuade him that he had been fifty for a whole year and was going into his fifty-first year. He finally got out of bed, but he wasn’t much comforted.

Patton’s Polo Team in Hawaii

Feeling cut off from the action in peacetime, Patton filled his schedule with social events and polo. Playing polo with the same zest he brought to battle, Patton took a serious fall when his horse threw him during a scrimmage in preparation for the Inter-Island Games. Despite his own sense of being passed over by history, Patton’s skills as a tactician were as sharp as ever. His focus as military intelligence officer was the safety and security of the Hawaiian Islands. In 1937, he wrote “Surprise,” an eerily accurate prediction of a Japanese attack on Hawaii. His speculations included:

The unheralded arrival during a period of profound peace of a Japanese expeditionary force within 200 miles of Oahu during darkness; this force to be preceded by submarines who will be in the immediate vicinity of Pearl Harbor.

He also foretold “an air attack by (Japanese) navy fighters and carrier borne bombers on air stations and the submarine base using either gas or incendiary bombs.”

As historian and author Carlo D’Este described in Patton: A Genius For War, Naval planners disregarded the notion on the basis that an enemy force would be vulnerable to island-based aircraft and submarines.

During Patton’s next assignment at Fort Riley, he was sidelined by a broken leg sustained while riding horses in a reckless manner. With Patton bedridden and depressed, Beatrice invited boat designer John Alden to consult with him on the design of a schooner called the When and If, a boat that Patton and Beatrice hoped to sail around the world upon his retirement, a dream that would forever go unrealized.

In early 1938, Patton took his post as executive officer of the 9th Cavalry and instructor at the Cavalry School. Back in the saddle, Patton relaxed and resumed writing military articles and participating in horse shows. In July of that year he was promoted to full colonel, a rank he had held in World War I. His next move was to Fort Clark, Texas, where he would command the 5th Cavalry Regiment.

This quiet place was turned upside down by Patton who conducted table exercises, had troops walk through mock battles and who generally demanded excellence from troops used to being overlooked. During Third Army war games, Patton honed his tactics, drove his troops relentlessly and delighted in outflanking his opponents.

In December 1938, Patton learned that he was to be reassigned to Fort Myer and command of the 3rd Cavalry. During this period, Patton often entertained former classmates who had now achieved the rank of general, a source of great irritation to him. By the fall of 1939 shots were fired between Germany and Poland. America had little idea of what was to come or how Patton would rise to the call.

Patton on horseback, Fort Myer, Virginia

His past achievements were to play a role in history. The Army’s chief of staff, General George C. Marshall, had a long memory and a notebook full of names collected during his tour as assistant commandant of the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia.

It was Marshall’s practice to record the names of officers he thought had promise. His list included Omar Bradley, Dwight Eisenhower, Joseph Stilwell and George S. Patton.Marshall’s notes on Patton said: “George will take a unit through hell and high water.” In the summer of 1939, Patton sought to prove himself again as he led parts of the 3rd Cavalry in First Army maneuvers with his typical flair and vigor. He augmented this performance with letters to people in high place to remind them that he was ready and eager to serve, come what may.

Eligible for promotion to brigadier general, Patton waited. He was part of a group of men who sent recommendations to General Marshall advocating the creation of an independent armored force and watched as tank and mechanized vehicles were anointed as the wave of the future. Patton was reassigned to command the 2nd Armored Brigade of the 2nd Armored Division (to become known as the “Hell on Wheels” division) at Fort Benning. The brigade was made up of 350 officers, 5,500 enlisted men, 383 tanks, and 202 armored cars.

To ease the rough transition of training peacetime soldiers in a whole new approach to war, Patton took history as his guide. Holding up what had happened in Poland the previous year, Patton admonished his soldiers to strive for victory and present a ferocious offense as the best defense. Patton was promoted to Brigadier General. Within the year he became division commander.

Patton set about instilling order and decorum among the ranks. He sought to inspire the soldiers to fight to the bitter end through drills and field exercises to build the skills they would be called upon to use on the battlefield.

Their first test was a 270-mile road march undertaken in December of 1940 during which 6,500 troops and nearly 1,200 tanks and vehicles made their way from Fort Benning to Panama City, Florida. Major Isaac D. White, who commanded the division reconnaissance battalion, and would later become a major general and command the 2nd Armored, observed of Patton:

General Patton was really the person who instilled the division with great pride in itself and developed a great esprit, as well as a great deal of the aggressiveness which characterized the division throughout its entire service…he really inspired everybody with the idea that when you have gone just as far as you can go, you can still go a bit further. He also I think instilled the division with the idea that no mission was too difficult to accomplish…

With the inception of the draft, trainees began to flood into Fort Benning. In April, 14,000 troops paraded at a mounted review as Patton was promoted to major general. General Patton talked to the troops about the additional demands of armored and air war and their role in victory. He stated, “Victory will be decided by those possessing the highest attributes of courage and loyalty.”

Patton went on to promise “…I shall never ask any man to undergo risks which I, myself, do not incur.” The promise was made, the wheels were in motion, and destiny awaited the newly minted major general.

Thanks to Carlo D’Este, author of Patton: a Genius for War, and the late Ruth Ellen Patton Totten and Jamie Totten, author and editor respectively of The Button Box, for the stories and anecdotes included in this piece.

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