Lieut. Col. George S. Patton, Jr., 1918
Patton…believed in a smashing blow on a narrower front with his power lined up more in depth. He often struck at the enemy’s strongest point and then fanned out behind their lines…. He preferred to risk heavy casualties over a relatively brief time. A war of attrition was alien to his nature and beliefs…. His approach was that of Henry of Navarre, who went into battle at Crécy at the head of his troops, crying “Suivez mon panache blanc.” Patton wore no white plume, but when he gave orders to strike forward and follow, the Third Army did….
A captured Oberkommando Herres analysis had this to say: “General Patton is clearly the number one. He is the most modern, and the only master of offensive. Patton is the most dangerous General on all fronts. The tactics of other generals are well known and countermeasures can be effected against them. Patton’s tactics are daring and unpredictable. He fights not only the troops opposing him, but the German Reich.”
Fred Ayer, Jr. Before the Colors Fade: Portrait of a Soldier George S. Patton, Jr. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1964), pp. 146-147.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 248
