Fighting Patton by Harry Yeide

Author:Harry Yeide
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Zenith Press
Published: 2011-02-23T16:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

Lorraine: Patton Faces Germany’s Best

PATTON FINALLY HAD some gas again. On 4 September, Third Army received 240, 265 gallons, and 1,396,710 gallons arrived over the next three days. The critical shortage eased by 10 September, but rationing and shortfalls continued into late October. On 10 September, Bradley gave VIII Corps in Brittany to the newly activated Ninth Army, though its 83rd Infantry and 6th Armored Divisions were to return to Patton.1

Patton also was getting too little ammunition, which was a very big deal because the American style of warfare relied far more on crushing artillery fire than the German style. Third Army’s shortage was, in part, a consequence of so much ammunition being fired for prestige purposes during the pointless siege of Brest. As of 10 September, Third Army’s batteries were getting only one-third of a unit of fire per day.2

Simultaneously with Patton regaining his power to maneuver on 4 September, Hitler reinstated the old Prussian warhorse Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt as OB West. U.S. First Army’s interpretation of Rundstedt’s renewed appointment was that “the moment called for a real soldier.”3 Model took on his duties as commanding general of Army Group B full time.

Manstein wrote of Rundstedt, “As an exponent of grand tactics he was brilliant—a talented soldier who grasped the essentials of any problem in an instant. . . . The General had a charm about him to which even Hitler succumbed.”4 Jodl described the late-war Rundstedt who finally came to blows with Patton in these terms: “He was an intellectually superior, well-trained officer. He did not waste time on details. . . . Because of his age, however, he was not so well fitted to spur men to superhuman efforts in an adverse situation. . . . Rundstedt always enjoyed complete authority and had an excellent head for operations. He had studied in the old school.”5 Kesselring said of him, “He commanded from his headquarters by issuing instructions which clearly showed adaptability to the situation; almost never did he visit the front, and he made telephone calls only rarely. Vertical communications were almost exclusively in the hands of the chief and the assistant chiefs of the general staff. This procedure had some undisputable advantages; the [commanding general] had peace and quiet, and he was not exposed to the pressures caused by personal observation at the front. He was the prototype of the distinguished leader, far removed, whose name was mentioned only with a certain amount of awe.”6

Rundstedt, scion of an old Prussian-Saxon military family, had entered the imperial army in 1891. He received general staff training before the Great War and served in that capacity along most of the eastern and western fronts during the conflict. Between the wars, he had served as chief of staff and commanding general in both cavalry and infantry divisions, so he had had some taste of mobile warfare. As we have seen, he had commanded army groups in the invasions of Poland, France, and the Soviet Union.7

Third Army knew that the

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