The Last Days of Patton by Ladislas Farago

Author:Ladislas Farago
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Westholme Publishing

THE REPORTS from Garmisch-Partenkirchen reached General Adcock on September 9. He discussed them with Bedell Smith the same day. In turn, his chief of staff informed General Eisenhower that the Patton affair was coming to a head. A civilian aide in Adcock's office, Professor Walter Dorn, on leave from Ohio State University, then drafted a letter for Ike's signature, to remind Patton of the policies of the occupation which he was so apt to forget. This was no longer a relatively narrow issue, like the handling of DPs and the feeding of the Jews. This was a case of chronic insubordination. Patton was defying Ike, his commander, and in the process he was sabotaging the will of the government of the United States.

The letter stated in no uncertain terms: “As you know, I have announced a firm policy of uprooting the whole Nazi organization regardless of the fact that we may sometimes suffer from local administrative inefficiency. Reduced to its fundamentals, the United States entered this war as a foe of Nazism; victory is not complete until we have eliminated from positions of responsibility and, in appropriate cases, properly punished, every active adherent to the Nazi party.

“I know that certain field commanders have felt that some modifications to this policy should be made. That question has long since been decided. We will not compromise with Nazism in any way.

“I wish you would make sure that all your subordinate commanders realize that the discussional stage of this question is long past and any expressed opposition to the faithful execution of this order cannot be regarded leniently by me. I expect just as loyal service in execution of this and other policies applying to the German occupation as I received during the war.”

It was not the first such communication laying down the ground rules and spelling out the policies of the occupation. As recently as August 23, Patton had been reminded by Eisenhower that the “obliteration” of the Nazis was a must on their agenda. “Denazification,” Ike told him, “is a most delicate subject both here and at home.” And during a three-day conference of all the military governors, between August 24 and 27, General Adcock had reiterated the admonitions. “You are not here to govern,” he said. “Your job is to control. And denazification and demilitarization are the two items of top priority on our schedule.”

Patton had been fidgety and flippant at that conference. He had told anyone willing to hear him out that “Germany was so completely blacked out that so far as military resistance was concerned they were not a menace” and that “what we had to look out for was war with Russia.” He had likened what the Americans were doing in Germany to the methods of the Gestapo, sounding an ominous note of interference in domestic politics. “If any newspaper opposed to the Democrats,” he said at the conference, “should get hold of the stuff that is being put out by those in charge of the military

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