Details
PATTON, George S. Jr., Major General, U.S. Army. Typed letter signed ("G S Patton Jr.") as Commander, Third U.S. Army, to Lt. Col. Charles R. Codman (Patton's former aide-de-camp) in Boston, Headquarters, 3rd U.S. Army [in southern Germany], 25 September 1945. 1 full page, 4to, on Patton's 3rd Army stationery.
"I AM AGAIN AT ONE OF THOSE CRITICAL PERIODS WHERE I MAY BE SENT HOME AGAIN IN A HURRY AT ANY MOMENT"
A letter written immediately after a furor had erupted in the wake of Patton's 22 September press conference in which he was critical of Eisenhower's policy of de-Nazification of the German civil service; he himself had compared the National Socialist Party to the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. Here, to his former aide, Patton inquires about his war diaries: "We have here typed diaries covering from 9 July 1943 to 18 May 1945 [just after the German surrender] when I stopped writing. Is the rest of the diary contained in a black book or are there some portions of the Tunisian operations ["Torch"] in a typed diary? Please let me know but do not send any typed diaries until I hear from you further since I am again at one of those critical periods when I may be sent home in a hurry at any moment. You certainly aren't missing anything much by not being here. '
Two days later, Eisenhower removed Patton from command of his beloved Third Army and assigned him to the Fifteenth Army, largely a paper force. It would be Patton's last command.
"I AM AGAIN AT ONE OF THOSE CRITICAL PERIODS WHERE I MAY BE SENT HOME AGAIN IN A HURRY AT ANY MOMENT"
A letter written immediately after a furor had erupted in the wake of Patton's 22 September press conference in which he was critical of Eisenhower's policy of de-Nazification of the German civil service; he himself had compared the National Socialist Party to the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. Here, to his former aide, Patton inquires about his war diaries: "We have here typed diaries covering from 9 July 1943 to 18 May 1945 [just after the German surrender] when I stopped writing. Is the rest of the diary contained in a black book or are there some portions of the Tunisian operations ["Torch"] in a typed diary? Please let me know but do not send any typed diaries until I hear from you further since I am again at one of those critical periods when I may be sent home in a hurry at any moment. You certainly aren't missing anything much by not being here. '
Two days later, Eisenhower removed Patton from command of his beloved Third Army and assigned him to the Fifteenth Army, largely a paper force. It would be Patton's last command.