George S. Patton Diaries 1910-1945: Pancho Villa Expedition, World War I & II

George S. Patton Diaries 1910-1945: Pancho Villa Expedition, World War I & II

3,282 pages of George S. Patton Diaries dating from 1910, 1914, 1916-1919, 1932-1935 and 1942-1945. Handwritten diary entries and annotated typed transcriptions. The first entry was made on June 3, 1910, as the 25-year-old Patton begins his honeymoon in Plymouth, England. The last entry was made on December 4, 1945, four days before the car accident which took his life.

In-between, the diaries cover the activities of Patton during General John J. Pershing's Mexican Punitive Expedition, World War I, and World War II. The World War II era volumes cover Patton's daily activities and observations and reveal his candor about himself, personally and professionally. They include information about American ground combat operations in the campaign for North Africa, the invasion of Sicily, the liberation of France, and the final assault on Germany. Annotated volumes covering World War II often contain additional detail expanding on the original volume entries. The handwritten entry diaries are dated through March 24, 1945, while annotated transcripts continue to December 3. 1945. This collection includes typed transcripts of diary entries in which the most recent depository to hold these documents did not have the handwritten entries.

George Smith Patton Jr. (November 11, 1885 – December 21, 1945) was born to a wealthy family in San Gabriel, California.  It is believed that he had dyslexia and was privately tutored until the age of eleven. In 1909, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the cavalry branch of the United States Army. In 1912, he represented the United States at the Games of the V Olympiad held in Stockholm.  In the modern pentathlon he placed fifth in a field of Forty-two. In 1916, he was General John J. Pershing's aide-de-camp during the Pancho Villa Expedition (Punitive Expedition). During World War I he followed Pershing to Europe as his aide-de-camp, was the first member of American Tank Corps and attended French Tank School, and organized American Tank School, Langres, France. In 1918, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. During World War II he commanded the U.S. Seventh Army in the Mediterranean theater, later the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy.

On December 8, 1945, Patton was being driven to Speyer, Germany when the car he was riding in collided with an American army truck.  Patton struck  his head against a glass partition in the back of the car and broke his neck. At a hospital in Heidelberg, Germany, he died of  pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure on December 21, 1945. Patton was buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Luxembourg City. He was interred near soldiers from the Third Army,  fulfilling his wish that he, "be buried with [his] men"

Coverage includes:

1910

On May 26, 1910, one year after graduating from West Point, Patton married Beatrice Banning Ayer, the daughter of Boston industrialist Frederick Ayer. The 1910 diary contains entries made during their European honeymoon.

 
1916-1917 Pancho Villa Punitive Mexican Expedition

George Patton first saw combat during the 1916's Pancho Villa Punitive Expedition, now referred to as the Mexican Expedition. The Expedition was an unsuccessful military operation conducted by the United States Army against the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa from March 14, 1916, to February 7, 1917, during the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920. In March 1916, Mexican forces loyal to Pancho Villa crossed into New Mexico and raided the border town of Columbus. The violence in Columbus killed several Americans. In response, the U.S. launched the Expedition into Mexico. Patton was upset that his unit was not slated to participate. Patton wrote to the Expedition's  commander John J. Pershing about his desire to be part of the Expedition. Pershing made Patton his  personal aide for the expedition.


World War I

After the Villa Expedition, Patton was detailed to Front Royal, Virginia, to oversee horse procurement for the Army. After the United States entered World War I, and Pershing was named commander of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front, Patton requested to join his staff. Patton was promoted to captain on May 15, 1917. Working as Pershing's personal aide, Patton oversaw the training of American troops in Paris until September, then moved to Chaumont and was assigned as a post adjutant, commanding the headquarters company overseeing the base. Patton was dissatisfied with the post and began to take an interest in tanks, as Pershing sought to give him command of an infantry battalion. On November 10, 1917, Patton was assigned to establish the AEF Light Tank School.

In August 1918, Patton commanded American tanks at the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, leading the tanks from the front for much of their attack. He walked in front of the tanks into the German-held village of Essey, and rode on top of a tank during the attack into Pannes, seeking to inspire his men. Patton's brigade was then moved to support U.S. I Corps in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive on September 26.

 
1932-1935

The diaries from 1932 to 1935 are fox hunting diaries.

In 1932, while stationed at Fort Meyer near Washington, D. C., General Patton became MFH (Master of the Fox Hunt) of the Cobbler Hunt, hunting territory on and around Cobbler Mountain near Delaplane, Fauquier County, Virginia.

 
World War II

Patton led U.S. troops into the Mediterranean theater with an invasion of Casablanca during Operation Torch in 1942, and soon established himself as an effective commander by rapidly rehabilitating the demoralized U.S. II Corps.  He commanded the U.S. Seventh Army during the Allied invasion of Sicily, where he was the first Allied commander to reach Messina. There he was embroiled in controversy after he slapped two shell-shocked soldiers. He was temporarily removed from battlefield command.

He then was assigned a key role in Operation Fortitude, the Allies' diversion and deception campaign for Operation Overlord. At the start of the Western Allied invasion of France, Patton was given command of the Third Army, which conducted a rapid armored drive across France. Under his leadership, the Third Army took the lead in relieving beleaguered American troops at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, after which his forces drove deep into Nazi Germany by the end of the war.

During the Allied occupation of Germany, Patton was named military governor of Bavaria, but was relieved for making aggressive statements towards the Soviet Union and trivializing denazification. He commanded the United States Fifteenth Army for slightly more than two months. Severely injured in an auto accident, he died in Germany twelve days later, on December 21, 1945.


George S. Patton. annotated diary transcript. March 13,1916 regarding his appointment as General John J. Pershing's aide for the Mexican Expedition

 

George S. Patton, diary, June 22,1917, describing his first biplane flight piloted by William Mitchell

 

George S. Patton, annotated diary transcript, September 25, 1918, written while preparing his tank brigade for the Meuse-Argone offensive in World War I

 

George S. Patton, diary, March 13, 1943, during the North Africa campaign against German Field Marshal Rommel


 
George S. Patton, annotated diary transcript, July 22, 1943, capture of Palermo During the Allied invasion of Sicily



George S. Patton, diary, August 14, 1944, concerning Normandy breakout offensive during World War II


George S. Patton, annotated diary transcript, December 16-17, 1944. providing the first news of the Battle of the Bulge

 
George S. Patton, annotated diary transcript, May 6, 1945,  covering the last days of the war in Europe