"Patton's Cavalry Commander?" Topic

Anyone know the name of the commander of Third Army's recon/Cav unit? The guy was really aggressive and Patton would just unleash him and then make the rest of his forces catch up. I cannot think of his name…I believe there is a book about him. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks

Cavalry units were organic to Divisions, not to Armies. And with respect, that description (a Cav unit lead the way and everyone else tried to keep up) just doesn't match the realities of WW2 warfare.

Well that's funny bro cause I was friends with a guy who was in Patton's HQ throughout the entire war who told me about the Cav/Recon commander, Patton's favorite, who he would send out in advance. He would even use this unit as an excuse not to stop the Third Army when Eisenhower would try to restrain him. "Out of contact with forward elements, cannot halt" I guess my pal, who stood next to Patton at the war map just made that up…and btw there is a book about cav cmdr and the unit, I just cannot remember the title. Thanks for the put down and the "reality check". Nice. I love when you ask for help on this site and people who know absotlutely nothing about the topic chime in with negative comments.

Actually, that's perfect description of blitzkrieg, (only the cav units were replaced with mechanized units ie, tanks) which Patton turned back on the Germans. With the US in late '44 and '45, the cav/recon units were often way ahead of their parent organizations, because resistance had become that splintered in many parts of the front.

Don't know the unit's name but there was a group with the nickname "Patton's Household Cavalry." Off to google I go…

Is this what you are after?

link

Thanks Sundance and Zoneofcontrol for your assistance.

From wiki – link

Quoted from Ladislas Farago: "Patton: Ordeal and Triumph", Dell Publishing, 1965. Refering to the 6th Cavalry Regt.

As "Patton's Household Cavalry", the regiment was tasked with observing the advances of the Third Army's troops, reporting its observations directly back to Third Army headquarters, improving General Patton's situational awareness – very much like the British GHQ Liaison Regiment did.[11]

6th Mechanized Cavalry Group was commanded by Fickett.

FWIW, MCGs were supposed to be Corps elements, but when Third Army was forming, Patton specifically had 6th MCG made an Army level asset.
PDF link

ZOC, That sure sounds like it, I remember reading that quote in the book review. But nothing turned up when I searched for the book….the book was specifically about that unit.

Thanks enfant perdus…that looks like a really good article/thesis. Thanks for verifying the 6th MCG's role. My friend told me some really cool stories about the battles between Patton and Eisenhower over supplies and operational plans and how Patton would constantly use the 6th MCG as his excuse for not stopping his advance and for trying to score more fuel. He told me Patton would routinely report the 6th 15-20 miles ahead of where they actually were in order to trick Eisenhower, lol. My friend was Patton's map plotter and knew the actual locations of all units. He said Patton would often wink at him when he would send the message to Eisenhower about the 6th's location. I just thought that was really cool to get a real personal insight on such a famous general.

There is an alleged quote of an order to his Cavalry Group. Something to the effect of "Drive down that road until you get shot." I remember reading about orders to stick radios into almost every vehicle so as to be used to relay info.

Jason, that sounds very similar to accounts of his favorite battle strategy. He would send recon units in, then small patrols, larger patrols and eventually the whole army through the gaps around major strongpoints. It made life hell for the Red Ball Express but it chopped the German concentrations to ribbons in the drive for the Seine and the German border.

Well that's funny bro cause I was friends with a guy who was in Patton's HQ throughout the entire war who told me about the Cav/Recon commander, Patton's favorite, who he would send out in advance. He would even use this unit as an excuse not to stop the Third Army when Eisenhower would try to restrain him. "Out of contact with forward elements, cannot halt" I guess my pal, who stood next to Patton at the war map just made that up…and btw there is a book about cav cmdr and the unit, I just cannot remember the title. Thanks for the put down and the "reality check". Nice. I love when you ask for help on this site and people who know absotlutely nothing about the topic chime in with negative comments.

Exactly when did I "put you down, and when did I call your friend a liar? As a matter of fact I didn't even know about your friend when I first responded.

I don't have friends who stood by Patton's side, the closest I come is that I met Hobart Gay once and also Omar Bradley before their deaths. My only close personal contact with the war was my Father, now deceased who fought in NWE. His unit landed around D+20, he fought in Normandy, across France, Holland, the Bulge at Remagen and the encirclement of the Ruhr. He received the Bronze Star for valor, caught a Purple Heart at Metz. His unit served in all three US Armies in NWE. Along the way the engaged and destroyed some German tanks, Panthers. Now I know what everyone is saying right now, "everyone thought that any German tanks was a Panther or a Tiger. Except that my Dad (and now my brother has them) photos of the Panther "G"s that they destroyed. Now why am I telling you this "bro"? As my Dad always said he was just a small part of a small unit in a big army in a bigger war. but he taught me to beware any book or Documentary that says that this man or that unit won the war. It took a lot of people. And while many here love Patton (and I admire him), there were two other Armies in Northern France and another in Southern who all played their part.

BTW I think that Patton would have found the idea that Ike couldn't stop him or hold up supplies especially gas because he was advancing to be pretty ironic considering how often Eisenhower did exactly that. BTW, I find it interesting that when Patton decided to pull off the Hammelburg Raid he didn't choose his cavalry outfit, he chose a task force from the 4th Armored.

I also always note that, when asked what branch of the ground forces contributed the most to victory in Europe Patton did not choose the Cavalry, nor did he choose the Infantry or Armor. Patton chose the artillery. So yeah "bro", I know absolutely nothing about anything.

My Dad in Germany

link

Ummm, OK BRO.
1. I simply asked what the name of the Cav commander was- you said "That description just doesn't match the realities of WW2 warfare"- read about the 6th MCG -obviously you are wrong
2. My friend, who was WITH Patton for 4 years told me what Patton would do and report regarding his forward elements- but somehow you know better and somehow know what Patton was thinking about every little detail while running the Third Army. OK BRO, have a nice day

Great news.

I know that this has been a troublesome period, but hopefully things are now looking up.

Good luck.

Tony

Attention humans…

the above post starting with "Great news…" is not my posting. Martians or Zombies have taken over the internet and have hacked into TMP. The bug has struck again!

jowady, while US Divisions had Mech Cav troops as recon elements, Mech Cav squadrons (often formed into groups of two or three), were Corps/Army assets. Take a look at Shelby Stanton's book WW2 Order of Battle for details.