"General Patton in Louisiana 1941" Topic

"During the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941 there were many officers who had careers that began to shine. One of these officers was General George S. Patton Jr. George Patton was born November 11, 1885 in California to a very privileged family. The military was part of his ancestry. His paternal grandfather, George Smith Patton was the commander of the 22nd Virginia Infantry in the Confederate Army and was killed in action at the third Battle of Winchester, and his great uncle Waller T. Patton was killed in Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Patton first attended Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and later went to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he graduated in the Class of 1909. After graduation he participated in the 1912 Olympics and in 1916 he was part of the U.S. Army Expedition chasing Pancho Villa into Mexico. During World War I Patton trained and led the very first American tank units in France, where he was wounded in action. Between World War I and World War II Patton worked hard in developing armored warfare doctrine and tactics and armored vehicles. By the time of the Louisiana Maneuvers in 1941 he had reached the rank of Major General and was in command of the 2nd Armored Division. And when he left Louisiana he left many memories and stories with the local folks that began his legend …"

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Armand

Article written at the Six Million Dollar Man University.

They discovered that Patton had become better, stronger, faster.

Mike

My father was in the Maneuves and noticed the air corp guys got to sit around alot adidnt have to march into combat. He signed up for fight training and end up a Navigator in B24 in italy.

I seem to recall a story about Patton and those maneuvers. He got into quite an argument with an umpire concerning the effectiveness of a 37mm at gun vs. one of his tanks. Just like some wargamers have been known to do.

Thanks

Armand