the Germans for their eventual fall.After his conquest in Italy, General Patton moved to England to help prepare the Allies for one of the most important battles of the 20th Century. “A mighty endeavor to preserve...our civilization and to set free a suffering humanity”.8, is what President Roosevelt felt about D-Day. D-Day was the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944. The Battle of Normandy proves undoubtedly that the other Allied commanders knew Patton was the most feared Allied General by the Germans. 4Patton held a diverse role during the invasion. He was placed in England, across from the English Channel where Hitler expected the landing to take place. The actual place of the invasion was further north. The German command built their defenses on the position of Patton in England. This tied up many German Army units that would have been used in the defense of the Normandy beaches, the site of the actual landing. After the successful landing of the Allied invasion forces, Patton was flown in and given command of the Third Army. In the initial speech to his new Third Army troops he stated, “The harder they pushed the Germans and the more of them they killed, the fewer the American casualties.”9 Controversial throughout the war for his personal flamboyance, outspokenness, uncompromising standards, and aggressive combat strategy, Patton played a key role in the spearhead of the Allied armored thrust to Germany after D-Day. In the summer of 1944 the Third Army broke through the German defenses in the Normandy campaign and advanced rapidly across France. Patton’s success in France was due to his true genius in his ability to move men and machines quickly on the battlefield. Hitler, in a last futile attempt at victory in the west, had his army attack the Allies near and through the Ardennes forest. This became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Paul Harkins, a respected historian, ...
