Von Rom -> RE: Who was better: Patton or Rommel (8/6/2004 9:08:26 AM)
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Also, I did a bit more research about Patton's death. And this is what I found out: 1) We all know how Patton died - the car he was driving in was struck by a truck. Of all the passengers in the car ONLY Patton was seriously injured. He died a few days later of his injuries. 2) Previous to this car accident (and depicted in the movie "Patton"), a heavy oxcart somehow broke free, rolled down a side street, and narrowly missed striking and killing Patton by inches. 3) Previous to this oxcart incident, Patton wrote in his Diary, April 11, 1945: "There is a persistent rumor of a German attempt to murder somebody, possibly myself, by a small glider-borne operation. Everybody but Willie and me is nervous about this. However, I do take my carbine to my truck at night now" (Martin Blumenson & George S. Patton, The Patton Papers 1940-1945; Da Capo Press; (October 1, 1996); pp.682-3). 4) A few days later Patton wrote in his Diary, April 20, 1945: "We flew from there to the Headquarters of the III Corps [in an L-5 cub]. . . Just before we got there, a plane which looked like a Spitfire made three passes at us, but was unsuccessful. On the third pass, it flew so close to the ground that it could not pull out and crashed. The plane in this group had RAF markings on them, and I believe they were probably a Polish unit flying for the RAF. Why they were out of their area, I don't know" (Martin Blumenson & George S. Patton, The Patton Papers 1940-1945; Da Capo Press; (October 1, 1996); p.691). 5) Martin Blumenson, a well respected historian and the author of more than a dozen books, expands on this Spitfire attack: "From there, he [Patton] was proceeding to the III Corps headquarters [in a small plane] when a British Spitfire with markings indicating it was being flown by a Polish pilot inexplicably made THREE passes at Patton's small plane, firing its machine guns. Patton's pilot, taking evasive action, descended close to the ground. The Spitfire, pursuing, was unable to pull out of its dive and crashed, killing the pilot. The event was disturbing. Was someone trying to assassinate Patton?" (Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, pp.265-266). 6) Look at the date of this Spitfire attack on Patton. The date is April 20. This is the date of Hitler's birthday. But this does not necessarily mean the pilot flying the plane was German. 7) On July 4, 1945, Patton knew he was going to die: "When Beatrice was out of the room, Patton said to his daughters,'Well, goodbye girls. I won't be seeing you again. Take care of George. I'll be seeing your mother, but I won't be seeing you.' "One of them said that he was being silly; the war was over. "'No,' he said. 'I mean it. I have a feeling that my luck has run out at last.' "A man, he said, was born with a certain amount of luck [and]. . . . His own reservoir was going dry. The last few shells that had struck near him in the final months of the war seemed to land closer to him. He had narrowly escaped death twice - when a Polish pilot flying an RAF plane had. . . tried to kill him, and when his automobile barely missed a long pole in a German oxcart. He was sure that the end of his life was fast approaching" (Martin Blumenson & George S. Patton, The Patton Papers 1940-1945; Da Capo Press; (October 1, 1996); p.723). 8) In 1978, a political thriller, called Brass Target, starring George Kennedy and Sophia Loren was released in theatres. It was a fictionalised account of the mysterious death of US war hero General Patton. The central story revolved around an assassination attempt on General Patton.
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