Patton Medicine

George Patton's addresses to his troops are among the most famous oratory of World War II, but they are rarely given in detail, and they often exist in forms that vary widely. Paucity of recording devices and military censorship account for that. But here is an extensive excerpt from one Pattonm speech, printed in "American Heritage," that purports to be "verbatim." It was written down several hours after Patton gave it (to the 65th Infantry Division, 3rd Army, which was about to attack the Siegfried Line in the early months of 1945) by John J. Pullen, who "had been a newspaper reporter in the days when there were no portable tape recorders. Everything had to be written down on the folded sheets of copy paper we carried in our pockets."

Here is part of what he says Patton said. Many comments might be made on this, on war now and then, but I'll let you find your own:

“You will be afraid. But you must attack—quickly and decisively. Forget about foxholes. Forget about hitting the ground. You must shoot at the German and keep on shooting. If you don’t know where he is, shoot at where you think he is… . But if you go out there holding your gun in one hand and getting up and lying down and wandering around, then I will have to write letters to your wives and mothers and sweethearts saying that Willie Jones got his goddamn ass shot off because he didn’t do as he was told.

“Here’s the way it works. The soldier goes out, and pretty soon one of those guys’ guns goes g-r-r-p, and the soldier lies down. That’s just what the German wants him to do. He has mortars zeroed in on that point. So down come the mortars, and the soldier gets blown to hell .... But if you shoot and keep shooting, the German keeps his head down, and your chances of survival are 90 percent better.

“The rifle is the deadliest goddamn weapon in the world, and the German is scared to death of it. So use it .... If you will resolve to fire 100 rounds every time you go into battle, you will live forever .... A rifle or a machine gun that does not fire is of about as much use as a pecker to the pope.

“You will be afraid. Any man who says he is not afraid in battle is either a fool or a liar, but there is a difference in being afraid and being a coward. You must have a desperate determination to close with the enemy. Because when you do, he has a desperate determination to get the hell out of there .... Don’t wait until you see the whites of his eyes. The sons of bitches’ eyes are yellow.

[Here the listeners roared with laughter, and General Patton’s normally scowling face changed into a slow, catlike grin.]

“Friend of mine, General Scott, a little fellow about so high [here the general held his hand out level with his lower rib], once said to me, ‘I would be willing to get into the ring with Joe Louis if the son of a bitch would promise to defend himself.’ It was his way of saying that defending yourself is the surest way in the world to get yourself killed. You must always attack, attack, attack.

“If a German tries to surrender, make him come to you. We’ve had a number of men lost because some German came out with his hands up and our soldiers said, ‘Goody, goody. There’s one. Let’s go get him.’ And when they ran out, they were mowed down by machine guns.

“A while ago there was a truckload of German prisoners brought by where I was standing. They had been searched, but one of them pulled out a pistol from somewhere—I don’t know where, he must have had it stuck up his ass—and he shot one of my captains. Some guns around there went off by mistake and, do you know, every one of the Germans in that truck was killed.

“Now I do not advocate standing Germans up against the wall and shooting them. We are a superior race, and that is not a sporting thing to do. So shoot the sons of bitches before you get them to the wall.