Patton's speech to the Third Army was a series of speeches given by General George S. Patton to the United States Army of the Third Army in 1944, before the Allied invasion of France. The speech was intended to motivate the inexperienced Third Army for its delayed combat duties. In his speech, Patton urges his soldiers to do their work regardless of personal fears, and he urges them to be aggressive and ongoing offensive actions. Patton's dirty words were considered unprofessional by some other officers, but the speech echoed well with his men. Some historians have declared oration as one of the greatest motivational speech of all time.
The short and less profane version of the speech became an icon thanks to the 1970 movie Patton , where it was performed by actor George C. Scott while standing in front of a very large American flag. The show was instrumental in bringing Patton into popular culture and turning him into a folk hero.
Video George S. Patton's speech to the Third Army
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In June 1944, Lieutenant General George S. Patton was given the command of the US Third Army, a field troop who had just arrived in England and was made up mostly of inexperienced troops. Patton's job was to train the Third Army to prepare him for the coming Allied invasion of France, where he would join the Cobra Operation to Brittany seven weeks after Operation Overlord The amphibious invasion Normandy.
In 1944, Patton had been established as a very effective and successful leader, noting his ability to inspire his people with charismatic speeches, which he conveyed from memory due to lifelong difficulties by reading. Patton deliberately instilled a striking and striking image in the belief that this would inspire his troops. He carries the trademark ivory, Smith & amp; Wesson Model 27357 Magnum. He is usually seen wearing very fine helmets, trousers, and high cavalry boots. His jeep made large plaques in front and rear, as well as a horn that loudly announced his approach from afar. Patton was an effective combat commander, after rehabilitating the US Corps II during the North African Campaign and then leading the Seventh American Army through Sicilian Invasion during 1943, sometimes personally appearing to his troops amid the battle in the hope of inspiring them. Patton's troops had defeated Britain's Bernard Law Montgomery general to Messina, which made him famous, despite the famous "slap incident" stopping his career for several months thereafter.
At the time of his speech, Patton sought to keep a low profile in the press, as he had been ordered by General Dwight Eisenhower. Patton was made a central figure in an elaborate ghost trick scheme, and Germany believed he was in Dover preparing (fictitious) the First United States Army Group for the Pas de Calais invasion. On every occasion, he will wear his polished helmet, full uniform, and sparkling boots, and bring the equestrian to gain effect. Patton often keeps his face in the pouting he calls "his war face". He will arrive at Mercedes and deliver his comments on an elevated stage surrounded by a very large audience that sits around the platform and in the surrounding hills. Each address is sent to a large army of 15,000 or more.
Maps George S. Patton's speech to the Third Army
Speech
Patton began delivering a speech to his troops in Britain in February 1944. The extent of a particular speech that became famous was unclear, with different sources saying it had taken this form in March, or around early May, or at the end of May. The number of speeches given was also unclear, with one source saying four to six, and others suggesting that every unit in the Third Army heard an example. The most famous and famous speech occurred on June 5, 1944, the day before D-Day. Though he did not know the exact date for the beginning of the European invasion (because the Third Army was not part of the early landing troops), Patton used speech as a motivational tool to raise the spirits of men under his command and prevent them from losing his courage. Patton delivered a speech without a note, and therefore basically the same on every occasion, the order of several parts varied. An important difference occurred in a speech he delivered on May 31, 1944, when speaking of the US 6th Armored Division, when he began with a statement that would later become one of the most famous:
No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making other stupid fools die for his country.
Patton's words were then written by a number of troops who witnessed his statement, and therefore a number of iterations existed with different words. Historian Terry Brighton built a full speech from a number of soldiers who recounted speeches in their memoirs, including Gilbert R. Cook, Hobart R. Gay, and a number of other junior soldiers. Patton wrote only briefly about his oration in his diary, noting, "as in all my lectures, I emphasize combat and murder." His speech then became so popular that it was simply called "Patton's speech" or "Speech" when referring to the general.
Patton's troops received a good speech. The strong reputation of the general raised the excitement among his men, and they listened intently, in absolute silence, as he spoke. The majority indicated they enjoyed Patton's speaking style. As an officer said about the end of the speech, "Men instinctively feel the facts and signs that they themselves will play in the history of the world because of it, because they are told a lot nowadays.Sincere sincerity and seriousness are behind it, and people know it too, but they love the way he puts it because only he can do it. "Patton gave a humorous tone to the speech, for he deliberately tried to make his men laugh with the colorful delivery. Observers later noted the troops seem to find the speeches very funny. In particular, the use of lewd humor by Patton is well received by enlisted men, since it is "the language of the barracks".
The famous minority of the Patton officers was not impressed or displeased with the dirty words of their commanders, seeing it as unprofessional behavior for a military officer. Among some officers who later recounted the speech, nonsense will be replaced by nonsense and damn by fornicating . At least one account is replaced "We will hold the enemy with the ball" with "We will hold the enemy with the nose." Among the critics Patton frequently used about cultivation was General Omar Bradley, Patton's former subordinate. It is well known that the two men are the opposite in personality, and there is ample evidence that Bradley did not like Patton either personally or professionally. In response to the criticism of his abusive language, Patton wrote to a family member, "When I want my people to remember something important, to really make it last, I give it to them twice as dirty. This may not sound good to a group of people old ladies, at tea parties in the afternoons, but it helps my soldiers to remember.You can not run an army indecently, and it should be profanely eloquent.An indecent soldier can not fight the way out of a pee bag of wheeled paper. "
Under Patton, the Third Army landed in Normandy during July 1944 and will continue to play an integral role in the final months of the war in Europe, closing Falaise Pocket in mid-August, and playing a key role in defusing the siege of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December, an achievement that is considered one of the most outstanding achievements in the war. The rapid offensive action and pace that Patton called in the speech became an act that brought widespread recognition of the Third Army in the campaign.
Historians praised the speech as one of Patton's best works. Author Terry Brighton calls it "the greatest motivational speech of the war and probably over time, surpassing (in his zeal of increasing effect if not as literature) Shakespeare's words gave King Henry V at Agincourt." Alan Axelrod argues that it is the most famous quotation of the most famous.
The speech became a popular cultural icon after the 1970 film Patton , which was about the exploits of the war's generals. The opening of the film sees actor George C. Scott, as Patton, delivering a speech version before the enormous American flag. It started with Patton's version "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country..." quote. Scott's repetition eliminates most of the speeches associated with Patton's anecdotes about Sicily and Libya, as well as his comments on the importance of each soldier in the war effort. In contrast to Patton's humorous approach, Scott delivered the speech in a very serious, low and crude tone. However, Scott's portrayal of Patton in this scene is an iconic representation of the Generals who produced the Scott Academy Award for Best Actor, and was instrumental in bringing Patton into popular culture as a folk hero.
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Source of the article : Wikipedia