40 Insights into the Lives of Famous War Veterans

40 Insights into the Lives of Famous War Veterans

Khalid Elhassan - July 13, 2019

40 Insights into the Lives of Famous War Veterans
George Patton. Wikimedia

36. George Patton had a scandal worse than slapping soldiers

General George S. Patton’s best known controversy occurred during the Sicilian Campaign, when he accused a PTSD-suffering soldier in a hospital of cowardice, slapped him around, and threatened to shoot him. Then did it again a few days later in another hospital. When the scandal broke, it nearly got Patton cashiered. However, had a worse, but lesser known scandal, in which he got dozens of GIs killed for personal reasons. It happened in late March, 1945, when Patton ordered Task Force Baum, comprised of 314 men, 16 tanks, and dozens of other vehicles, to penetrate 50 miles behind German lines and liberate a POW camp, which housed Patton’s son in law.

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