Description:

(1885 - 1945) "Old Blood and Guts" was one of the finest tank commanders in history, rolling his forces through Tunesia, Sicily, France and Germany until halted at the Rhine. Fine content and association war-date T.L.S. as commander of the Third Army, 1p. 4to., [n.p.], Sep. 10, 1945 to CLARENCE R. HUEBNER (1888-1972), American major general who commanded the 1st Infantry Division in its assault on Omaha Beach, in the drive across France, at the Hurtgen Forest and in the battle of Aachen. Patton, commanding the 15th Army and dealing with occupation duties in Bavaria, writes to his old friend "Hueb", then Deputy Chief of Staff, US. European Command. In part: “…I guess there is nothing much left for you and me except to sit around and tell the people in the next war, 'I told you so.' I have always felt that you over-stressed what I did for you in giving you the 1st Division. You were a natural for a division and the 1st became vacant. The fact that you led it so magnificently was your doing and not mine. I think that the war Department has completely muffed it in not letting the officers know what is going to happen to them. I sometimes think that the only people who are worth a damn in the United States Army are the fighters..." Fine. The Japanese formal surrender had taken place only a week earlier, and Patton sadly recorded in his diary: "Yet another war has come to an end, and with it my usefulness to the world." Within three months, he would be dead as a result of an automobile accident. His "I told you so" reference clearly was an allusion to his hope that the Allies would pursue and defeat the Russians in a continuation of the war post-1945.

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November 19, 2019 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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