Patton
General Gerow remained in command of Fifteenth Army until he was succeeded by General George S. Patton in October 1945. Gen. Patton was appointed Commander, Fifteenth United States Army, and President of the European Theater General Board on 14 October 1945. This appointment was a transfer from Third United States Army; a move which has been characterized as Patton being "kicked upstairs." In actuality the move took away much of the power Patton had in Bavaria in post-War Germany while attempting to maintain some respect for his accomplishments in the war. By this point the Fifteenth was a small organization concerned with documentation of tactical lessons to be learned from the war. Patton was unhappy with the transfer from Third Army but actually told friends the transfer was in line with what was his favorite mental occupation since he was seven years old: the study of war.
Coincidentally, John Eisenhower, son of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, had only recently (September, 1945) been assigned to Fifteenth U.S. Army. In his book General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence he writes that one day in October 1945 'Ike' told him I had to fire George Patton today. John Eisenhower then served under Patton for a short time.
Continuing as commander of Fifteenth U.S. Army, in November 1945 Patton replaced Gen. Eisenhower as commander of U.S. Forces in Europe. He was very conflicted during this time, and even considered resigning from the Army (instead of retiring, which would leave him still subject to Army regulations). Saying that a hunting trip might be a good outing to take his mind off his present difficulties, he set out by car to go pheasant hunting. On the way Gen. Patton's limousine was involved in a collision and he died later from his injuries, on 21 December 1945.
Major General Hobart R. Gay became commander of the Fifteenth Army in January 1946. Gay had been Chief of Staff of Third U.S. Army from February 1944 to October 1945, and then Chief of Staff of Fifteenth Army. He remained commander of Fifteenth Army for only about a month, becoming commander of the 1st Armored Division in February 1946.
The Headquarters at Bad Nauheim, Germany was inactivated 31 January 1946.
Read more about this topic: Fifteenth United States Army
Famous quotes containing the word patton:
“A mechanism of some kind stands between us and almost every act of our lives.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 3, ch. 2 (1962)
“... as a result of generations of betrayal, it’s nearly impossible for Southern Negroes to trust a Southern white. No matter what he does or what he suffers, a white liberal is never established beyond suspicion in the hearts of the minority.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 2, ch. 10 (1962)
“An accent mark, perhaps, instead of a whole western accent—a point of punctuation rather than a uniform twang. That is how it should be worn: as a quiet point of character reference, an apt phrase of sartorial allusion—macho, sotto voce.”
—Phil Patton (b. 1953)