Patton’s Car Accident – Investigation Findings, December 13, 1945

13 DECEMBER 1945 Public Affairs, Seventh Army, sends message detailing accident report —Patton’s Driver noticed no signal from truck driver of his intention to turn—His condition progressing satisfactorily. * * * * FROM CONKLIN ACTING PRO SEVENTH ARMY TO INFORMATION ROOM PRD USFET FOR TRIBBLE STOP ONE COPY TO AFN FRANKFURT STOP AS GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON’S CONDITION […]

George S. Patton War Diary entry for September 13, 1918

DATE: September 13, 1918 ORGANIZATION: 344th Battalion FROM: Nonsard HOUR: 3:00 p.m. TO: Vigneulles HOUR: 12:00 m.n. ORGANIZATION: 345th Battalion FROM: Beney TO: Bois de Beney 358.1-243.0 AVAILABLE FOR ALL DUTY: 46 Officers and 643 Men WEATHER: Rain a.m. Clear p.m. ROADS: Poor HEALTH: Good CAMP: Fair LOSSES: [1 or 0 – digit unclear] Officers […]

The sorry tale of Lord French’s CYA book, “1914.”

J. W. Fortescue, “Lord French’s ‘1914,’” Vol. 232, Quarterly Review (London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1919), pp. 352-363. In this article Fortescue explains why, “this to be one of the most unfortunate books that ever was written.” No man, it has been well said, was ever written down except by himself; and we wish that Lord French had […]

Reading List for World War I (The Great War)

Abbott, Willis J. The United States in the Great War. New York: Leslie-Judge Co., 1919. Allison, J. Murray. Raemaekers’ Cartoon History of the War. New York: The Century Co., 1918. Blumenson, Martin. Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885-1945. New York: Quill – William Morrow, 1985. __________. The Patton Papers 1885-1940. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, […]

1914 – British Expeditionary Forces Organization

Excerpt from 1914 by John French, Viscount of Ypres, first Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Forces. ebook version here http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24538/24538-h/24538-h.htm […] THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE I have thought fit to interrupt my narrative here to devote some pages to the composition of the original Expeditionary Force. The First Expeditionary Force consisted of the First Army Corps (1st and […]

German Occupation of Poland 1939-1945

[…] Collective Murders and Killings This principle, discarded by the civilised nations, is contrary to the conception of human justice and right, and certainly to Article 50 of the Hague Regulations. The massacres carried out by the Reich in the name of this principle have taken place not only when the act of repression was […]

September 12, 1939 – Warsaw, Poland

Excerpt from Marta Korwin, In Spite of Everything (Kilmarnock: Dunlop & Drennan, 1942). See also updated book by Marta Korwin Rhodes, “The Mask of Warriors: The Siege of Warsaw September 1939 (New York: Libra Publishers, 1964). […] 12th September – Tuesday All the morning I work in the office. The hospital is functioning very well, but […]

George S. Patton, Jr. on the birth of the specialist

Excerpt by George S. Patton, Jr. on the effects of the Great War on the military, republished in Cavalry and Tanks in Future Wars (Silver Spring: Dale Street books, 2017). […] Another feature resulting from the [Great] war, and which also has left its mark, is the evolution of the specialist. His birth is the result […]

Satirical Look at Officer Incompetence and Lessons Learned in the Great War

Excerpt from “Battle of Booby’s Bluffs,” a satire on officer incompetence and lessons learned in the Great War. Written in the style of Defence of Duffer’s Drift, it was originally published in installments in the Infantry Journal, (May through October) 1921 and republished by Dale Street Books in 2017. […] At 4:25 Lieutenant Swift called the battalion to attention, […]