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Target: Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton

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BOOK REVIEW: 'Target: Patton' Explores the Suspicious Car Crash That Led to Controversial General's Death

By David M. Kinchen


On Sunday, Dec. 9, 1945, a day before he was to return to the U.S., Gen. George S. Patton Jr., the highest ranking American general in occupied Germany, went on his last hunting trip. On the way to hunt birds with another American general, Patton's 1938 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine plowed into an army truck that had suddenly turned in front of them.

Robert K. Wilcox explores the accident and the widely held theory that the controversial general was assassinated in "Target: Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton" (Regnery, 444 pages, $27.95).

It's a thoroughly researched book that raises many questions about a general that many people are familiar with through the 1970 multiple Oscar-winning movie "Patton" starring George C. Scott as "Old Blood and Guts."

"Patton" the film was based in part by a book by Ladislas Farago, Wilcox tells us, one of the many writers who delved into the accident which left Patton with a broken neck and partial paralysis, although no one else in the big Caddy received more than a few scratches and bruises.

What was the driver of the 2 1/2-ton GMC Army truck, Specialist Robert L. Thompson, doing out on a Sunday morning and what happened to the two men who were in the truck's cab with him -- in violation of a regulation that limited the cab to a driver and a passenger?

Among the issues Wilcox raises are:

* What happened to the five known accident reports on the Dec. 9, 1945 crash involving a four-star general? The reports are nowhere to be found.

* Patton was making a remarkable recovery in a German hospital when he suddenly had a relapse and died on Dec. 21, 1945. The death certificate lists "pulmonary edema & congestive heart failure" as the cause of death. Why was there no autopsy?

* Patton's life had been threatened earlier in several odd incidents, including a fender bender and a road incident with a farmer's cart. Patton had been warned that he was on a hit list and he told his family that he didn't expect to leave Europe alive.

* What happened to the Cadillac that Patton was riding in? The car in the Patton Museum at Fort Knox, Kentucky, is a 1939 export model that is made to look like the '38 Caddy that Patton used, according to a Cadillac expert Wilcox employed to examine the museum car. The museum car has a "Body by Fisher" emblem -- but the Series 75 car Patton used was built by Fleetwood.

* Why was Patton the only one injured in the crash? The driver of the Cadillac, Horace L. "Woody" Woodring, wasn't injured in those pre-seat belt, air bag days, nor was Gen. Hobart Gay, Patton's hunting companion.

* Why was truck driver Thompson spirited out of Germany?

Patton was 60 when he died, five years older than the Supreme Commander in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and -- in Wilcox's opinion, a far more experienced and talented leader. Unlike Eisenhower, he had been in combat in World War I and was the logical leader in the European theater since he was far and away the best general and the one most feared by the Germans, Wilcox writes.

But, as any viewer of the excellent film knows, Patton was a controversial leader, a loose cannon who pretty much said what he was thinking. He hated the Russians, the allies of the Americans, British, Canadians, Australians and free French armies, calling them the "degenerate spawn of Genghis Khan." He even suggested using SS troops to fight the Russians and was widely believed to be an anti-Semite, despite the fact that his intelligence chief, Col. Oscar Koch, was Jewish, as was his authorized biographer, Martin Blumenson.

Wilcox explores the relationship of Patton with his commanding officers, Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman, Gen. George C. Marshall, the commanding general of the U.S. Army and William "Wild Bill" Donovan, head of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency.

One of the theories Wilcox examines is singles out Donovan, a friend of FDR and an advocate of friendship with the Russians, as the one who ordered an assassination of Patton before he left Germany.

Patton had telegraphed his plans to resign from the Army, rather than retire -- he was independently wealthy -- allowing him to speak freely about the war and the mistakes he believed Eisenhower, Omar Bradley and other generals had made, Wilcox writes.

Despite the controversial soldier slapping incidents that many writers -- including Wilcox -- have said were blown out of proportion by reporters, Patton was extremely popular back in the States. His brilliant moves with the Third Army to resolve the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944--January 1945 had been well publicized and his drive across Germany had also been praised by many.

Wilcox is a harsh critic of Eisenhower, blaming him for allowing the Germans to put the Ardennes Offensive -- the Battle of the Bulge -- into play. He also faults Eisenhower's reliance on British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, not a friend of Patton's, and the man whose failure to secure the port of Antwerp, Belgium is cited by Wilcox as one of the reasons for the failure of Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne effort in military history, which was dramatized in the 1977 film "A Bridge Too Far."

A central figure in the book is Douglas Bazata, an OSS operative who specialized in "wet work", who said he had been asked by Donovan to assassinate Patton. Bazata said he didn't do the deed, saying the "accident" in Bad Nauheim near Germany's Black Forest had been staged by an acquaintance whom he did not or would not name. Since Patton didn't die in the crash, Bazata said the death of the general was caused by a "refined form of cyanide that can cause embolisms, heart failure and things like that."

Bazata himself is worthy of a movie with his background of decorated war hero, artist, and mercenary who said he was ordered by U.S. intelligence to assassinate Patton.

Wilcox says that Patton could have been killed by the Soviet equivalent of the OSS, the NKVD (later renamed KGB and now known as the FSB in post-Soviet Russia), an organization that specialized in both deadly car crashes and poisonings. Wilcox cites several Ukrainian operatives and others who said the Soviets had Patton on their hit list.

Investigative and military reporter Wilcox, author of "Black Aces High: and "Wings of Fury," has spent more than ten years investigating these mysteries, and in his new book he draws on the famous declassified Venona documents to probe the death of Patton.

"Target: Patton" is a book that anyone who is interested in World War II history should put on his or her must-read list. It reads like a spy thriller.

Like most people of my generation (post WW2), I had a cliched and inadequate understanding of the complicated and brilliant Gen. George S. Patton. Most of what we know derives from the film "Patton" (1970), an admirable achievement, but not history. We know (vaguely) that Patton was a brilliant field commander, that he slapped a soldier whom he considered cowardly, that he was envied by other Allied commanders, and that he was considered a talented problem child by Generals Eisenhower, Bradley, and Bedell Smith. We understood that he died after the war in an automotive accident (usually decribed, incorrectly, as a jeep accident).

Robert Wilcox's book "Target: Patton" is valuable for two reasons: (1) he does not outrun the evidence that he offers and declare that he has solved the case, and (2) he has uncovered a wealth of information which raises troubling questions about Patton's demise. He demonstrates that official accounts of the accident were lacking -- or that they had disappeared. He shows that the "death car" (a Cadillac limo, not a jeep) in the Patton Museum is in fact not the car in which Patton was riding. And finally, he brings forth the witness Douglas Bazata, who claimed that Wild Bill Donovan himself commissioned the hit on Patton.

Bazata's confessions, if such they were, are both the strength and weakness of the case which Wilcox offers. Bazata, a fascinating figure in the "black ops" of WW2, was certainly in a position to know whereof he spoke, but at the same time he seemed unable to decide whether he had actually participated in Patton's murder or simply was aware of who did. As the author himself admits, the evidence could perhaps bring an indictment, but not a conviction in a court of law.

Nonetheless, Wilcox's work is a very provocative and valuable addition to the Patton literature. It is difficult to read the book and not draw the conclusion that Patton was a uniquely talented warrior-general who was constantly thwarted by desk generals such as Ike. Certainly his views concerning the Soviet threat were prescient.

I am very familiar with the life of General Patton, owning a library of over 30 volumes. It was with this background that I skeptically purchased and read this book. There were questions that I believed could not be answered, the most important being the unplanned hunting trip on that fateful day. The author has convinced me of the possibility that our greatest combat Commander was, indeed, the target of assassination. From European operative reports of a Stalinist hit list, the clandestine operations of the OSS, the leftist concerns in the US Government about Patton's post-war outspokenness against our 'ally,' Russia, to all the missing significant documents (investigation reports), I finished this book angry. We will never know as all those who could have shed light on this troubling assertion are now dead. I am not a conspiracy adherent by nature ... but this one gave me pause. A worthwhile book written thirty years too late.

My uncle, PFC William Paul Kennedy was killed on October 8, 1944 at a small crossroads outside Metz. As a soldier in Patton's Third Army, he, along with the rest of the army were halted outside this city.Instead of giving the gasoline and supplies to Patton so he could wrap up the war by Christmas,it all went to Montogomery for his reckless and dangerous airborne invasion of Holland. This halt gave the Germans time to pull back to the east bank of the Rhine and dig in. It also allowed them to gather the forces that they would use in the Ardennes two months later. Patton, who could not sit on his hands and do nothing went against his own good military judgement and attacked the fortresses around Metz. The attack on Fort Driant especially was tough and it ended up being the only battle that Patton lost. Was he outspoken? Yes. Was he wrong? No. Patton had made many enemies after the Sicily Campaign inside and outside of Washington. Patton was the fly in the ointment. He was the squeaky wheel. He was the only one that stood in the way of Roosevelt and Truman realizing their postwar plans. Did he have his eyes on the presidency? Probably not. But, Eisenhower did. They were all feathering their nests so Patton had to go. There were rumblings about this back in the 70s. Was Patton murdered? Yes, because he knew too much. Remember, everyone thought that the Germans murdered 15,000 Polish officers in the Katyn Forest until the Russians finally admitted that they did it after the fall of the Communists.This is an important and excellent book whos time has come. Highly recommended.

I recently read, with a great deal of interest, Robert K. Wilcox's Target Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton. The book was meticulously well researched and documented, and leaves the reader with many questions regarding the actual possibility that it was no "accident" that took the life of one of America's greatest generals. I believe, based on the evidence put forth in this book, that Gen. Patton was assassinated. I won't spoil the book by saying by whom, but am not surprised at the author's premise. It makes perfect sense. (I know whereof I speak, as I am currently writing my own father's posthumous memoirs. He was Gen. Patton's chaplain during World War II.)

The rumors started in the hours after the death from natural causes of General George S. Patton, Jr., and have not gone away in the more than 60 years; there were forces that wanted him silenced and he was murdered.

Investigative reporter Robert K. Wilcox peels back the thick volumes of the official narrative to uncover a murky world of spycraft, hired assassins and chronicling the evil forces who wanted the controversial general removed as the world entered the Cold War.

Through interviews, material from recently declassified government documents and tirelessly pursuing a number of historical angles, Wilcox credibly questions the results of the U.S. Army investigation that stated the December 9, 1945, car crash in occupied Germany that left Patton severely injured - with paralysis from the neck down - was an accident and there was no foul play in his death at age 60 - from an embolism - on December 21 at a military hospital in Heidelberg.

Wilcox emerges from the mists where history is chronicled with a powerful investigative work that ultimately calls for a spotlight to be directed on the crevices where the truth may have been stuffed for so many years.

I'm no hero-worshipper....! But I have had read several accounts of the life and times of General George Patton and also viewed the classic movie: PATTON and the TV miniseries: THE LAST DAYS OF PATTON. By these exposures, I come to admire this man, a great soldier and one who had been so dedicated to fighting battles, great and small, to bring down the tyrannies in the then Nazi Germany. Even the Germans admired him for his fighting tactics which were second to none...!!! Invariably, as the Chinese saying goes: "When a tree grows big and luxuriant, it will invite the attention of the prevailing evil wind...!" Hence, Gen. Patton became an object of envy and even evoked jealousies among his colleagues, particularly the British commanders of his seemingly fighting courage which eluded them. I think the Allied Commanders in occupied Europe could not beat Gen. Patton, his fighting tactics, his firm leadership and exception command and thus from "admiration" was transformed to extreme jealousies!
In particularly, Field Marshal Montgomery hated Gen. Patton, so much that he called him the "mad man" in front of Eisenhower and his team, when the Patton beat him to a punch by taken Palemo in the Sicily campaign. Eisenhower unfairly ordered Patton to stop at Palemo and the latter angrily replied whether to return them back to the Fascists regime! When Patton slapped the young soldier for battle fatigue, he was duly punished and humiliated by having to apologize to all the ranks and files by Eisenhower. Patton humorously said: "To see whether he was the bigger son of a bitch..." which illicited much laughter among his troops. In the TV movie: The Last Days of Patton, Gen. Patton was ordered to lay off all Germans in his employ and which were even remotely related to the Nazi regime. Even if to turn Bavaria, in which he was the enlightened governor, into shambles if necessary to shake of all connection of the Nazis. A seemingly mild "accident" at the railway crossing couldn't have killed the tough and courageous Patton. I am inclined to believe as to many others that Patton was definitely murdered by rougue elements of the U.S. military under Eisenhower to get rid of him. In the eyes of Eisenhower, the future president of U.S., Patton could be the main stumbling block and the revealer of truth of what was then happening in occupied Germany. I BELIEVE NOW AND I AM TOTALLY CONVINCED THAT GEN. PATTON WAS MURDERED...! Hence, the reason for me wanting to read this enlightening book. I also invite you, dear readers to order this book too. Cheers.

I am not a conspiracy book fan, but the reviews of this book got my attention. Ultimately, I want to be some combination of entertained and informed when I do recreational reading. This book manages to do both. I have read most everything written about General Patton, though I had not read anything exclusively focused on the circumstances surrounding his death. Now to the specifics. The author presents himself as a skeptic about the conspiracy allegations who, nevertheless, gets drawn farther and farther into the claims of various persons. In all of it, there is just enough consistency to keep it all hanging together. Because the author approaches it from the viewpoint of a skeptic, it is a very easy to read book. And it *is* a compelling read, that does seem to raise *reasonable doubt* about the official story of his accident. In addition, the author does some excellent research that ultimately raises more questions than it answers. And the author is clear saying that what he has recounted is not conclusive. If you have an interest in studying the life of General Patton, you are probably going to end up feeling like this book was worth your time. In particular the author does a really good job of integrating the larger historic context of the time, and that part, alone is worth reading. I ended up buying a half dozen other books that had nothing to do with General Patton, but covered various aspects of 20th Century history that were referenced in Target Patton. If the mark of a good book is its ability to stimulate thought, then I have to say that this book does it well.

I can't add much to what others have said about this book,however I was impressed that the author after all these years was able to research so much information, and find many of the people who were involved in Patton's death yet alive. This man did his homework, and He left no stones unturned. I suspect that Mr. Wilcox will someday be able to do research in the archives of the former Soviet Union, and I believe He will find evidence of the NKVD's involvment in the death of General Patton. What was most disturbing was not the reality of the Soviets hating Patton enough to kill him, but high ranking people in our military that wanted Patton silenced also. I thoroughly enjoyed the book,and would recommend it to anyone wanting to get as close to the truth as we now know, about the demise of our greatest warrior general. Best wishes, as you seek the truth. Terry McRoberts

Among the many books that I have read very few have had such an effect on me personally and are more deserving of such positive accolades. Having served in combat and twice surviving the attacks on the World Trade Center, reading 'Target Patton' made me realize that had General Patton not been murdered by political aspirants and or the NKVD/KGB, America would have been spared the casualties sustained in conflicts with the communists subsequent to World War II and with the terrorists.

When you read 'Target Patton' one cannot help but become saddened by the terrible fate dealt to this great American hero and icon by his inferiors who capitalized on his abilities and accomplishments and yet who failed to meet his standards. Anyone who reads 'Target Patton', especially those motivated by a desire to understand the undercurrents of politics and military history, cannot help to find themselves encouraged to learn more. For instance, the famous World War II Jedburgh operatives were not only the forerunners of the Green Berets but also of the Phoenix Program in Vietnam. Those who are familiar with these individuals and policies will be fascinated in
seeing how they evolved from World War II. Unfortunately, many of the negative and arbitrary aspects of these policies survive today and many American heroes have since been sacrificed for political expedience.

After reading 'Target Patton' you cannot help but desire that justice would have been meted out to the perpetrators of this foul deed. I am certain that General Patton would have been very impressed with Mr. Wilcox for his diligence and dedication to the truth and decorated him personally.
John Molloy
Chairman
National Vietnam & Gulf War Veterans Coalition