Patton

George S. Patton was an outstanding military leader and an extraordinarily controversial figure who transformed modern warfare to a large extent. A brilliant strategist, his tactical genius and audacity were decisive in the Allied victory on the Western Front during World War II. From North Africa to the heart of the Reich, his campaigns at the helm of the US Third Army became master classes in speed, maneuver, and operational effectiveness. Fernando del Castillo exhaustively traces his entire military career: from his formative years at West Point and his first combat experience in Mexico to his pioneering role at the head of the first US tank units in the Great War. The author also examines the crucial interwar period, when Patton developed his revolutionary theories on mechanized warfare, which he would later put into practice with devastating effectiveness. THE GENERAL WHO PRAYED FOR VICTORY AND WROTE POETRY ABOUT WAR. Beyond the military strategist, surprising and little-known aspects emerge: his participation in the 1912 Olympic Games, the design of a sword that bore his name and was adopted by the US Army, his role as a poet, and his peculiar relationship with the divine. He was a complex personality capable of combining the brutality of war with remarkable literary sensitivity and an unusual knowledge of the classics. We discover the man behind the myth: a general in whom deep religiosity coexisted with foul language, and a certain classical erudition went hand in hand with a direct command style, along with unshakeable self-confidence in moments of intimate doubt. Through unpublished documents, direct testimonies, and his own diary, an accurate portrait is painted, different from the usual one presented by Anglo-Saxon scholars, of one of the most charismatic and effective commanders in contemporary military history.