Patton Gets Himself Fired

Today in History, September 22: 1945 – 

Gen. George S. Patton gets himself fired. The war in Europe was over, and establishment of civil policies underway. 

While talking to reporters, Patton comments that he doesn’t see the need for “this denazification thing”. Then he went on to relate the “Nazi thing” to Republicans and Democrats. 

 This was the final straw in regards to Patton saying what he thought in public. He had frequently gotten himself in hot water. His gaffs had been overlooked due to his talents on the battlefield. With the war over he no longer had this cover. 

Had he articulated his views better he could have proven he was correct. Most of the “Nazis” that he wanted to leave in administrative positions were only German civilians who were Nazis because they didn’t want to cross the SS or Hitler. They kept the trains running on time, etc. They were not leaders. Patton had just spent years encouraging his soldiers to kill nazis. It is not reasonable to believe he was defending nazis. 

Patton would never make it home, being killed in an automobile collision. But that is another story. 

 Years later, long after his death, of course, Patton would be proven correct during the Iraqi war. All of the “Bathists” were removed from their administrative positions and from the Iraqi army. And many of them had been part of the Bath party to survive. The move created many problems in the Iraq War.