PATTON IN WWI
As a young officer in the Great War he exhibited bravery in combat and became a pioneer of armoured warfare
When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, General John J Pershing was given command of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) that deployed to France. His protégé Patton arrived in Europe ahead of Pershing to tend to administrative duties and oversee initial troop training. During this period the young officer developed an interest in a formidable new weapon of war: the tank.
As a result Patton was detailed to observe French armoured training as well as the manufacture of the machines. He was then charged with establishing the AEF Tank School at Langres, responsible for training the first US tank soldiers. The US Army had no tanks of its own and the Americans utilised Renault models purchased from the French.
Patton soon led the American 304th Tank Brigade in the US Army’s first documented use of armour in wartime, supporting attacks by the 1st and 42nd Infantry Divisions near Saint Mihiel on 12 September, 1918. Patton led from the front, personally directing his tanks across a bridge that had possibly been mined by the Germans. He earned a reprimand for dangerously exposing himself to enemy fire and for being out of communication with higher levels of command for an extended period. He was said to have also met Brigadier General Douglas Macarthur, chief of staff of the 42nd Division, on the field that day.
Heeding his earlier reprimand, Patton devised a system of homing pigeons and runners to keep superior officers informed as future combat progressed. He also learned valuable lessons, including the fact that tanks advancing over muddy ground consumed more fuel than those on dry terrain, and subsequently developed a towed sled to deliver fuel to tanks operating in forward areas.
On 26 September, Patton was again in action with the tanks of the 304th, supporting the advance of the 28th and 35th Infantry Divisions in the Meuse-argonne sector. The fighting was intense, and Patton again placed himself in harm’s way, inadvertently moving ahead of adjacent friendly forces to within 40 metres of a snarl of German machine-gun nests. He was seriously wounded when a bullet ripped into his leg and spent agonising hours in a shell hole before evacuation. During the operation 25 enemy machine-gun positions were destroyed and Patton received the Distinguished Service Cross for heroism, despite his command taking 90 percent casualties and losing virtually all of its tanks by the end of September.
With the end of the Great War, Patton was one of only a handful of American officers experienced in armoured warfare, and he had already begun to formulate tactics and battlefield perspective that would serve him well a generation later during World War II.