General George S. Patton Trivia Quiz

Answer: West Point

Patton didn't start his school education until the age of 12. He graduated from West Point in 1909, ranked 46th from a class of 103.

Answer: Modern Pentathlon

Patton finished a credible fifth in the competition. Remarkably it was the shooting element that let him down. In true Patton style he used his military .38 revolver instead of the lighter .22 favoured by most of the athletes. The .38 blew larger holes in the target and it is commonly believed that he was not credited with one shot because a round that had supposedly missed the target actually passed through an already established hole. However, in "Patton, A Genius for War" by Carlo D 'este, it has been established that he did indeed miss the target entirely. This was probably due to the fatigue factor of Patton taking weeks to arrive by ship and not having enough time to prepare for the shooting event.

Patton was also an expert fencer. He re-wrote the armies manuals on swordsmanship removing the 'parry.' His idea was for all attack. Defence just wasted energy.

Answer: Francisco Pancho Villa

After the raid, Patton strapped the bodies of Cardenas, one of Villa's captains and a private, to the hood of his car. He drove back to the U.S. base at Dublin and the war correspondents got a first hand account of Patton's adventure. The stories they filed to their respective newspapers made Patton a national hero for the first time.

Answer: Tank Warfare

The battle of Cambrai was unique as it introduced large-scale tank warfare for the first time. The Brits secretly brought in 376 tanks to break the fortified stalemate of the Hindenburg line. The tanks smashed their objectives but the allied manpower was not sufficient to hold the ground. Patton must have loved what he saw because he went on to command and train the first 500 American tankers while in France.

Answer: He was shot

The battle of Meuse-Argonne was the last Great War action Patton would see. He was hit by machine gun fire while trying to rescue some tanks that where mired in the mud. The war ended during his recovery and he went home to command the newly formed US Tank Corps, but in peacetime and with no budget, the US Tank Corps didn't gain momentum until congress and the military learnt a new word - blitzkrieg.

Answer: Kasserine Pass

Eisenhower needed a general of Patton's calibre to restore morale and get the tankers going forward. By March 1943 Patton had reorganised the 2nd Corps, restored discipline and confidence with the men, and with a counter-offensive, he had the Germans on the retreat. (Montgomery's Brits where pushing from the east.)

Answer: Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery

Starting with their armoured-ego clashes in Africa, Montgomery and Patton's relationship was to be a continual feud. Both generals were extremely driven and competitive. While they still shared the ultimate objective, Berlin, it was who would get there first and how that mattered.

Answer: False

Patton's reputation with the Germans was such that they believed he would lead the main thrust into Europe. Eisenhower exploited this reputation and the 3rd Army was held back and didn't participate on D-Day. The Germans also held back critical Panzer units from the beachheads believing the main thrust would come elsewhere (with Patton).

Answer: Bastogne

It was during the siege of Bastogne that General McAuliffe gave his famous reply to the German request to surrender, 'Nuts!' For their heroism in holding Bastogne, the 101st was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation, the first ever to be awarded to an entire division.

Answer: "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."

By armistice, Patton's 3rd Army had liberated 80,000 square miles of territory, captured hundreds of thousands of enemy troops and inflicted nearly 1.5 million casualties. He was killed due to a traffic accident while in occupied Germany on the 21st of December 1945. Quotes: "Never surrender" - Winston Churchill; "Nuts" - General McAuliffe; "Sometimes it is entirely appropriate to kill a fly with a sledge hammer" - Major Holdridge.