While Patton got a tank, Eisenhower became president, and Montgomery got statues, Patch got a barracks and an MSTS transport named for him. Yet,he was the first American commander to drive the Japanese off a major island (Guadalcanal); the only general to command forces in North America, Africa, and Europe, lead a stunningly successful invasion of the European mainland; led the first Allied units to successfully establish themselves along the Rhine; and defeated the last German offensive in the west. Graduating last in his class at West Point, he eventually commanded the Seventh Army, and lost his only son in combat while under his command. Befitting his personality, when he died he was buried at West Point and when his widow was asked if she wanted a cadet honor guard at the ceremony, she said “Absolutely not.”and explained as a cadet he hated being mustered for details to bury generals of whom the cadets had never heard.
In Europe, Patch lead Operation Dragoon, the successful allied landing in the south of France that pushed the German 5th Army out of the plains and into the Vosage Mountains; liberating a significant part of France. Despite losing a number of units under his command, Patch continued to press forward, forcing what was left of the 5th Army into the western slopes of the High Vosage mountains. The High Vosage mountains offered excellent defensive terrain, and combined with poor weather that limited allied air support, and never in the history of war had an invading army successfully penetrated them. The Germans were constructing a series of defenses along the Vosages, such as pillboxes, tank traps, barbed wire and minefields. Between the weather and the mountains the german High Command felt the forces there would hold. The 7th Army surprised them, and bolstered by reinforcements, began the final assault against the Germans. The battle was characterized by many small unit, hand to hand combat operations. As two pronged attack threatened to outflank the Gemans, Patch started his final attack and by 23 Nov the 7th Army had breached the German line and reached the Rhine. Thus, Patch became the first general to successfully mount an offensive across the High Vosages.
Later, during the Battle of the Bulge, Patch successfully defeated Operation Nordwind, the German's attempt to penetrate the Alsace and take the Saverne Pass. But that's another story.
My tie to this? My late father, returning from Germany where he fought in WWII, with his young family, crossed the Atlantic on the USNS General Alexander M. Patch, leading to his son developing an interest in the sea and always wondering who this General Patch was. Know I, and you, know.
