GEORGE S. PATTON DIARIES Annotated transcripts Mar. 22-Sept. 26, 1945 (2 of 2) BOX 3 FOLDER 12 April 22,1945 (cont'd p.2) hours. It rained and sleeted at intervals the whole distance and going over the top of the mountains at a height of about 4000 feet, it snowed a little. We passed two wrecks where colored soldiers had upset trucks, simply due to driving too fast. After we passed Bamberg, there was a very bad traffic congenstion at several points and I had to get out on two occasions to straighten it out. General Maddox had already preceeded me at one place. I never get over the fact that so few officers pay any attention to correcting traffic jams. Erlangen is a university town which was originally built in the time of the Huguenot persecution. I was surprised to find that mansard roofs were in vogue even at that time. The 11th Armored Division is progressing very well as is also the 71st and 65th. However, I should like to get the 80th moving. I have an arrangement with General Bradley to keep the 70th Division in the vicinity of Frankfurt on occupation duty and increase its strength with replacements who at present are not being used, owing to slight battle casualties. I will hold the 80th Division in the vicinity of Nuremburg in SHAEF Reserve, and the 5th Division can relieve it in the vicinity of Bamberg midnight, Tuesday, the 24th. The casualties for the Third Army from both the first day of operation (August 1,1944) and for the present operation, dating from March 23, 1945 (crossing of the Rhine) till this date are as follows: U.S. Casualties ( from Aug. 1) killed, 21,098; wounded, 97,163; missing, 16,393; total 134,654; non-battle, 106,440; grant total, 241,094; reinforcements, 244,226. April 22, 1945 (cont'd p.3) U.S. casualties (from March 23) killed, 16,685; wounded 5,815; missing 773; total, 8,273; non-battle, 9,467; grand total, 17,740; reinforcements, 23,927. German casualties ( from Aug. 1- actual) Prisoners of War, 543,521, enemy buried, 26,304; total 569,825 German casualties(from March 23- actual) prisoners of war, 240,661; enemy buried, 1,384; total, 242,009. German casualties (from Aug. 1 - estimated) prisoners, 545,800; killed, 138,700; wounded, 369,700; total, 1,054,200. German casualties (from March 23-estimated) prisoners, 242,900; killed, 14,300; wounded, 31,200; total, 288,400. U.S. Materiel losses (from Aug. 1) light tanks, 298; medium tanks, 934; artillery(75mm and over) 174; vehicles, 3,855; total, 5,261. U.S. Materiel losses (from March 23) light tanks, 12; medium tanks, 49; artillery (75 mm and over) 6; vehicles, 301; total, 368. German Materiel losses (from Aug. 1) Mark III and IV tanks, 1,492; Mark VI tanks, 857; artillery (75 mm and over) 3,324; vehicles, 12,923; total, 18,596. German materiel losses (from March 23) Mark III and IV Tanks, 101; Mark VI Tanks, 39; artillery, 75 mm and over, 360; vehicles, 4,647. Total, 5,147. April 23,1945 Visited the XII and XX Corps Headquarters, returning by Bamberg. The road conditions between Bamberg and Erlangen are much improved. However, there are still only one-way bridges. The Autobahn from Erlangen to Bayreuth, where the XII Corps headquarters is located, is a very beautiful drive. The drive across country from Bayreuth to Bamberg via Fholifeld is/ also beautiful, but the road is in bad condition. April 23, 1945 (cont'd p.2) General Patch called me this morning and suggested that we swap the 14th and 20th Armored Divisions. The 14th ARmored is still fighting in the zome of the III Corps, while the 20th Armored is in the vicinity of Wurzburg from which it can be put more readily into the Seventh Army. I agreed at once and we made the arrangement through General Bradley and General Devers within half an hour. The XII and XX Corps are still advancing against very sketchy resistance. April 24, 1945 General Walker and General Millikin asked me to talk to the 13th Armored Division, which I did. The 3d Cavalry reached the Danube in the vicinity of Regensburg at 4:00 o'clock this morning and forced to pull back about 400 yards, due to small arms and mortar fire. The enemy will undoubtedly make an attempt to hold a bridgehead in this vicinity. The III Corps has definitely gotten started and is doing very well since Van Fleet took over. The 14th Armored ran into the 17th Panzer in its front and found it not as dangerous as presumed. A German General, name unknown, contacted the 26th Division for the purpose of surrendering 5,000 enemy soldiers. We told him to march in under a flag of truce. April 25, 1945 What looked like a dull day has become quite interesting. First we learned that the 5,000 soldiers who are surrendering are white Russians who have been fighting for the Germans against the Russians. They will close in the vicinity of Regensburg in about 48 hours. The question was brought up as to whether or not they are prisoners of war. The decision is that they are prisoners of war, and in my opinion April 25, 1945 ( cont'd p.2) are in a bad fix because we will turn them over to the Russians, who will probably shoot them. At the same time we heard that several large concentrations of troops, race unknown, are moving up the Valley of the Danube and are at the present moment about 24 miles southeast of the Austrian frontier. These may be Russians or they may be Germans fleeing before the Russians. In any case they seem to be wholly horse-drawn. We have sent up air reconnaissance to try to find out what they are. General Bradley called just before lunch with a splendid suggestion, namely that the First Army will extend to the south and take over the line of the Czechoslovakian frontier to some point near its junction with the Austrian border. This will be a great help and will facilitate my new mission of attacking to the south for the the reduction of the so-called Redoubt. As of noon today, the 14th Armored Division has reached the ALTMUHL [Altmulth (sp?)] River about the middle of the sector of the III Corps and the leading regiment of the 86th Division has reached the same river on the left of the Corps boundary at Eichstatt. General Van Fleet, commanding the Corps, assures me that he will get bridges across and will be on the Danube by night. On the right boundary, the18th Cavalry Squadron of the 4th Cavalry Group is on the Danube in the vicinity of Kelheim and in contact with elements of the 65th Division, XX Corps in that vicinity. So far we have not crossed the Danube in the XII Corps zone. The 11th Armored Division has crossed the Neitte River and is about six to eight kilometers southeast thereof, so that there is a possibility they will run into the approaching enemy quite soon. April 25, 1945 ( cont'd p. 3) On the left of the XII Corps boundary, Combat Command B of the 11th Armored Division is six kilometers southeast of Regensburg. There was quite a fight at this latter town but now the division seems to be doing a road march. Our battle casualties for the last two days have barely exceeded a hundred. The non-battle casualties are equally low. April 26,1945 Drove to Headquarters III Corps at Schwabach where I had lunch with General Van Fleet and decorated him with the DSM. We then visited the Headquarters of the 99th Division at Greding where we talked to General Lauer. It seemed to me that he was over-commanding the Division and had too many objectives. This simply slows up operations. We then visited Headquarters of the 14th Armored Division under General Cooper Smith at Eurerwang. I was not particularly impressed with him either. The 86th Division has reached the vicinity of Ingolstadt and is fighting on the outside of the town. General Van Fleet hopes to get elements of both the99th and 86th over the Danube tonight. The attack of the 65th Division and 71st Division over the Danube on each side of Regensburg has completely successful, and the only resistance was small arms fire. They will continue the movement south in their zone. In the XII Corps, the leading elements of Combat Command B of the 11th Armored Division are about six miles from the Austrian border and is meeting small amounts of artillery fire. Combat Command A is slightly behind them to the northeast. April 26th, 1945 (cont'd p.2) One battalion of the 90th Division has closed on Cham to cover the pass to the left rear of the 11th Armored Division. The 26th Infantry Division is in the vicinity of Straubing. A German lieutenant came in, stating that there were five barges anchored in the Danube in this vicinity which, if they were fired on or were bombed, would detonate and destroy all life within a perimeter of 30 kilometers. He was told to put guards over the barges and await the arrival of the Americans, who would take them over. As of 1730, we have officers now engaged, so it is reported, in examining the barges. [1*] This may fit in with a statement by a prisoner of war which I just read, stating that in January, 200 SS troops, all of whom had been Hitler Youth, had been given a special course of instruction in the dropping of bombs; they were then told they were to drop a certain type of lead dust bomb (probably atomic) for the purpose of destroying all human life in Greater Germany. When the boys out that they were to kill their own people, eighty of the 200 declined to proceed, and the remaining 120 were subsequently informed that these 80 had been killed. The remaining boys were taken to see an experiment from a high point. An airplane flew low over the area and dropped a bomb which produced something which looked like air wave disturbances. Later the boys were blindfolded and driven for an hour, and then unblindfolded. In the area which was covered with snow and which had been bombed, all the snow had been melted, the larger rocks had moved, all the small trees had disappeared and the smaller rocks had disintegrated. This same prisoner stated that in the vicinity of Salzburg there were some subterranean hangars with about 180 airplanes in them. There may be something to this story, but it strikes me as being a war of nerves movement. However, we will investigate it. [2*] [1. They were some new kind of gas - never used. 2. Nothing ever came of it.*] April 26, 1945 (cont'd p.3) In driving to the III Corps, I passed through the middle of the town of Nuremburg. The old walled city had not only been heavily bombed, but also attacked by the XV Corps, with the result that there is not much left of it. The towns in the vicinity are not hit at all. April 27, 1945 Codman and I flew to the headquarters of the XX Corps at Pittersberg where we had the ceremony of pinning the three stars on General Walker. We then drove to the vicinity of Regensburg and crossed the Danube River on a treadway bridge. The Danube is not at all impressive at this point, although its speed is considerable. I then flew to the Headquarters of the XII Corps and talked to General Irwin. The 11th Armored Division is across the Austrian border and the 90th and 26th Divisions are closing up. At General Irwin's suggestion, I authorized him to halt the 11th until Sunday morning for maintenance. They have had only four days' rest in the last thirty days. In the XX Corps, the 71st and 65th Divisions are across the Danube River and the 13th Armored is in the act of crossing now. The 80th Division will pass through the 65th Division, which will halt and recuperate. Last night at about 11:00 o'clock, the III Corps successfully crossed the86th and 99th Division over the Danube and is now in the act of putting the 14th Armored Division through. On the way back I flew over Nurenburg, which is the most completely destroyed place I have ever seen. It is really rather pathetic to see such a historical monument so completely removed. April 28, 1945 There is more or less of a race on between the III and XX Corps, which is very satisfactory. There is a strong chance that the III Corps will reach the Isar River tonight. The XX Corps is having more trouble, owing to a heavy rain which fell last night and has more or less bogged it down. The 11th Armored Division is standing fast in the XII Corps, but the 26th and 90th Divisions are moving up. The 5th Infantry Division was released to us today, for which we will eventually have to trade off the 97th. This is a good trade as the97th is green and not very good. General Spaatz, Lt. Gen. Doolittle and General Vandenberg came to lunch. We had a guard of honor for Spaatz and Vandenberg as neither of them had been saluted since being promoted. I think they enjoyed it a good deal. We have not yet been able to determine what was in the barges on the Danube, but should know in a short time. There was a rumor over BBC this afternoon that Himmler had proposed to the U.S. and Great Britain to surrender unconditionally, and that offer had been transmitted to San Francisco where it was turned down, owing to the fact that he was not surrendering to Russia also. Personally I cannot see that there is very much more glory in this war, and I am afraid it will end on an anti-climax. April 29, 1945 Lt. Graves and I flew to the Headquarters of the XII Corps at Viechtach, 15 miles southeast of Cham, but as we were unable to land, we flew back to Cham and then froze driving to the CP in a peep. The XII Corps was jumping off again yesterday for the purpose of advancing to Linz, and also at my instigation, with the idea of capturing or threatening to capture Passau, so that we can either get control April 29, 1945 (cont'd p.2) of the bridges over the Inn and Danube Rivers in that vicinity, or frighten the Germans into blowing them up. Either solution would be good as the other, for the purpose of getting the bridges is to prevent the Germans feeding troops into so-called Redoubt Area by the good road west of the Inn River. I then flew to the Headquarters of the XX Corps at Regensburg. This is established in the palace of the Archduke of Bavaria,which is the most ornate building I have ever seen. It had a fairly good armory with some rather modern armor, and a very interesting museum of old coaches. Apparently the Ducal family acquired its wealth by monopolizing the postal system of Bavaria for some 300 years. Unfortunately, the alleged bridge captured by the 13th Armored Division in the vicinity of Platting turned out to have been blown, but bridging operations are progressing there. The remainder of the 13th Armored is up against the River in the corps boundary. I had intended to visit the Headquarters of the III Corps, but it was impossible to do so as they had not yet established a landing field. I will try to do so tomorrow or the next day. It is now situated at Mainburg. This corps, too, is along the River and has some infantry elements across. We are still capturing large numbers of prisoners, getting 28,000 today. April 30, 1945 The situation along the front of the Third Army has changed very little except that the 26th Division is closing in on Passau, and the 11th Armored is advancing on Linz, held up primarily by bad roads. Our long flank along the Czechoslovakian border is, in my opinion, a mental April 30, 1945 (cont'd p.2) hazard, as I do not believe the Germans have anything there. I persuaded General Bradley to let me have the 4th Armored Division in a swap for the 16th Armored Division, which is now at Nuremberg. I had hoped to get the 16th into battle, but the distance it would have to move does not justify the expense of the gasoline it would require to move it. My idea is to use the 4th Armored and 5th Infantry Divisions to attack southeast up the Traun River on Salzburg, in conjunction with the attack of the XX and III Corps from the northwest on the same objective. At this point in the war, terrain is more of an obstacle than the enemy, and I believe that the road from Linz to Salzburg offers less geographical obstacles than the others. However, it might be that by the time the 4th Armored Division closes, a route would be open along the Inn River from Passau, which in some ways would be equally desirable. In any case, I have two strings to my bow. Just finished recording speech to be delivered on a national hookup in conjunction with other Army Commanders on V-E Day. Yesterday, the XIX Tactical Air Command had very good shooting on an armored concentration of some 20-odd vehicles, forty miles northeast of our left flank. There was a rumor yesterday, not repeated today, that Hitler was dead and that Himmler was about to surrender. Personally, I do not put any credence in it, but I believe that most of the German troops will surrender, because they had nothing but defeat since the initial landing in Normandy. May 1, 1945 General Lee, Major Rothrock, Colonel Codman and myself took off May 1, 1945 (cont'd p.2) from the airfield near Nuremberg and flew to the Headquarters of the III Corps at Mainburg. After looking over the situation map, we visited the 86th Division, which was crossing the Isar River in the vicinity of Freising and from there we went to Mossburg, and while there watched elements of the 14th Armored Division crossing. I noticed that all the tanks were covered with sandbags, which in no way afforded any further protection, and greatly increased the load on springs and engines. I ordered these removed. We also met an International Red Cross man and his wife attempting to go forward without any passport, and also a group of Englishmen who were drunk and who were trying to do the same thing. I had both of these groups placed under arrest and will have them further investigated. After this we visited a prison camp of some 30,000 Allied prisoners under the command of an English Group Captain assisted by Colonel Goode, American. It was very evident that but for the Red Cross packages, these men would have starved. The discipline among the men, most of whom were officers, was excellent, but they seemed to have developed a psychosis of being prisoners, which I did not like. [1*] However, I gave them a few minutes' talk on the fact that under difficult conditions they had maintained their prestige as officers and soldiers. There was considerable cheering, clapping and pictures taken. We then drove to Landshut where we found the 99th Division in the process of crossing. Going into Landshut we passed a German 1. I think that by this he meant that they were proud of being good prisoners. Having been on the fighting end of the war, he did not realize at that time that a troublesome prisoner caused untold hardship to his fellows. BAP [Not only that - They felt that because they had been prisoners they should be sent home by air as heroes.*] May 1, 1945 (cont'd p.3) candy and cookie factory which also made airplane parts and which had been partially looted by Germans. Had it not been for the prompt and personal action of General Van Fleet, the contents would have been totally wasted.[1*] I think that at least 20% of its potential capacity had been destroyed by wanton looting on the part of German civilians. We then returned to Headquarters of the III Corps at Mainberg. I told General Van Fleet that I was not at all satisfied with the combat efficiency of the 14th Armored Division. He was of the same opinion and told me that he would give the Commanding General, General Cooper Smith, one more day in which to prove himself or be relieved. We then flew back to Headquarters Third Army. It was very cold. When I got there I discovered that there was a movement on foot to turn over the conquest of the Redoubt area to the Seventh Army, and that the only way this could be avoided was for us to secure a crossing over the Inn River at Wasserburg, so that we would retain control of the road from Wasserburg to Altenmarket and from thence to Salzburg. I directed General Van Fleet to use the utmost diligence to secure this before morning. Also to secure crossing over the Inn River at other points. May 2, 1945 Headquarters Third Army moved from Erlangen to Regensburg, which in French is Ratisbon. This is where Napoleon fought a battle in one of his advances on Vienna, and about which a poem is written. I was unable to leave the old C.P. until 1:30 as it was necessary to hear from General Bradley whether or not we were to suspend our advance into the Redoubt. At 1:30 he gave me a new boundary which is as follows: 1. See letter to BAP May 2, 1945 (cont'd p.2) The old boundary of Third Army and III Corps northwest of Freising remains the same. Thence in a general easterly direction to Muhldorf, thence along the Inn River to the junction of the Inn River with the Salzach River. Thence to Strasswalchen, and thence in a general easterly direction to the line of the Enns River, which joins the Danube at Mauthausen some 10 kilometers east of Linz- this is to be the boundary between the Russians and Americans. North of the Danube River the boundary runs along a railway in a general northerly direction. This change of boundary completely pinched out the III Corps and leaves elements of it in the zone of the Seventh Army. I told the III Corps to hang on to Wasserburg. I also directed that in the meantime they would secure an undestroyed crossing over the Inn River further to the northeast. Had we been allowed to continue, it seems to me evident that the Third Army could have taken Salzburg very easily. This was further demonstrated by the fact that while I was in movement to the new CP, the Seventh Army requested to turn over to us the 4th Infantry Division and take the 86th, which Division has made the biggest advance. We agreed to this and issued the necessary orders to get the 23d Reconnaissance Squadron of the 16th Armored Division and two companies of the 14th Armored Division, which had been operating with the 86th Division, out of the Seventh Army zone. I then called up the III Corps and gave them their new boundary and told them to keep going. I had thought of letting the XII Corps cross behind the 65th Division of the XX Corps at Passau and utilize the road from Scharding to Linz. However, General Gay and General Maddox talked me out of it, and we left the XX Corps to hold the zone between its new south boundary and the Danube River. The XII Corps will advance in its boundary north of the Danube River. May 2, 1945 (cont'd p.3) There is a possibility that the Third Army may be turned in a northeasterly direction for the reduction of Czechoslovakia. If this is done, my present plan is to advance with the XX Corps on the right, the XII Corps in the middle, and the III Corps on the left, moving the III Corps into position along a road running north of the Isar River. Our new CP is in an artillery barrack on the southern extremity of Regensburg. Our living quarters are in the palace of Albert, Prince of Thurn Und Taxis, Duke of Woerth and Donaustauf. This is a most ornate and uncomfortable building with three times as much furniture in it as it should have.[1*] There seems to be a fatality about the fact that whenever the Third Army changes CP's, it also gets a change of mission. This has happened now four or five times. General Bradley stated that he might visit me tomorrow. I forgot to state that before leaving the CP, two senators and two congressmen came in. They seemed to be harmless. May 3, 1945 Information was obtained over the radio last night of the unconditional surrender of all troops in Italy and southern Austria. This will probably be contagious and the war end any minute. The 11th Armored Division finally secured a bridge and is now advancing on Linz. The 65th Division is crossing the Inn River at Passau and is advancing in its zone. Decided to send the 4th Division north of Nuremburg on line of communication duty. If the operation into Czechoslovakia develops, we can give the III Corps an additional infantry division from the XX or the XII Corps. 1. See letter to BAP May 3, 1945 ( cont'd p.2) Visited the Headquarters of the III and XX Corps to explain the situation, which was already quite clear to them. On driving to the XX Corps we passed a large number of Hungarians coming in with about one guard for every thousand prisoners. They were quite a well-fed looking group of men. On the way back we were nearly killed by a bull cart coming out of a side street. We missed the end of the pole by a few inches. The American soldier will not force the civilians off he roads in spite of orders to do so. Three Mexican generals are supposed to come to dinner. May 4, 1945 No change in situation except that elements of the 11th Armored Division are east of the north and south line through Linz. The 90th Division, elements of the 5th Division, and the 4th Cavalry Squadron have secured crossing over the mountains into the Czechoslovakian Plain. We can advance with the XII Corps on two hours' notice in that direction. The V Corps of the First Army, consisting of three infantry and one armored division, was put in this Army today. This gives us the biggest Army we have had, 18 divisions in all and over 500,000 men. The Mexicans did not come last night but came to dinner tonight, and were very interesting. My friend, 5-star General Houdemon (French Army), came to see me today, and I asked him to dinner. I had lunch with the XII Corps, flying over and back, 45 minutes each way. The weather is slightly warmer. At 7:30, General Bradley called up and said the green light was on for the attack on Czechoslovakia. We immediately called up the V May 4, 1945 (cont'd p.2) Corps and told them to get going with the 1st and 2d Infantry Divisions and the 16th armored Division, and also told the XII Corps to attack as planned. General Gay had a feeling that this order might come and so had alerted the 16th Armored Division this afternoon. Things like this are what is going to make the peace so terrible, because nothing exciting will ever happen. May 5,1945 Drove to the Headquarters V Corps. They attacked this morning at 1000 with the 97th and 2d Infantry Divisions and will continue attacking tomorrow with part of the 16th Armored Division, the 1st Division, and a combat team of the9th Armored Division. I told them that pending authorization from General Bradley, it will be necessary for them to halt on the stop line through Pilsen, but they could send reconnaissance to Prague. The XII Corps with the 90th and 5th Infantry Divisions jumped off at 1000. They also captured Linz with the 11th Armored Division, and elements of the 26th Division, and were released there by elements of the 65th Division from the XX Corps. Both Corps have now closed on the U.S.- Russian boundary and are sending reconnaissance patrols forward to make contact with the Russians. General Huebner told me that when I meet the Russians, I must be prepared to present medals, flags, etc., so I called General Bradley and asked what authority I had. He said that roughly I could give six Legion of Merits and six bronze stars from the divisions making contact, nine Legion of Merits and three bronze stars from the Corps, and twelve Legion of Merits of assorted grades from the Army. He is to provide me with the upper grades of the Legion of Merit, as I have only twenty-five of the grade given to American soldiers. 1. The American flag raised at Linz covered G.S.P's coffin Dec.24,1945 It now belongs to George. BAP May 5, 1945 (cont'd p.2) He is also going to let me know whether the stop line through Pilsen is mandatory. In view of the radio report about the Patriots having taken Prague, it seems desirable to me to push on and help them. Apparently the Third Army is doing the last offensive of the war. May 6, 1945 Went to church with General Gay. General Bradley called up to state the halt line through Pilsen is mandatory for the V and XII Corps, and that we will not reconnoiter to a greater depth than five miles northeast of it, due to the fact that General Eisenhower does not wish at this late date to have any international complications. It seems to me that as great a nation as America should let the other people worry about the complications. Personally I would go to the line of the Moldau River and tell the Russians that is where I intended to stop. General Bradley also directed us to discontinue our advance east along the Danube to make contact with the Russians, and let them make contact with us. We will remain in position, which is about 25 miles east of the agreed Russian-American line. Again, I doubt the wisdom of this. An alleged 100,000 white Russians are attempting to surrender to us. These people have fought for the Germans against the Russians and are in a pitiable state. However, they will have to be treated as prisoners of war. Any women and children they bring with them will have to be treated as displaced persons. I am having them moved west of the Czechoslovakian border. As of 1100 today, a combat command of the 16th Armored Division is reported to be in Pilsen. We have moved the III Corps to the vicinity of Nurnberg to start in occupying Bavaria under the Eclipse Plan. May 7, 1945 The V Corps sent a Colonel General from the German Army, who had come from Norway, to Prague to explain to the German Army Group Com- mander, General Schoerner, in that vicinity, the rules for the surrend- er. General Gay directed the Surgeon of the Third Army to personally inspect the Allied prisoners of war cage at Moosburg to assure himself that the proper medical attention was being given. Mr. Patterson, Under Secretary of War, spent the night, and we left by cub to visit the XX Corps earlier in the day. When we got there, [the place Kremunster ], we found that the Imperial Span- ish Riding Academy, which has been teaching high school riding in Vienna since the time of Charles V, had been moved to the vicinity of the CC Corps Headquarters. After lunch they gave an exhibition of riding and made an address. It was rather peculiar to realize that with a world tearing itself apart in war about twenty middle-aged men in perfect physical condition, and about an equal number of grooms, had spent their time teaching horses tricks. As much as I like horses, it seems to me there is a place for everything. On leaving the XX Corps, we flew over Linz and then to the Head- quarters of the XII Corps where we met the Corps Commander, General Irwin. Froom there we flew to Headquarters V Corps and finally re- turned to Army Headquarters at about 8:00 o'clock. The Secretary was extremely cordial and had a wonderful memory for name, and could state where he had formerly met each officer. We had a very pleasant evening and I found him extremely talkative and had the good sense to let him do the talking. The XX Corps captured the gold, art treasures and diamonds of the Hungarian Government, which were immediately placed under proper May 7, 1945 (cont'd p.2) guard. [The XX Corps captured the gold, art treasures and diamonds of the Hungarian Government, which were immediately placed under proper guard.] The Commanding General of the German Army Group, South, surrendered unconditionally to the Commanding General, XX Corps, General Walker. May 8,1945 General Bradley and General Leven C. Allen came to lunch. After lunch we had a meeting in which we asked a number of questions about the future regrouping of the armies. Due to the fact that SHAEF has made know decisions, most of these questions were not susceptible of being answered. This morning at the regular briefing, I spoke to the assembled officers, beginning my remarks with the statement that this was the last regular briefing in Europe. Most of them understood what I meant, and I added that I hope we will have other similar briefings in China. I thanked them for what they had done. 2 1/2 years ago today we landed in Africa. During all that period until tonight at midnight we will have been practically in continuous battle. There is going to be a tremendous let down unless we watch ourselves. At 1130 I said goodby to the war correspondents and was excessively photographed by them and with them. I also signed a large number of short snorters and handed out a general letter of thanks, which I had personally signed, to any correspondent who desired one. I also received today a very fine letter of congratulation from the Secretary of War which reads as follows: "I congratulate you and your heroic soldiers of the Third Army. I command you for the dashing and spectacular victories which have [?]ed a great part in bringing about this glorious day. The ex- May 8, 1945 ( cont'd p.2) pilots of the Third Army have been in the highest traditions of the armies that have defended America throughout its history. You and your gallant forces well deserve the nation, s homage. STIMSON Secretary of War." May 9, 1945 General Gay and myself flew to Pilsen to visit the V Corps, and after lunch inspected the Skoda Munitions Plant. This was very inter- esting and I found a new form of beige suspension for tanks, of which I took some pictures. I believe that for light tanks it is very satis- factory. This plant was the place where the German .88 was manufactur- ed. We issued orders for the V Corps and the XII Corps to take over control of Czechoslovakia up to the stop line and to prevent, so far as possible, German units from crossing. However, General Bradley in- dicated that it was permissible for German civilians to cross. General walker had a conference with the Commanding General of the Russian XX Corps and there were mutual decorations. May 10,1945 General Bradley called up and told me to be prepared to place road blocks on all roads leading southeast and northeast of territory now occupied by us and to put signs in front of these road blocks saying that in accordance with terms of surrender, all German military personal will remain beyond that point, that is, east of this line. this message was immediately phoned to the corps Commanders. I suggested to General Bradley that unless we had authority to defend road blocks, it was foolish to put them up. He phoned and said authority had been granted. May 10, 1945 ( cont'd p.2) He also stated that we could use demolitions to temporarily pre- vent movement of trains into our area. I issued General Order No. 98, terminating the war toady. General Weyland and I flew to Headquarters XII Army Group, where we had lunch with the Supreme Commander and four Army Commanders and their air officers. After lunch, General Eisenhower talked to us very confidential on the necessity for solidarity in the event that any of us are called before a Congressional Committee. He outlined what he thought was the proper form of organization. While none of us exactly agreed with it, it was not sufficiently contrary to our views to pre- vent our supporting it in general. He then made a speech which had to me the symptoms of political aspirations, on cooperating with the British, Russians and the Chinese , but particularly with the British. It is my opinion that this talking cooperation is for the purpose of covering up probable criticism of strategical blunders which he unquestionably committed during the campaign. Whether or not these were his own or due to too much co- operations with the British, I don't know. I am inclined to think that he over-cooperated. May 11,1945 General Hughes, General Muller and Colonel Harkins made an in- section trip by plane, including some of the prison camps, Linz and Pilsen. Tomorrow we will meet the Commanding General of the 4th Russian Guards Army at Linz where I will decorate 12 Russians. May 12,1945 The following officers flew to Linz where, by my invitation we May 12, 1945 ( cont'd p.2) met the Commanding General of the 4th Russians Guards Army: Generals Patton, Gay, Hughes, Maddox, Muller, Conklin, and Colonel Harkins, Hammond, and Koch and Major Popovsky. I felt it was more correct for him to call on me than for me to call on him. The 65th Division provided a guard of honor. We then decorated the General and 12 other members of his party with different types of Legion of Merit. The General got "Commander", the chief of Artillery got "officer" and the rest got "Legionnaires". No officer of the American Army can get anything above the Legion- naire grade. However, it is my guess that at the close of the war, a few of the very top Legion of Merit medals, of which I believe Grand Officer is the highest, will be used for specially selected officers of the Army and Navy, and also people in civil life. After the ceremony was over we went to the officers' club of the 65th Division and had lunch, which consisted mostly of whiskey. The Russians tried to drink American whiskey without water very bad results. I unquestionably drank the Russian commander under the table and walked out under my own steam. We are going to pay back a call on the 14th, prior to which date I will drink quite a lot of mineral oil, as they will unquestionably try to get us drunk. May 13, 1945 Nothing of importance happened. May 14, 1945 The same group of officers that participated in the festivities on the 12th went to the Headquarters of the 4th Russian Guards Army where we were received by Marshal Tolbukhim, Commander of the 3d May 14th 1945 (cont'd p.2) Ukrainian Front. He apparently is the next highest ranking Marshal to Stalin, and in order to present me with the Medal, the Order of Ku- tuzov (First Degree) he had to present. He was a very inferior man and sweated profusely at all times. They certainly put on a tremendous show. The whole road, which I should think was 15 miles from the bridge where we met them till we reached the chateau formerly belonging to the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, had actually been swept. There were soldiers about every hundred yards along the road, standing at present arms, and also ex- tremely buxom female MP's. When we got the chateau, they had soldiers with a sort of shoe- blackening arrangement to clean our boots. They had a great many women retainers who did everything except wipe your face. They did go to the extent of spraying your head with perfume. Know Russian could sit down or get up without asking the Marshal's permission. After lunch they had very splendid show which unquestionably had been flown in from Moscow. They did their best to get us drunk but we had taken the precaution of drinking two ounces of mineral oil before starting on the expedition. We were also very careful what we drank. The medal given me is No. 58, which indicates that it is quite highly considered. I have never seen in any Army at any time, including the German Imperial Army of 1912, as severe discipline as exits in the Russian Army. The officers, with few exceptions, give the appearance of re- cently civilized Mongolian bandits. The men passed in review with a very good imitation of the goose step. They give me the impression of something that is to be feared in future world political reorgan- ization. May 15, 1945 Nothing of importance happened. May 16, 1945 General Hughes and I, Codman, Captain E.P. Creed, Lt. Graves, Sgt. Mims and Sgt Meeks left by plane, first for Paris and then for London, where I am going to take a leave in Manchester and visit my friends in the vicinity. Before we left, General Frederick Osborn, in charge of morale, came to see me and made some of the profoundest remarks, indicating utter lack of knowledge of Americans and American soldiers that I have ever heard. The idea which has suddenly impinged on his brain is that officers and soldiers should talk more freely. I know of no army in the world where it is done more than in this Army, and I told Osborn I had known that for some forty years. He said he had studied this for four years and felt that I was wrong. I think he is a man whose education has surpassed his mental capacity. In Paris, Senator Wadsworth and his son met me at the airfield and we had twenty minutes of very pleasant conversation. We then flew to an airfield near London. The flight took about an hour and a half, and we went up to Thames Estuary, passed over the London Bridge and the Tower of London. From the air the center of London - over which we flew and which was the target for the buzz bombs and also for the blitz - is infinitely less badly beaten up than any of the German cities I have seen. Of course Paris is not hurt at all. We were billeted at Claridges', and by telephoning to the Lunts I had a chance to get two tickets and see their play, which was most amusing. During the show, numerous reporters came and took pictures May 16, 1945 (cont'd p.2) of me. I think that they may have thought I was Montgomery, until I started to go out, when they found out I was a bigger. Outside we stopped to speak to the Lunts in their dressing room, then we got into the car. The whole street for about three blocks was a solid mass of people waiting to see me, and there was much yelling, handshaking, etc. May 17,1945 The telephone started ringing early in the morning, with members of the press requesting interviews. I dodged most of these, but had to talk to some. I simply stated that I was very glad to be in England because it felt like home to me, which is a mild remark, well- swallowed by the English. I had planned to see Colonel Sir Thomas Cunningham, but found he died in January. Brigadier Bridge, whom I had known when he was Military Attache in Washington, called to see me. We had a very pleasant time. I also drove out to the flat of my god-daughter, Martha Brown, six months old, and have her mother a fruit cake which I had received through Mrs. Kent 1 from Bea. Lady Astor asked me to lunch at the House of Commons, but I told her that people stared at me too much, and invited her to have lunch with me at Claridge's. She accepted and we had a very pleasant time together. She is a very smart old lady. Just after lunch, the telephone rang. It was General Bull calling up from Reims requesting me to come back at once. This put an end to my proposed leave. I got Mrs. Kent to call up the hotel in Manchester, and some of my friends, and tell them I was not coming. 1. A civilian War. Dept. secretary May 17, 1945(cont'd p.2) I arrived at Rheims at 5:30 and went to see General Eisenhower, where I found that my recall was due to the fact that Tito is rais- ing hell at the north end of the Adriatic, and General Marshall had telegraphed General Eisenhower that it was necessary to use the prest- ige of my name and the Third Army and at least five armored divi- sions to bluff him. I went over the proposed arrangements with Gen- earl Bull, and we arrived at the very simple solution of turning over the XV Corps to me, and turning over our III Corps, which is on oc- cupation duty, to the Seventh Army. General Eisenhower, General Bradley and I had dinner together and talked until about 1:30. May 18, 1945 General Bradley and I went over the plans again with Bull and then flew to Regensburg where the Chief of Staff of the Seventh Army, their G-3 and G-4, the G-3 and G-4 of the Twelfth Army Group and members of the Third Army went over the details for the exchange of it should take place. The idea is to make a strong bluff along the Enns River and if offensive action becomes necessary, to cross it. We have not yet swapped Corps, but have arranged with the Seventh to move the 20th Armored Division up behind the 42d Infantry Divi- sion. We have also arranged to move up bridging material so if we have to cross, we can do it fast. The question at issue is not so much Tito as to whether or not he is the pawn of the Russians and, if so, whether he is being used as red herring to pull us to the south so that the Russians may resume offensive in Central Germany; or whether the Russians are actually backing Tito with the idea of getting a port, or ports, May 18, 1945 (cont'd p.2) on the northern end of the Adriatic. The situation should clarify itself within a few days. If it does not, considerable complication will arise on redeployment. In my opinion, the American Army as it now exists could beat the Russians with the greatest of ease, because while the Russians have good infantry, they are lacking in artillery, air, tanks, and in the knowledge of the use of the combined arms; whereas we excel in all three of these. If it should be necessary to fight the Russians, the sooner we do it the better. General Eisenhower and General Bradley were somewhat worried about the attitude of the soldiers. Personally, I don't think the soldier cares. The present American soldier is so well disciplined and so patriotic he will fight anywhere he is told to fight, and do a good job. I believe that by taking a strong attitude, the Russians will back down. So far we have yield too much to their Mongolian nature. END OF MILITARY OPERATIONS Note: About June 3d G.S.P. was told that he would fly to USA on a goodwill trip. He was ill with a "strep" throat at the time, but went notwithstanding, arriving at Bedford Airport June 7th. George was allowed to leave West Point to meet him. This was the last time we saw his father. Both girls came to Boston. There is no diary May 18-July 3d He says so on July 5th Mrs. Patton where are May 19th to July 4th July 4, 1945 Sgt. Meeks and I left Washington shortly before noon yesterday with our initial stop at Stephensville In Newfoundland. We were unable to land there so flew on to Gander Lake. Here the pilot told me that since the plane was light, he could fly direct to Paris without stopping at the Azores, so I told him to do so. We made the trip from Gander Lake to Paris in eleven hours elapsed time. Shortly after daylight we flew over Le Havre and Sgt. Meeks said to me, "General, that is France, we have sure done our thirty days!" In a sense I had a similar feeling, because with the exception of my own immediate family, the whole attitude of the people in America is quite inimical to that which exists in Europe. None of them realizes that one cannot fight for two and a half years and be the same. Yet you are expected to get back into the identical groove from which you departed and from which your non-warlike compatriots have never moved. I was particularly depressed with the attitude in the War Department, where everyone seems to place emphasis on what they call "planning" and no emphasis at all on fighting. Furthermore, everything is being directed towards Japan and we are certainly, in Europe, a secondary theater. The last day I was in Washington I was talking with General Cook and he made the remark, "George, you are to be congratulated because Courtney Hodges has gone to China." I said I didn't see anything to be congratulated about because that is where I wanted to go. He said, "Well, that is the reason I am congratulating you, because Courtney will get himself in trouble over there and you will have to go and get him out." As I did in the Bulge, I suppose. Speaking of which reminds me that Courtney Hodges and Omar Bradley got a DSM for their unsuccessful defense of the Bulge and I did not get one for successfully defending [obliterating it] it. July 4, 1945 ( cont'd p.2) General Hughes met me at the Paris airport and I went to his apart- ment at the Georges V Hotel and was surprised to find it was already after lunchtime, so we had some sandwiches. He then asked me if I want- ed to go the reception of the American Ambassador, so we went and it was somewhat reassuring to find that I was still a fairly good sized lion. Aside from this interlude, Paris was a gloomy and uninteresting place although it is the only capital in Europe which has not been heavily bombed. July 5, 1945 Left in the Third Army plane for Bad Tolz and arrived shortly before noon, to be met by four Corps Commanders and the Army Chief of Staff. The Corps Commanders were Keyes, Robertson, Irwin and Craig. Keyes will only be with us for a short time. Huebner, the V Corps Com- mander, was not present as he has gone to America. At this time we have in the Army, I believe, 32 divisions. All the way from the airport to the Headquarters, a distance of about nine miles, the road was patrolled by tanks of the 10th Armored Division and Armored Infantry stationed at very brief intervals while overhead some 50 planes of the XIX Tactical Air Command flew in con- tenuous and nerve-wracking protection- nerve-wracking in that they very seldom missed the tops of the pine trees along the road by more than ten feet. On arrival at headquarters we had a guard of honor and I said a few well chosen words to the assembled officers and enlisted men of the Headquarters of the Third Army. It gave me a very warm feeling in my heart to be back among soldiers. After this we had some cocktails and then lunched in the Officers' Mess. July 5, 1945 (cont'd p.2) I terminated my Diary on May 18, as it seemed to me that there was nothing more of interest in the world now that the war was over. However, since I have visited America and returned here, I believe that while a continuous day by day diary is not justified, a spot diary, when interesting things occur, may prove of interest. August 1, 1945 I flew to Frankfurt to accept General Eisenhower's Invitation to dinner and was met at the airport by his English Aside, Lt. Colonel Jimmy Gault, whom I have known for about two years. On they way in I asked him how I could get hold of the medal for the Knight of the British Empire,, that is, the KBE. He said he thought the King would be very glad to decorate me personally, and that he would arrange the details. 1 During dinner, which Ike and I were eating alone, Beedle Smith and Mr. McCloy came in and spent a few hours talking things over. After they left, Ike and I continued to talk and I learned some interesting facts, particularly what impelled him to order us to halt short of the Moldau River when we could so easily have advanced that far and when, in fact, elements of the Third Army were already in Prague. The same hold order, of course, applied also /to the Ninth and First Armies. It seems that when Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were in Teheran in the fall of 1943, Churchill was convinced that even in the unlikely event of the Allies being able to make a landing on the Continent, they would never be able to cross the Rhine, and he therefore persuaded FDR to go along with him in asking Stalin to have the Russians capture Berlin and Vienna, and gave the Russians a line about 100 miles east? of Berlin. Later, when we were going along well and could easily have [*This checks O.K. with longhand diary BAP*] 1. Given posthumously, June 25, 1949 August 1, 1945 (cont'd p.2) taken Berlin, Churchill asked Ike to do it and Ike replied by stating that it was Churchill's fault that the line had been established where it was. I believe this was a great mistake on Ike's part because he we taken the country to the Moldau River and Berlin, we would have saved a great deal of agricultural Germany and prevented what I believe historians will consider a horrid crime, and great loss of prestige in letting the Russians take the two leading capitals of Europe. August 8, 1945 General Gay and I flew to Hanau to inspect and say goodbye to the 6th Armored Division, which, being a Category IV unit, is being sent to the United Sates as soon as possible and, by the same token, is being built up with high point men; so when we inspected it only 2,500 of the original 6th Armored Division men were present. In spite of this the soldiers present, to the number of more 12,000, put on a really good show, which proves that the spirit of a unit is something beyond, and outside, the personnel composing it. Also, that troops who are veterans are good in any unit. However, this virtue of being a veteran does not last after the man has got soft and forgotten his military training, so we cannot base our trust in any future army on the fact that we have some 11 or 12 million veterans to call upon. At the close of the ride around, and before the march past, the massed colors of the Division were brought to the front and I had an opportunity to decorate them and also some officers and men. The ceremony was new to me and very pretty. I will try to have it repeated in other units. At the close of the Sicilian Campaign I talked to a group of officers from each Division. These groups were composed of the Division Commander, the best Regimental Commander, the best Battalion Commander August 8, 1945 (cont'd p.2) and the best Commander of each type of company and platoon. The purpose was to obtain from the men who did it the means they used to fight, because having studied war since I was about sixteen years old, I have only come across some twelve books which deal with fighting, although there are many hundreds which deal with war. This is because the people who fight either are killed are inarticulate. With this end in view, I talked to a selected group from the 6th Armored Division and intend to repeat it with the 4th and 10th Armored Division, the 1st, 90th and 80th Infantry Divisions and the 2d, 4th, and 3d Cavalry Groups. Then, taking an algebraic sum from each type of unit, I will get a solution to the method of warfare. Of course, the horrid thought obtrudes itself that in spite of my efforts - which will be probably filed and forgotten - the tactics of the next war will be written by someone who never fought and who acquired his knowledge by a meticulous study of the regulations of this and the last World War, none of which were ever put into practice in battle. However, I console myself with the thought that I have, insofar as the ability within me lay, done my damndest. But it seems very queer that we invariably entrust the writing of our regulations for the next war to men totally devoid of any but theoretical knowledge. In this war we were also unfortunate in that our high command in the main consisted of staff officers who, like Marshall, Eisenhower and McNarney, had practically never exercised command. I think it was this lack of experience which induced them to think of, and treat, units such as divisions, corps and armies, as animated tables of organization rather than as living entities. Lt.General Bishop Gowlina of the Polish Army came to see me and stayed to lunch. He is a very bright man, speaks perfect English, and August 8, 1945 ( cont'd p.3) hates the Russians with reason. He told me some of their methods. For example, in order to make one of his Bishops sign a false certificate with respect of two priests, they did nothing to the Bishop but brought a young girl into his cell and began to methodically beat her to death in order to cause the Bishop to write. The girl urged him not to, but naturally the Bishop could not stand the sight of this brutality and signed. In order to make the best of the thing, the Russians had a sound recorder put in the room, making a record of the girl's screams, which they then played outside the room of any other man they intended to work on at a future time. He stated that several Polish Bishops had been shot because they refused to become members of the Greek Church, but that this took place only in Eastern Poland. Another form of securing testimony is to hang a man by his wrists, but with bandages around them so as not to cut in and make marks - then to make two incisions in the lower abdomen and allow a portion of the intestines to hang out. After the man has taken all he can without dying he is cut down, sewed up, and restored to health with the promise that if he does not do, or write, whatever he is told to, the operation will be repeated. In almost every case the fear of the second torture induces the man to behave as they desire. According to the Bishop, more than two million Poles have been taken to Russia for slave labor. In every case, when they do this they split families. Furthermore, they always lie as to what part of Siberia the Poles have been sent. The Bishop states that if they tell you they have gone to Northern Siberia, the place to look for them is in Southern Siberia. [When I was in Cairo, General Anders, commanding the 2d Polish Corps and who had been a General Staff Officer of a Russian Division] August 8, 1945 (cont'd p.4) When I was in Cairo, General Anders, commanding the 2d Polish Corps and who had been a General Staff Officer of a Russian Division under the Emperor in World War I, told me that he was certain that the Russians had deliberately murdered quite a few thousand Polish officers. He was himself kept in jail for about two years. He told me that if he ever marched his Corps of two divisions in between the Russians and the Germans, he would attack in both directions. The difficulty in understanding the Russians is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thins deviously. We can no more understand a Russian then we can understand a Chinaman or a Japanese and, from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them, except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russian has no regard for human life and is an all out son of a bitch, barbarian, and chronic drunk. Strange to say, I had a letter from General Sibert on the question of the Russians so that apparently for the first time in his career, he is on a good scent. After the Bishop left, a Mr. G.A. Kemper, whom I used to know in Hawaii in 1924-27, called. He is now Mayor of a town in the British Zone and sates that he was a member of the Trust Department of the Bishop Bank and that he came to Germany in 1936 as a representative of Woolworth and also started a system of small chain stores on his own. Being not a Nazi, according to himself, he was run out of business but was not jailed. He made some remarks, which to me sounded sensible, to the effect that our Military Government is handicapped by they necessity of using dug-out Germans - that is, Germans who are so definitely anti-Nazi that they have not held any office since 1933 and are therefore not only inexperienced in current methods of government but are August 8, 1945(cont'd p.5) more or less old, whereas the whole cry is for youth. Under our rules, which demand the total deNazification of Germany, we have to remove everyone who has ever expressed himself in any way as a Nazi or who has paid party dues. It is very evident that anybody who was is business, irrespective of his real sentiments, had to say he was a Nazi and pay dues. The only young people who were not Nazis came out of the internment camps and are therefore either Jews or Communists. We are certainly in a hard position as far as procuring civil servants is concerned. August 10, 1945 Another war has ended, and with it my usefulness to the world. It is for me personally a very sad thought. Now all that is left to do is to sit around and await the arrival of the undertaker and posthumous immortality. Fortunately, I also have to occupy myself with the de-Nazification and government of Bavaria, and the recruiting of the industries of the German people so that they can be more self-supporting. I have arranged to have wood cut by the Germans and by prisoners of war so that all the cities of Bavaria will have sufficient wood to heat at least one room for every family. This project is proceeding quite well except in the case of the displaced persons who are too worthless to even cut wood to keep themselves warm. We have also started, by use of the German prisoner of war signal personnel, to restore German commercial telephone lines. In addition to this we are working to reestablish railway, canal and road communications - primarily as a means of redeploying our own troops. Further than the preceding, I have ot occupy myself with inspecting every division, particularly those ordered to the United States. Now that the war with the Japanese is practically over, we will have few left in Category II but until now I have inspected some ten or twelve August 10, 1945(cont'd p.2) divisions at the rate of approximately three a week. In every case I make a speech along these lines: See Appendis #155 "General notes on remarks to be made to Division" dated 13 July 1945 August 14, 1945 Inspected the Corps Artillery of the XX of XII Corps. One of the towns through which we drove while making the inspection had been decorated with garlands in honor of me. We saw today the largest gun in the world, an 820mm cannon, that is, a 32-inch bore. The shell weighed 8 tons and it required 11 railway trucks to carry the thing. The materiel used in creating this mammoth and useless weapon would have produced about one hundred 155mm howitzers which would certainly have fried more weight of ammunition per hour than this gun could fire in a day. It is simply another example of Hitler's megalomania. August 18, 1945 In a letter from Beatrice today, she states that Gerow is to get the War College. This is too bad, as he was one of the leading mediocre corps commanders in Europe and only got the Fifteenth Army because he was General Eisenhower's personal friend. With the War college gone, there is nothing open to me, so far as now seems available. However, things have looked gloomy before and something has always turned up. At the request of General Juin, I flew toParis and today returned to the French, at the Invalides, six sets of Colors taken from the French in the War of 1870. It was a colorful ceremony. After that Juin and I drove to the Arc de Triomphe and there placed a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A battalion of the Republican Guard Infantry, in full dress with the plumes and kepis, were the guard August 18, 1945 (cont'd p.2) of honor. There was a crowd of several thousand people and much cheering for Patton. On the way back Charles de Vaux, the son of Mme de Vaux, my old friend at Langres, was very nearly shot by the escort when he rushed out to shake my hand. At dinner with General Juin, the remarkable statement was made by him to me that "It is indeed unfortunate, my General, that the English and Americans have destroyed in Europe the only sound country - and I do not mean France - therefore the road is now open for the advent of Russian Communism." The use of the atomic bomb against Japan was most unfortunate because now it gives a lot of vocal but ill-informed people - mostly fascists, communists and s.o.b.'s assorted - an opportunity to state that the Army, Navy and Air Forces are no longer necessary, as this bomb will either prevent war or destroy the human race. Actually, the bomb is no more revolutionary than the first throwing-stick or javelin, or the first cannon or the first submarine. It is simply, as I have often written, a new instrument added to the orchestra of death, which is war. August 27, 1945 I attended the Military Government meeting at Frankfurt. There were a number of speeches by General Eisenhower and his various assistants, all of which were unrealistic, and in every case the chief interest of the speaker was to say nothing which could be used against him. It is very patent that what the Military Government is trying to do is undemocratic and follows practically Gestapo methods. It is very probable, to me it seems evident, that the doctrines being executed, or attempted, are those promulgated by Morgenthau at the Quebec conference, which were not approved be either the Secretary August 27, 1945 (cont'd p.2) of War or the Secretary of state. It was the meeting in which Morgenthau and later Roosevelt, copying him, stated that Germany was to be made an agricultural state. It is patently impossible for Germany to be an agricultural state; first, because there is enough room in Germany for the country to feed itself on such a basis, and second, because if Germany has no purchasing power, we will not be able to sell our goods to her and therefore our markets will be very considerably restricted. If any paper opposed to the Democrats should get hold of the stuff that is being put out by those in charge of the Military Government of Germany, it could produce very bad results for the Democratic government. I stated that in my opinion Germany is so completely blacked out as far as military resistance is concerned , they are not a menace, and that what we have to look out for is Russia. This caused considerable furore. August 29, 1945 Today we received a letter dated August 22, 1945, reference AG 354.1 GEC-APO, Subject: Special Camps for Stateless and Not Repatriable Individuals in which we were told to give the Jews special accommodations. If for Jews, why not for Catholics, Mormons, etc.? I called up General Bull, Deputy Chief of Staff for Eisenhower, and called his attention to possible repercussions but got nowhere. He simply stated that he had investigated it and that the letter had considerable background. Naturally I intend to carry out the instructions to the limit of my capacity in spite of my personal feeling s against them, and in spite of my fear that in doing such things we will lay ourselves open to just criticism. August 29, 1945 (cont'd p.2) We are also turning over the French several hundred thousand prisoners of war to be used as slave labor in France. It is amusing to recall that we fought the Revolution in defense of the rights of man, and the Civil War to abolish slavery, and have now gone back on both principles. August 31, 1945 Today we received an order to investigate the possibilities of destroying the Eagle's Nest Hitler special home at Berchtesgaden, so that it would not become a Nazi shrine. This building and the tunnel and elevator approaching it cost an approximate seven million dollars. Hitler is alleged to have been there only four times. If anything could make it a Nazi shrine it would be to destroy it. Furthermore, the first thing our soldiers like to visit when on pass is this lookout. To date 40,000 have seen it. I wrote a letter to General Eisenhower pointing out these facts and trust the order will not be enforced. I also wrote a letter to the Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson, on the question of the pro-Jewish influence in the Military Government of Germany. I dared to do this because when I was in Washington he showed me a great deal of correspondence he had with the Secretary of State and Mr. Morgenthau prior to the Quebec conference. September 1, 1945 Father Bernard Hubbard, SJ, "The Glacier Priest" spent last night with us and showed us his movies. He is very anti-Russian and anti- Semite and talks very well when he forgets to advertise himself. I decided to rewrite the letter to Mr. Stimson as I think that, even when writing to him, I stuck my neck out too far. September 15, 1945 (Saturday) Late yesterday afternoon I was notified that General Eisenhower would arrive at Airfield 85 near Munich at 0930 this morning, having flown from the Rivera in a C-54. Harkins and I went there to greet him in spite of the fact he had suggested that I not put myself out. I have always felt that an officer should be present to meet in person an officer of the next higher grade, and in this case General Eisenhower was also my friend. Harkins and I waited until 12:00 o'clock, at which time we heard that General Eisenhower had been unable to land and had to go to Paris to get down, using the beam at the field there. While waiting, I talked to Brigadier General Mickelsen, who id G-5 for Eisenhower's Headquarters. He showed me letter from President Truman to General Eisenhower which was in much less considerate language than I would have used in cussing out a 2d Lieutenant. Mickelsen also showed me the report of a man named Harrison (which report was enclosed in the President's letter) on the condition of displaced persons in Europe, particularly Jews. Harrison is a member of the State Department. The Report contained many allegations against General Eisenhower, the Army and the various commanders. One the chief complaints is that the DP's are kept in camps under guard. Of course Harrison is ignorant of the fact that if they were not kept under guard, they would not stay in the camps, would spread over the country like locusts and would eventually have to be rounded up after quite a few of them had been shot and quite a few Germans murdered and pillaged. The brilliant Mr. Harrison further objected to the sanitary conditions, again being ignorant of the fact that we frequently have to use force in order to prevent the inmates, Germans, Jews and other people, from defecating on the floor when ample facilities are provided outside. September 15, 1945 (cont'd p.2) Evidently the virus started by Morgenthau and Baruch, of a Semitic revenge against all Germans, is still working. Harrison and his associates indicate that they feel German civilians should be removed from houses for the purpose of housing displaced persons. There are two errors in this assumption. First, when we remove an individual German, we punish an individual German, while the punishment is not intended for the individual, but for the race. Furthermore, it is against my Anglo-Saxon conscience to remove a person from a house, which is a punishment, without due process of law. In the second place, Harrison and his ilk believe that the displaced person is a human being, which he is not, and this applies particularly to the Jews, who are lower than animals. I remember once at Troina in Sicily, General Gay said that it wasn't a question of the people living with the dirty animals but of the animals living with the dirty people. At that time he had never seen a displaced Jew. Furthermore, I do not see why Jews should be treated any better or any worse than Catholics, Protestants, Mohammedans or Mormons. However, it seems apparent that we will have to do this, and I am going to do it as painlessly as possible by taking a certain group of buildings in several cities and placing the Jews, who do not exceed 20,000, in sort of improved ghettos. To put the Jews on farms would be disastrous because it would break up the agricultural economy of Bavaria, on which we depend for providing what food is provided which is not paid for by American taxpayers. We arranged a good itinerary for General Eisenhower, which we will put into effect when he comes. Unquestionably he is just as much under fire as is anyone else and, in this particular case, very unjustly so. If the people in Washington would stop trying to find fault with September 16, 1945 (Sunday) (cont'd p.2) off at 1400. Actually he arrived at 2000, and we had supper and spent the evening talking over the situation. In fact we talked until 3:00 o'clock in the morning. General Eisenhower felt at that time he would undoubtedly become Chief of Staff and that McNarney was slated to take over his job in Europe. He asked me, in view of that situation, what I wanted to do. I told him I did not care to serve under General McNarney, not because I had anything personal against him but because I thought it unseemly for a man with my combat record to serve under a man who had never heard a gun go off. I stated there were only two jobs in the United States which I felt I could take. One was President of the Army War College, which I believed was taken, and the other was Commanding General of the Army Ground Forces. General Eisenhower stated that the Army War College would probably be a combined institution with Army, Navy and Air Force and that in that event the first President would be a Naval Officer, since the former President had been General DeWitt, an Army Officer. This seems to put the War College out of the running. With references to the command of the Army Ground Forces, General Eisenhower stated he saw no reason why he, as Chief of Staff, could not remove Devers and put me in. However, he stated he felt that the Army Air Force would become the Air Force with a Chief of Staff of its own and a promotion system of its own, in which case he could see no reason for having an Army Ground Force. I agreed with him. Therefore, at the present writing it would seem the only thing I can do is go home and retire. However, General Eisenhower asked me to remain at least three months after he left so as to get things running quietly. I tentatively agreed to this. September 16, 1945 (cont'd p.3) This is last night that George Murnane and Gay will be with us. Gay, of course, is coming back, but Murnane is returning to civil life which, I believe, is correct as he has done his full duty and more than that since he could have at any time been retired or physical disability. He presented me with the most beautiful fishing rod I have ever seen. Monday, September 17, 1945 We all drove to the airfield in the morning to see Gay and Murnane off in the C-47 /belonging to the Army. Then General Eisenhower and I drove to Munich where we inspected in conjunction with Colonel Dalferes a Baltic displaced persons camp. The Baltic people are the best of the displaced persons and the camp was extremely clean in all respects. Many of the people were in costume and did some folk dances and athletic contest for our benefit. We were both, I think, very much pleased with conditions here. The camp was situated in an old German regular army barracks and they were using German field kitchens for cooking. From the Baltic camp, we drove for about 45 minutes to a Jewish camp in the area of the XX Corps. This camp was established in what had been a German hospital. The buildings were therefore in a good state of repair when the Jews arrived but were in a bad state of repair when we arrived, because these Jewish DP's, or at least a majority of them, have no sense of human relationships. They decline, when practicable, to use latrines, preferring to relive themselves on the floor. The hospital which we investigated was fairly good. They also had a number of sewing machines and cobbler instruments which they had collected, but since they had not collected the necessary parts, they had least fifty sewing machines they could not September 17, 1945 (cont'd p.2) use, and which could not be used by anyone else because they were holding them. This happened to be the feast of Yom Kippur, so they were all collected in a large wooden building which they called a synagogue. It behooved General Eisenhower to make a speech to them. We entered the synagogue, which was packed with the greatest stinking bunch of humanity I have ever seen. When we got about half way up, the head rabbi, who was dressed in a fur hat similar to that worn by Henry VIII of England, and in a surplice heavily embroidered and very filthy, came down and met the General. A copy of Talmud, I think it is called, written on a sheet and rolled around a stick, was carried by one of the attending physicians. First, a Jewish civilian made a very long speech which nobody seemed inclined to translate. Then General Eisenhower mounted the platform and I went up behind him and he made a short and excellent speech, which was translated paragraph by paragraph. The smell was so terrible that I almost fainted, and actually about three hours later, lost my lunch as the result of remembering it. From here we went to the Headquarters of the XX Corps, where General Craig gave us an excellent lunch which I, however, was unable to partake of, owing to my nausea. After lunch we visited a village which had been taken over in toto by the Seventh Army for DP's and turned over to us. This village was a model German workers' village and had been built to house the high-class workers employed in an ordnance factory nearby. It was my purpose to turn this over into a Jewish concentration camp. Here we met the most talkative Jewish female, an American, who was running the UNNRA part of the camp. The hospitals, and all the buildings September 17, 1945 (cont'd p.3) here, are in a very high state of repair and can be easily looked after. After inspecting this and making another speech, which I avoided, General Eisenhower ordered that sufficient Germans be evicted from houses contiguous to the concentration camp so that the density per capita of DP's and Germans should be approximately the same. Also that the American guards be removed from the camp except for a standby guard in case of a riot, and that guards composed of unarmed inmates take over the police of the camp proper. However, he stated that in any case where inmates of the camp misbehaved or refrained from cleaning up, the military authorities would cut off the food until proper cleanliness had been achieved and disciplinary action been taken. After this we returned home and went for a fishing trip on the lake which, while not successful, at least removed from our minds the nauseous odors and aspects of the camps we had inspected. We then took as long and as hot a bath as we could stand, to remove from our persons the germs which must have accumulated during the day. I believe this was the first time General Eisenhower had inspected or seen much of displaced persons. Of course, I have seen them since the beginning and marveled that beings alleged to be made in the form of God can look the way they do, or act the way they act. Tuesday, September 18, 1945 Ike and I drove to the airfield, arriving at 0830, where he took off in the Army C-47 to visit the Seventh Army and I took off for Pilsen in the new Army C-45 to carry out an invitation extended to me by General Harmon to go on a shoot. Harmon met me at Pilsen airport September 18, 1945 (cont'd p.2) and we immediately took off by motor, preceded by a Czech army car, to the chateau of the Prince Schwartzenburg family. Schwartzenburg was the only General who actually ever defeated Napoleon on the field of battle, before Waterloo. The drive, which took two hours and a half, paralleled the boundary between the Russians and Americans in Czechoslovakia until about the least 45 minutes, when we crossed into the Russian zone. It is interesting to note that in the American zone the normal number of ducks, chickens, sheep, cows and horses are apparent. When one crosses into the Russian Zone these animals either disappear or become rare. The Russians live off the country in spite of the fact that Czechoslovakia is not a captured, but liberated country. The chateau, which is extremely large, having 140 rooms, was built around 1700 and is therefore not a defensible building but a show-off place. When we arrived there was a Guard of Honor composed of about a platoon of Czech soldiers dressed in assorted overalls; also there was a Lt. General commanding the Second Czech Army, A Major General commanding the area, and a Colonel commanding the district - all of whom were in proper uniform and most polite. In fact, it was through their courtesy that the shoot was made possible. There was also a man called the Direktor who, I presume, was the major domo, two deputy Direktors, one for Finance and one for Sport, and also an abbreviated jockey who spoke English and was used primarily as aninterpreter, although two of the officers we had with us spoke both Czech and English. As usual in Europe, the first thing to do was eat. This meal considered of salad, soup, three kinds of meat, four or five kinds of wine, and an unlimited quantity of beer. After this was taken aboard we went through the chateau, which September 18, 1945 (cont'd p.3) reminded me very much of Bannerman's. 1 I have never seen so much armor and weapons assembled in one place with total disregard of historical sequence. That is, you would find a weapon of late 1400 crossed over one of early 1800. There were four complete suits of plate. One of these was a working suit of about 1500 which was a good one. The rest were fluted and fixed up, really tin dress clothes of a later date. In the armory proper there was a tremendous collection of 16th century steel helmets and earlier morions of the Spanish type; also a number of pikes of the Gustavus Adolphus period which, however, had been sawed off. There were two or three wheel-lock guns which were priceless. We were also shown a great deal of what I believe is called Buhl furniture - that is, furniture composed of ebony, tortoise shell and ivory. The whole tour of the chateau proper took about two hours. Then we were taken to a sporting museum, which was another chateau built prior to the first one we visited. Here they had every type of animal ever killed on the estate, stuffed. Among the more interesting creatures were the hunting dogs used around 1700 to 1800 to kill boar and bear and wolf. They seem to have looked very much like a light boned mastiff and wore a collar about six inches wide to protect their throats when engaged in combat. Behind this museum was a zoo, containing a bunch of very dejected animals with a sign on it in Russian, for the benefit of the Russians, saying they were not to kill or tease the animals in the zoo. About an hour before dark we drove deep into the woods where we 1. Bannerman's emporium sells everything from mediaeval armor to diving suits. It also fits out revolutions. It is located on the Hudson River just norht of West Point. September 18, 1945 (cont'd p.4) met some more game-keepers and were placed on stands. The stand I was on was an elevated tower about 30 feet high camouflaged in the trees with a couple of peep holes. There was bench up there and all one had to do was sit down and wait until the keeper, who stood guard with a pair of binoculars, announced that the deer had arrived. Unfortunately for me, these deer did not arrive until it was practically dark. I got one shot at 138 paces and luckily got a hit. However, since I was using a carbine, the animal did not go down, so we had to sit and wait for him to die and listen to his mournful coughing. When it was quite dark we went to get him and heard him in the woods about 50 feet from us but it was decided that the best thing to do was to wait until morning. I believe this was correct, for had we pursued him it might have been difficult to find him. As it was, he was very easily located in the morning. Unquestionably the peep-sight on the American carbine and M-1 rifle is not suitable for fighting in a bad light. September 19, 1945 When I woke up in the morning and looked out, the stag had already arrived and was being properly arranged in the center of the courtyard where they had made a bed of green leaves for him and laid him down with his head propped up with a stick. It was interesting to note that where he had first been laid on the stone and bled a little, three old women were scrubbing on their knees. We went down and had some pictures taken, then had breakfast, at which they served cognac, which nobody drank. Then, having thanked our fiends for their courtesy, departed for another shooting place belonging to a prince, whose name I do not know. We were met by the heir apparent who took us to a wood road where September 19, 1945 (cont'd p.2) his father, mother and wife, riding in a carriage, met us. Here we dismounted and walked through the woods for a considerable distance. I at once shot a fallow deer at about 200 yards, standing. I think I probably hit him as he went down and the two other deer who were with him ran in the opposite direction. We walked after these and came upon them in about an hour. I gave Harmon the shot but he did not kill the deer; apparently he shot high. We then returned to the hunting lodge where the ladies and the older prince met us and we had sandwiches and a bottle of white wine. From there we drove back to Pilsen and took the airplane for Bad Tolz, which we reached about 3:15. September 21, 1945 General Louis Craig came in to see me this morning to explain how he has arranged for taking care of the Jews. It has been necessary for him, against his and my instincts, to move thirty-two rich German families from their houses in order to put these animals in them. I told Craig to take pictures of the houses before they were occupied by the Jews, and then subsequently. I also told him to move the Germans with as much consideration as possible, and to give them transportation to move as much of their decent property out as they could. Craig had been offered command of the Seventh Service Command in Omaha, and has accepted it. He has been a very good officer. He told me he had inspected another Jewish camp yesterday in which he found men and women using adjacent toilets which were not covered in any way, although screens were available to make the toilets individually isolated, which the Jews were too lazy to put up. He said the conditions and filth were unspeakable. In one room he found ten people, six men and four women, occupying four double September 21, 1945 (cont'd p.2) beds. Either the displaced persons never had sense of decency, or else they lost it all during their period of internment by the Germans. My personal opinion is that no people could have sunk to the level of degradation these have reached in the short space of four years. I am arranging this morning the help of Van Merle-Smith to ship a great deal of assorted junk home. September 22, 1945 This morning we had the ragtag and bobtail remnants of the great U.S. press present at the weekly Saturday morning briefing. It was about 15 minutes long as there is nothing left to talk about. At the termination of the briefing, we had the animated story of the 11th Panzer Division; that is, one officer recounted what the 11th Panzer Division did from the German sources, and another officer described what we did to counteract that Division, and also what information we had concerning them. There was remarkable unanimity; in fact, had we known as much about all other enemy units as we did about the famous so-called "Fire Brigade" or "Ghost Division" - two nicknames for the 11th Panzer - there would have been no pleasure in the war. At the termination of this I permitted the newspaper correspondents to question me. I did this weekly during active operations and always had them on my side. Today there was very apparent hostility, not against me personally, but against the Army in general. The special gripe seems to be that we are backing the wrong horse in the choice of Governor, or President, of Bavaria. The temerity of the newspaper man in suggesting that he knew more about who we should have than I do, although I know nothing, made me mad, which is what I think they wanted. September 22, 1945 (cont'd p.2) There is a very apparent Semitic influence in the press. They are trying to do two thing; first, implement Communism and second, see that all businessmen of German ancestry and non-Jewish antecedents are thrown out of their jobs. They have utterly lost the Anglo-Saxon conception of justice and feel that a man can be kicked out because somebody else says he is a Nazi. They were evidently quite shocked when I told them I would kick nobody out without the successful proof of guilt before a court of law. If people have time to read anything besides number of points which will get a soldier home, I will probably make the front page, but, frankly, do not give a damn. The attitude of the American people as evinced by the press and the radio is such I am inclined to think I made a great mistake in serving them for nearly forty years, although I had a very good time doing it. Another point which the press harped on was the fact that we are doing too much for the Germans to the detriment of the DP's, 20000 of whom are Jews. I could not give the answer to that one because the answer is that, in my opinion and /that of most non-political officers, it is vitally necessary for us to build Germany up now as a buffer state against Russia; in fact, I am afraid we have waited too long. If we let Germany and the German people be completely disintegrated and starved, they will certainly fall for Communism, and the fall of Germany for Communism will write the epitaph of Democracy in the United States. The more I see of people, the more I regret that I survived the war. September 25, 1945 I have just finished reading a resume of the Potsdam Conference as set out in "Army talks". If Mars and the Devil had gotten together with the intention of producing a violent and prompt war they could not have written a greater document. As is always the case with Allies, it is a compromise in which one of high contracting parties was uncompromising; namely, Russia. Russia knows what she wants (domination of the world) and is laying plans accordingly. We, on the other hand, and England and France to a lesser extent, don't know what we want and get less than nothing as the result. The only possible sensible solution to the German question was partition and annexation, and in order to have been just, we should have annexed a portion. So should France, England, and Russia. Under the present system all that has been produced is a hot bed of anarchy and hopelessness which is an ideal germinating ground for Communism. Just before lunch Beedle Smith called and said that because I was one of his best friends, I had caused him more trouble than any other man. He then read me extracts from the headlines in the United States covering the remarks I was alleged to have made on Saturday. I told him now that the war was over, I did not propose to be jumped on any more by the press and if they did not like what I did, I would resign so I could be in a position to talk back. He urged me not to do this and said there were going to be many changes soon that both he and I might be out of jobs. He then suggested that I have a press conference this afternoon and clarify my statements. I did this and wrote out a statement, copy attached. I also attach a copy of the stenographic report of the remarks made during the conference. (p.2)' ld correspondents told me, the whole thing ne unlucky presence of two itinerant correspondents, from the N.Y. "Times" and Carl Levin, from the Herald h pink. used to be with the Scripps Howard papers and who alleges he is a friend of Colonel Rob Fletcher's, came in with a long story about the attempt on the part of Jewish and Communist elements to put the bug on people like myself. While his story sounded plausible, I have developed such a low opinion of all newspaper people that I think he is probably a liar. After supper I received a telegram from General Eisenhower stating that I had been accused of differing with him in the conduct of the de-Nazification of Bavaria and asking me to fly up to Frankfurt either Wednesday or Thursday, whenever the weather permits. It may well be that the Philistines have at last got me. On the other hand, every time I have been in serious trouble, or thought I was, it has turned out to my advantage. At least, this time I do not have to go on the defensive. (See Appendices #156 and 157 - transcript of stenographic notes of press conference 25 Sept 45, Hq 3rd Army, Bad Tolz, Germany, held by General Patton; and Notes for Press Conference 25 September 1945. September 26, 1945 I had in Colonel Dalferes, the Third Army Public Relations Officer, and Mr. Bushman, the State Dept. Representative at Third Army Headquarters, to go over the questions proposed by General Eisenhower in his telegram with reference to the incorrect quotations of myself. Weather conditions prevented my flying to Frankfort and I was very glad of this as I had three times refused General Bethovart's invitation to go chamois hunting. September 26, 1945 (cont'd p.2) Major Merle-Smith and I left by car at 1230. We crossed the Austrian border at Schurniz where we were met by a French General and Mr. Louis de Blaas. We transferred into peeps and drove more or less east up into Karwendelkettle, branching off with guides in a northerly direction up valleys. My guide had very remarkable eyes and could see chamois where I could not find them with high powered field glasses. I had one shot at about 300 yards with the Winchester .06 with the sniper's sight. I was all right for windage but about a foot low. We then drove to the head of navigation, so to speak, and stopped in a native's house to let a snow storm pass. I noticed the man was limping and asked what was the matter. Since I do not know German I had to guess at his reply, but it seemed to me that he had cut his foot with an axe and that it was nearly rooted off. We got the first aid kit out of the peep and repaired his foot. We then walked for about two hours and a half in the snow and rain but saw no chamois. I found out later that the remarkable diligence on the part of the guides is owing to the fact that the native sportsmen do not tip them unless they get a kill. However, being visitors, we tipped them. We then drove to a swiss chalet, which I have a sneaking suspicion belonged to the former Emperor of Austria, and had a very good French dinner, including oysters, which I had to eat without dressing - not me, the oysters. After dinner General Bethouart presented me with a really extremely handsome 8MM Mauser rifle with set trigger and telegraphic sight. Unquestionably he had stolen it, but he must have stolen it from a gun store as it was perfectly new. Transcribed and reviewed by contributors participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.