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Gen. Patton slapped soldiers in hospitals for being nervous
By Hon. George A. Jones Jr. Contributing Writer
(Aug. 18, 2023) This week, 80 years ago, the “Slaps Heard ‘Round the World” were still reverberating throughout the Allied Armies.
On July 10, 1943, the Seventh U.S. Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., and Gen. Bernard Montgomery’s Eighth British Army invaded Sicily. General Patton’s Seventh Army was relegated to support and protect Monty’s Eighth Army.
General Patton was not happy with the role assigned to him and began finding ways to expand the mission and the glory of his army. Due to Monty’s McClellen-like advance, Patton saw victory over the Germans and Italians as well as Montgomery in the conquest of Messina.
After much hard fighting, Messina fell to American forces. Not a perfect campaign, but good enough. Patton had conquered all of his foes and was riding high. Unfortunately, Nemesis was stalking the battlefield and the wheel of fortune was turning.
On Aug. 2, 1943, Pvt. Charles H. Kuhl reported to an aid station where he was diagnosed as exhausted and transferred to the evacuation hospital for evaluation. Gen. Patton would visit the hospital on the day Pvt. Kuhl arrived.
Patton noticed that unlike the other soldiers, who were obviously physically wounded, Pvt. Kuhl appeared to be unscathed. To Patton’s question of where he was hurt, Kuhl replied that he was nervous and could not take it. Patton exploded like a grenade and slapped Kuhl in the face and kicked him out of the tent. Afterwards, Kuhl was returned to the tent where it was determined that he had a high temperature and malaria.
A week later, Pvt. Paul Bennett found himself at the 93rd Evacuation Hospital with a fever, dehydration, fatigue and confusion. Pvt. Bennett’s request to be allowed to return to his unit was denied by the medical officers. A final click of fortune’s wheel brought Gen. Patton and Pvt. Bennett together. Gen. Patton inquired as to Pvt. Bennett’s injury and was informed by the private that he was nervous. Then, the general burst into a rage, slapping Bennett and brandishing his pistol.
Both incidents were traumatic to the two privates and to the medical officers and personnel, but not so much to many of the high-ranking officers who accompanied Gen. Patton and to the other wounded soldiers. The Army doctors were less understanding and forgiving of Gen. Patton’s outburst for it disturbed the good order of the hospital and interfered with their duties.
News of the two slapping incidents soon began to seep out. Official reports were filed and rumors spread amongst the troops. It was not long before the news fell on the desks of Gens. Omar Bradley and Dwight D. Eisenhower (“Ike”). They were not happy, but they knew their bad old man and thought it best for the war effort to keep the incidents under wraps.
The next act of the war would be the invasion of Fortress Europa where Gen. Patton would not play a direct role. His Seventh Army was planned for dissolution, so there was no problem that Patton had nothing to command.
What should be done? Patton was scolded and apologies were de- manded and given, and mostly accepted by the soldiers, including Pvt. Kuhl. Gen. Patton knew that his actions, which he thought would be beneficial to the privates’ efforts to overcome what he considered cowardice, would not be tolerated in Ike’s democratic army, and by the powerful army of the newspapermen like Drew Pearson, who spread the story of the slaps to the American home front.
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There were a few calls for Gen. Patton’s removal by citizens and politicians, but Gens. Eisenhower and George C. Marshall and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, knew that to fire Gen. Patton would greatly weaken the crusade for Europe.
President Roosevelt reminded reporters of President Abraham Lincoln’s response to those who called for the removal of General Ulysses S. Grant due to the general’s propensity to get drunk. To punish and protect Gen. Patton, Ike would use Patton’s absence from command of a standing army to execute the most effective ruse since the Greeks left a wooden horse outside of the gate of Troy.
The Germans knew that invasion was imminent, but were unsure where it would take place. The Allies created a phantom army opposite Pas de Calais, France, commanded by Gen. Patton in order to divert German forces from Normandy. Gen. Patton missed participating in the invasion of Normandy, but his mere existence hampered German response to it.
Within a year of the slaps, Gen. Patton returned to the war with the U.S. Third Army that broke out of Normandy, liberated France and defeated the German offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge. Soon the ripples caused by the slaps dissolved in the depths of history leaving a faint residue — the question of why this happened and what is courage.
It is my opinion that the slapping incidents were not foreign to military life in war during the first half of the decade of the 1940s. The mass of the American soldiers grew up during the Great Depression. Their officers were born during the last decades of the 19th century. The world view of officers and enlisted men was more traditional/classical.
Their ideal was to do their duty and be honorable citizens. That was the ideal and not the reality. They were not demigods and Mars is a hard taskmaster. They were free men of a constitutional republic. They were neither slaves, subjects, nor cannon fodder. They demanded that their status as free born men be respected.
World War II was the hinge point between the old and the new. Gen. Patton was a creature of the late 19th century by birth, and a citizen of the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome, by reading.
He represented the old school that collided with the advance guard of the modern.
He could trace his family far back in Virginia history. Patton’s ancestors numbered numerous Confederate officers and Virginia Military Institute alumni. He grew up revering the romantic ideal of great warriors. Patton believed that a man must be brave for his honor and glory.
His fellow soldiers and country depended upon his courage, but also the courage of his countrymen. Patton thought that a man feared shame more than death or dishonor and used shaming to strengthen a man’s courage. Patton knew that running away would destroy an army.
As we have seen, many did not see any fault in Patton’s reaction to the two privates and it was not until Drew Pearson responded to the alleged abuse of the common man that Patton found himself in trouble.
Were the privates deserving of the rage of Patton? The concept of courage has been discussed in many of the great books ranging from, “The Iliad, Plato’s dialogue “Laches,” and Stephen Crane’s “The Red Badge of Courage” (WWII Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy played Henry Fleming in the movie version of “The Red Badge of Courage.”)
Different answers have been given. Socrates stated at the end of “Laches” to his interlocutors that they all were equally confused and needed better teachers than themselves to define courage.
Let me end by allowing Gen. Patton to speak for himself: “All men are frightened. The more intelligent they are, the more they are frightened. The courageous man is the man who forces himself, in spite of his fear, to carry on. Discipline, pride, self-respect, self-confidence, and the love of glory are attributes which make a man courageous even when he is afraid.”
In other words, do not take counsel of your fears.
Next week: Death of Tzar Boris III of Bulgaria