1944, England (exact date unknown)
I am not supposed to be commanding this Army – I am not even supposed to be in England. Let the first bastards to find out be the goddam Germans. Some day I want them to rise on their hind legs & howl: ‘Jesus Christ, it’s that goddam Third Army & that son of a bitch Patton again’...There’s one great thing that you men can say when it’s all over & you’re at home once more. You can thank God that twenty years from now when you’re sitting by the fireside with your grandson on your knee, & he asks you when you did in the war, you won’t have to shift him to the other knee, cough & say, ‘I shoveled crap in Louisiana,
Now, gentlemen, doubtless from time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing people too hard. I don’t give a good Goddamn about such complaints. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat is worth a gallon of blood. The harder we push, the more Germans we’ll kill, and gentlemen, the more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed. Pushing means fewer casualties. I want you to remember that.
There’s another thing I want you to remember. Forget this Goddamn business of worrying about our flanks. We must guard our flanks, but not to the extent that we don’t do anything else. Some Goddamned fool once said that flanks must be secured and since then sons of bitches all over the world have been going crazy guarding their flanks. We don’t want any of that in the Third Army. Flanks are something for the enemy to worry about, not us.
Also, I don’t want to get any messages saying. ‘I’m holding my position.’ We’re not holding anything! Let the Hun do that. We are advancing constantly and are not interested in holding anything, except the enemy. We’re going to hold on to him and kick the hell out of him all the time.
Our basic plan of operation is to advance & to keep on advancing regardless of whether we have to go over, under, or through the enemy. We have one motto, ‘L’audace, I’audace, toujours I’audace!’ Remember that, gentlemen. From here on out, until we win or die in the attempt, we willalways be audacious.
Men, you are the first Negro tankers ever to fight in the American army. I would never have asked for you if you were not good. I have nothing but the best in my army. I don’t care what color you are as long as you go up there and kill those Kraut sons-of-bitches. Everyone has their eyes on you and are expecting great things from you. Most of all, your race is looking forward to your success. Don’t let them down, &, damn you, don’t let me down! If you want me you can always fine min the lead tank.
Patton was killed in a road accident while commanding the US Fifth Army in occupied Germany in December 1945.