Changes

==Patton in North Africa==

The movie after the opening credits show the aftermath of a terrible American defeat in Kasserine Pass in Tunisia. Rommel had ruthlessly exposed the weakness and lack of experience of the Americans and inflicted upon them a severe setback. It is believed that some 2000 American G.I.s died in the disaster. We first see Patton inspecting the battlefield after his appointment as commander. George Patton was a great admirer of Rommel and he studied his work and tactics. The movie correctly shows how the American general based his strategy against Rommel on the Desert Fox’s own ideas. The 1970 feature shows Patton reforming the army units that were defeated at Kasserine Pass and imposing strict discipline on the soldiers. He was a stickler when it came to the rules and discipline. This had a powerful impact on the G.Is and Patton did manage to transform them into a formidable fighting force. In the next battle, they did manage to defeat the Germans under Rommel and this was a very important victory for America as it showed to their allies that they could defeat the Germans on their own<ref> D'Este, Carlo, Patton: A Genius for War (New York City: Harper Collins, 1995), p. 113</ref>. However, the part played by Patton in the allied victory over the Afrika Korps is overstated. It took until 1943 for the allies to wear the Germans down in Tunisia and Patton did not play the decisive role in the Allied victory that the movie implied and that the General would often claim.

==Patton in Sicily==

The film does accurately relate the leading role played by Patton in the liberation of Sicily. His daring use of Armor was crucial in the defeat of the Nazis on the island. The movie does show Patton being motivated by the desire to do better than General Montgomery, the victor at El Alamein. There was a great personal rivalry between the two men who were both driven and wildly ambitious and in many ways alike. The rivalry between Montgomery and Patton was a feature of the Sicilian campaign and was perhaps a factor in why it ended so quickly and with a decisive Allied victory. In fact, the rivalry was not as intense as the motion picture suggests and the two men worked together when needed for the good of the Allied cause<ref>D’Este, p. 119</ref>. The movie shows Patton after visiting the wounded seeing a shell-shocked soldier. The G.I. was unable to continue fighting and had been sent behind the lines for treatment. Patton is outraged when he sees the soldier who does not have any physical wounds and is assumed by him to be a malingerer and he verbally and physically assaults him. When this was seen by a reporter it was widely publicized in America and elsewhere <ref>Lovelace, Alexander G. "The Image of a General: The Wartime Relationship between General George S. Patton Jr. and the American Media", Journalism History, 40 (no. 2 (Summer 2014)), pp. 108–120</ref>. This incident did lead to Patton being ordered to stand down and he was not given a front-line posting for almost a year. However, what the movie failed to show was that Patton slapped two different soldiers who he accused of being cowards. The scene where Patton apologizes to the soldier was accurate. The movie accurately reflects Patton’s reaction to his disgrace in Sicily. The order to remove him from the battlefield provoked a personal crisis for Patton.