Just as an aside, without trying to stir up controversy, my grandfather fought in the Third Army and thought Patton was a moron. He claims the movie representation of him is Hollywood BS. Just a different view from another Vet.
My personal view of Patton - from what I have read and seen over the years - was that he was a great general but like all great men, he had his faults. I watched the movie back when I was a kid and I didn’t get it then the uproar over the slapping incident. However, looking at it now - with what I know and connecting other information to Patton - the Communists hated him. And the press back then was just as liberal as they are today, only back then Soviet Russia was our ally. The press did what it could to tarnish his stars and he helped them to a certain degree. I consider him one of our greatest generals and put him up there with MacArthur, Black Jack, Sherman, Lee, Jackson, Halsey, Nimitz.
My father served under Patton in the 7th Army, which Patton commanded in north Africa and Sicily. This is the command Patton was relieved of after slapping the soldier suffering from combat fatigue. My dad said he preferred serving under Patton’s replacement, General Patch. In fact he suggested that sometimes it was difficult to say who annoyed you more, the German army or George Patton.
When Patton made the big ruckus over that combat fatigue soldier the soldier was quickly released from the hospital. Instead of sending him back to his infantry unit the army assigned him to the AAA battery my dad was in. The poor guy was utterly worthless. He was like some kind of clay figurine that would stay motionless wherever you last placed him, staring blankly ahead. After a few days of this he was shipped off somewhere else. He had the “thousand yard stare”, only more so.
Some years later in Vietnam my father worked with Patton’s son, a colonel, who was highly regarded by those who knew him. I guess he didn’t take after his father in some ways.