Patton was a cavalry officer, just like Custer. He knew that quickness and agressiveness was the key of the cavalry.
Patton was, and is still recognized as one of best generals of his times. So was Custer.
Prefer Montgomery? Hell NO! Worse than Patton, in many respects.
Actually, all of the best generals in the European theatre were German and Russian, if you ask me. The best American general was MacArthur, and he fought in the Pacific.
“He knew that quickness and agressiveness was the key of the cavalry.”
True, but then again, Patton never got the opportunity to practice that dictum on the scale he would have liked to. By the time Patton gets into the war, in both North Africa and France, the time for blitzkreig-type, free-wheeling operations is long gone(with the single exception of the envelopment of the Germans at Falaise). As the campaign progressed, Patton came up against fewer German armored units (with fewer machines), and the terrain became increasingly unsuitable for those types of operations. Very often, due to the superior tactical air support given Patton’s forces by both the IX and XIX Tac Air forces, Patton’s men hardly ever SEE, let alone fight, a German tank.
My complaint, vis-a-vis Patton is that the historical record doesn’t jibe with the official propaganda. Patton is stubborn, arrogant, consistently underrates his opponents and overrates his own abilities. He never faced any of the “A” List German commanders (Rommel, Guderian, Manstein, just to begin with), and the only time he ever faced a German Army on anything like equal terms was in Sicily. When an operation is to be undertaken which corresponds with Patton’s own ideas of how the war should be fought, or if it a plan of his own device, Patton is enthusiastic, hard-charging and on top of every detail. When the assignment comes from above, and it does not involve the application of his unique talents (pursuit), Pattopn drags his feet, does not take personal interest and leaves it to subordinates who he very often criticizes openly and in the most derogatory terms, and who he makes no bones that he has not the slightest confidence in.
The Patton legend is (mostly) a creation of the press, and is not borne out by his performance on the battlefield, given the circumstances as they existed in 1944-45.
A very colorful and entertaining character, but a real question mark as a general.