“but unlike some commanders he did not waste lives in futile operations.”
Oh he sure as heck would. One example would be the raid on Hammelburg. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Task_Force_Baum
Essentially he found out the location where his son in law was a prisoner and launched a raid to spring him. It had nothing to do with the main attacks.
Just read Baums book again. He did it for his own selfish reasons. He got a lot of good men killed, for nothing. Love Patton still but that was a cluster-fu—!