“If Eisenhower had listened to Patton at almost every step of the war, tens of thousands of Allied lives would have been saved.”
Ha. No. Patton was not a strategic general at all. He was a battlefield tactician and didn’t pay attention to logistics or larger army movements. Which is why he found himself sitting idle after having outrun his supply lines.
“Ike, Bradley, et al detested him”
True of Bradley, not at all true in regard to Eisenhower. Ike and Patton were friends. Eisenhower saved Patton’s hide after the slapping incidents. Patton could have been canned and wasn’t, thanks to Ike.
“Which is why he found himself sitting idle after having outrun his supply lines.”
He KNEW he was, but he hoped to get the gas to keep going due to his success. His men also stole gas shamelessly. He wasn’t stupid about logistics. He didn’t pay too much attention to the detail because he had great staff officers to work the details.
We’ll never know what would have happened if he had been given higher command. Bradley hated his guts. Eisenhower liked him but Ike was a politician first and foremost. He sucked at strategy and combat planning. Monty and Patton agreed on Eisenhower being stupid about strategy.
As happens too often, the US military ran WW2 with one eye and sometimes two on pleasing the press and the politicians. And of course, trying to keep allied with our questionable allies.