Patton's striking of two soldiers under his command exposed tensions over combat stress recognition and shaped his role in Allied deception operations for D-Day.
Key Facts
- Date of first incident
- August 3, 1943
- Date of second incident
- August 10, 1943
- Theater of operations
- Allied invasion of Sicily, World War II
- Patton's superior
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Journalist who broke the story
- Drew Pearson
- Subsequent role for Patton
- Decoy in Operation Fortitude for Operation Overlord
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Lieutenant General George S. Patton held a dismissive view of combat stress reaction, then called 'battle fatigue' or 'shell shock,' and believed soldiers presenting without visible physical wounds were malingering. Encountering two such patients at evacuation hospitals during the Sicily campaign, his frustration with what he saw as weakness or cowardice drove him to confront them.
On August 3 and August 10, 1943, Patton struck and verbally berated two U.S. Army soldiers who were receiving treatment at evacuation hospitals during the Sicilian campaign. The incidents were witnessed by hospital staff and others present. Word spread up the chain of command until it reached Eisenhower, who ordered Patton to issue formal apologies to the men involved.
Eisenhower and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall chose not to relieve Patton of command, but the incidents damaged his reputation for judgment and delayed his return to active combat leadership until mid-1944. Eisenhower exploited the resulting public scrutiny by using Patton as a strategic decoy in Operation Fortitude, feeding false intelligence to Germany that Patton would lead the Normandy invasion.