Patton: I told my soldiers to kill and bury an Arab caught with mines
On May 5, 1943, George Patton wrote in a letter that some of his soldiers brought in an Arab whose donkey was carrying basketloads of mines. I asked them why they hadn’t buried him. They said he was still alive. I said, ‘Well, go ahead and bury him,’ but they said, ‘General, he is alive.’ ...
On May 5, 1943, George Patton wrote in a letter that some of his soldiers brought in an Arab whose donkey was carrying basketloads of mines.
On May 5, 1943, George Patton wrote in a letter that some of his soldiers brought in an Arab whose donkey was carrying basketloads of mines.
I asked them why they hadn’t buried him. They said he was still alive. I said, ‘Well, go ahead and bury him,’ but they said, ‘General, he is alive.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘that can be corrected.’
I mention this first because I am shocked by it, and second by how much attitudes have changed in the last 67 years.
As Patton wrote to his wife later that year, "I am a man of deeds not words. Except when I talk too much."
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