Strange Case Of George Patton...!

There is a lot of information about the life of General George Patton, but the details of his death have been a source of mystery for some time. This article from Listverse tells of some of the mysteries surrounding his death, and why it seems to be shrouded in mystery.

George S. Patton

George S. Patton was one of the most famous and most colorful generals in the history of the United States Army. But his illustrious career came to a sudden end on December 8, 1945.

On the fateful day, Patton was going on a pheasant hunt near Speyer, Germany. The general was in the back of his 1938 Cadillac Model 75, along with his chief of staff, Major-General Hobart Gay. They were being driven by Private Horace Woodring. The trio had just crossed a set of train tracks when a heavy-duty military GMC truck turned unexpectedly in front of the car. Woodring immediately slammed on the brakes and turned sharply to the left. Despite this attempt at evasion, the Cadillac still hit the truck, albeit at a slow speed. Woodring and Gay received minor wounds, but the 60-year-old Patton slammed into the glass partition, cutting his head open and breaking his neck.

Patton was rushed to hospital, where he spent 12 days in spinal traction. After initially seeming on the road to recovery, he passed away from a pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure on December 21. While this could have just been a tragic accident, there are some odd circumstances surrounding his death, which have led some to speculate that the general might have been murdered.

One theory is that Patton was targeted by his own government. According to this theory, Patton was going to release details about collusion between the Allies and the Soviet Union which resulted in the deaths of a number of Americans. The Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the American espionage agency which was the forerunner of the CIA, then supposedly ordered the hit on Patton. His death was set up by a highly decorated war hero, Douglas Bazata.

According to Bazata’s own confession, he staged the crash and had Patton shot with a low-velocity object in order to break his neck, making it look like he was killed in the accident. When he survived, Bazata claims that the OSS allowed the NVKD (which would later become the KGB) to finish the job with poison. The theory that Patton was poisoned was backed up by Stephen Skubik, a US Army counter-intelligence officer. Skubik supposedly told the head of the OSS, William “Wild Bill” Donovan, that Stalin wanted Patton dead, but he claims that his warnings were ignored.

While it may be easy to dismiss Bazata as an attention-seeker, he was actually a genuine war hero and a respected figure in American politics. During his time in the military, he received the Distinguished Service Cross, four Purple Hearts, and three French Croix de Guerre. After the war, he was a celebrated artist before going into politics, serving as an aide to Navy Secretary John Lehman. He died in 1999.

There are other strange circumstances surrounding Patton’s death. Documents about the accident are missing from the archives. No autopsy was performed on the body. When investigating a car accident, it’s usual to examine the vehicle involved. Historian Robert Wilcox and an expert on Cadillacs went to the Patton Museum and discovered the car they have on display was not the car that Patton was in when the accident occurred.

One more mystery that we will never know the truth about, I reckon. Seems to me that there are more and more of these turning up almost daily, but could be that's just my imagination.

Coffee inside this morning. Still cold out on the patio.