Patton: Old Blood And Guts

General George Smith Patton came to the fore in the fighting in North Africa and Sicily in 1942 and 1943 as a tough and inspirational field commander who drove his army as relentlessly as he did himself. Arrogant, vainglorious and unpopular with his fellow Allied generals, he was nevertheless one of the great land force commanders of the Second World War.Patton inspired an unswerving loyalty in his men, perhaps difficult to understand in the light of his treatment of them, which was often bullying and sometimes cruel. However, when the raw and untested US soldiers came to face the much-feared German panzer divisions in North Africa, he gave his men the self-belief to take them on. He refused to allow his army to think that they were second best.Trevor Royle portrays the real Patton, a man who behind the bluster was thoughtful and deeply religious with wide interests in literature and military history. Patton's fatal car crash in post-war Germany in 1945 meant that Old Blood and Guts never faced the 'horrors of peace' he so feared.

Trevor Royle is an associate editor of the Glasgow Sunday Herald.