Abstract
Leadership is very important in military in order to win battles. Leadership is the ability to influence people by providing purpose in a course of action, direction and motivation and at the same time operating to achieve the intended mission in order to improve the society.
In military, leadership is a decisive element to achieve battle field success. A good military leader should assist an army in overcoming adversary since leadership is the driving force behind the structural factors that a nation can provide to its military commanders that necessitates the winning battles. A good army leader prepares his troops for defeat by giving inspiration to the weaker army to overcome physical and logistical disadvantages.
Leadership can also be defined as a catalyzing force that underlies reactions whose ingredients include the manpower, equipments such as weapons, technology, morale and logistics.
Introduction
General George Smith Patton Jr. provided an outstanding military leadership in US. As a commander of the third Army in US, Patton achieved victory on the battle field during the Second World War (Hatch, 1950).
He was a great leader who gained incredible performance from his troops. In addition to this, Patton never respected his enemies and resorted to becoming courageous and brave enough to act fast to become victorious in the battle.
His actions made him to explode across France and in German with an extra ordinary speed that no other military leader could match. He outshined the Nazi Blitzkrieg, hence exposing himself as a clever and audacious leader.
He had good strategies and quite an inspiring commander. Patton was a masterful motivator and gifted with good leadership skills.
Biography of George S. Patton III
General George Smith Patton, Jr. was born on November 11 1885, in San Gabriel, California. He attended the Virginia Military Institute for a year and later graduated from the United States Military Academy at West point in 1909. He was interested in reading classics and military history. Later, he became a very complex military man in the history of America and regarded as a very successful field commander of any war and continually strove to train his troops to very high standards. Hence, he became famous for his leadership in commanding the US military during the Second World War.
Patton was a student at the Virginia Military Institute for a year and later graduated from the United States Military Academy at West point in 1909. He was interested in reading classics and military history (Essame, 1974)
Those who contributed to his leadership qualities included his father who was an acquaintance of John Singleton Mosby and, a notable cavalry leader of the Confederate Army in the American Civil war. He also served under J.E.B Stuart and later on as a guerrilla fighter.
His lineage comprised of a great line of soldiers such as General Hugh Mercer who participated in the American Revolution. His grandfather, Colonel George S. Patton, his uncles, Waller T. Patton, John M. Patton, Isaac Patton, William T. Glassell and Hugh Weedon.
J.E.B Stuart’s military success encouraged George Patton Jr. and he made a decision that his goal in life was to be a hero following the footsteps of his uncles and ancestors who contributed marvelously in the Revolutionary War, the Mexican War and the American Civil war.
In 1916, Patton served as an aide to John J. Pershing, in the Mexican Punitive Expedition, accompanying Pershing to France during the First World War. Patton took command of the U.S Army’s light tank brigade making him to excel in providing military training and led soldiers in battle.
In November 1942, Patton led the I Armored corps in a successful invasion of North Africa. In March 1943, he commanded the II Corps in Tunisia and in July the same year, Patton’s Seventh Us Army together with Sir Bernard’s Eighth British Army made an invasion of Sicily. These two generals competed and Patton who was described as very aggressive seized Messina before Montgomery.
In England, Patton managed to deceive Adolf Hitler over the place of the cross Channel invasion. He led the US Army to attack the German Army in Normandy. In December 1994, Patton managed to rescue the American soldiers at Bastogne with advance units in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, where he operated as a full four star general. He was regarded by the Germans as the best US soldier as well the most aggressive commander in the American military, particularly during the Second World War.
Patton was talented in shooting, took lessons in French Calvary Service School. Later he became he became the first master of the Sword at the Mounted Service School at Fort Riley, Kansas where he designed and taught swordsmanship while still a student.
Patton served as an aide of General John Pershing during the Punitive expedition to Mexico during the First World War. Pershing greatly contributed to his leadership qualities and as a mentor and showed his ideals of everything as a commander.
During the 1915 expedition in México, under the company of Pershing, Patton got promotions due to his determinations. He was ranked as a captain and was placed in command of Pershing’s Headquarters Troops after the return from Mexico.
Patton’s leadership during the First World War
He was the first member of an established US Tank Corps, where he served until its abolishment in 1920. In addition, he held a variety of staff jobs in Hawaii and Washington, D.C. Patton took full command of the corps, he directed ideas and gave procedures and contributed in the design of the military uniforms. In 1919, Patton corporate with the British tank men, this made him and his men to attain victory in the first major tank battle of the world at Cambria, France.
Patton organized an American Tank school in Bourg, France where he provided training to the first 500 American Tankers. His commands were provided from the front lines where he could maintain communications with soldiers at the rear command posts with pigeons and groups of runners. He was a courageous leader who exposed himself to gun fire, making him to be wounded. He was crowned a Distinguished Service Cross for Heroism which was one of the many medals that he gained.
Patton’s military leadership during the Second World War
In April 11, 1949 Patton was named a commanding general after his transfer to the Second Armored Division. He succeeded in convincing Congress that US needed armored mobile tanks leading to the creation of Armored Force in 1940. After the Pearl Harbor attack, he led the US troops- the Western Task Force Operation- in invading North Africa. He also commanded the Seventh Army in liaison with the British Army to recapture Sicily and Italy back to the citizens.
Under the leadership of General D. Eisenhower, Patton commanded the Third Army in France where he managed to dash across Europe following the battle of Normandy; He managed to exploit German successfully. Upon liberating the Buchenwald concentration camp, Patton established a policy which was later emulated by other Army commanders.
In October 1945, Patton commanded the 15th Army in Germany that was occupied by Americans. He was involved in an automobile accident during the battle of the Bulge, in Luxembourg. In military history, Patton was considered a great leader.
Besides military, Patton participated in pentathlon of the Stockholm Olympics in 1992, scooping the fifth position. According to Blumenson (1972), Patton was described as a leader who is tough, profane, had bluster and he always made an assumption t to inspire his soldiers and most incidentally himself. The warrior had a sophisticated fierce face since he believed that men, stimulated men to fight, which was his usual saying.
Patton was fond of using images such as the grave yard. He had a desire that the men who fought were not forgotten like the Carthaginians and the Romans who fought in the same plains. Symbols such as the dress were used by him and the timing of the mess regimes as a demonstration of a higher level of rigor necessary to for success (Semmes 1971)
Patton called for respect in the manner in which he handled himself. He did not impose suggestions on matters for instance how to accomplish tasks but orders. He used to inspire his soldiers buy encouraging them not to be doubtful, have discouragement or fatigue. He never liked to share people’s opinions and always encouraged his soldiers to be ever alert and not to give orders in an idle position.
Patton believed in having soldiers who are not cowards and would get the assigned jobs done without raising questions. His goals simply stated were “whatever it takes to get the job done.” This is how Patton would select his leaders, “Select leaders for accomplishment and not for affection (Axelrod, 1999).” He basically only wanted men that would get the job done, without questioning every minute detail.
Leadership qualities in George Smith Patton
Patton had a good leadership style that never changed. He was very blunt and very straight to the point which was evident in the whole of his military life.
Nonetheless, his intolerance and blunt character got him into trouble in various occasions. For instance, he never tolerated cowardice character among his troops. In one occasion General Patton paid a visit to patients at a military hospital in Sicily. He met Khul, an ailing soldier and gave him a slap calling the soldier a coward. Such instances degraded Patton’s leadership because he was not able to withstand his anger and listen to others.
According to Axelrod, Patton sums up the chief qualities of leadership by portraying the following,
1. He had a Perfection of detail
2. He had personal supervision abilities
3. He had thorough and detailed knowledge of the business at hand
4. He had strong physical leadership presence
5. He had the ability to set a personal example
6. He was able to communicate and explain orders
According to Patton, a leader’s commitment to ensure that duties are carried out correctly was demonstrated in his plans of attacking an enemy. His statements were “Hold the enemy by the nose and kick him in the pants” (Axelrod, 1999).
A greater aspect of Patton’s leadership qualities was his ability in encouraging and giving his troops motivation through masterful speeches. He talked to his troops in a manner suggesting that they were all important to the success of their military operations. He stated that “The soldier is the army. No Army is better that its soldiers” (Axelrod, 1999)
Patton’s leadership lessons should be incorporated or recognized by many military leaders and particularly in the use of language that Patton used to be understood by his Army and the manner in which he respected all the soldiers and people who made the American soldiers to emerge victorious in the battlefield.
Patton had developed a good attitude towards becoming a hero and his leadership skills.
The philosophy of Patton was to keep making advancements by moving and to use offensive tactics against the enemy. According to his statements, Patton emphasized that winning a battle needs no defensive tactics, hence, when a troop keeps advancing in making quick movements, the enemy can not get a chance to react back.
Conclusion
George Smith Patton’s approach to leading army troops was very effective even though it was sometimes strict and harsh to some extent.
Patton handled himself in a very authoritative manner and his leadership approach and methods were very feasible and can be implemented in the current world’s military leadership. In addition, they can be implemented in the business environment since it can work best in business organizations such as companies with aggressive business mood to compete and attack a given market share.
Patton’s leadership skills can be embraced since it has provided proof through his effective victories during the Second World War and his entire life as a warrior. His leadership is best described as comprising of a hard nose approach to leadership which can be emulated and implemented in the current military operations.
George Patton was very loud, brash, forthright, an opinionated and a man who would always speak his mind. His character was good in some situations but in instances that needed diplomacy he was not the right leader.
The end of his career as a military leader was good because, he always got his job done at the right time, but in a radically different style to other people. However, in the current scenario of war fare he would have not lived long because of his character which was never liked by many soldiers during his tenure.
Superior leadership that was portrayed by George S. Patton allows an army to get defeat over another. Great leaders like him have different leadership styles. He can be compared with some celebrated generals like the Duke of Wellington. Patton was very flamboyant and daring making him to achieve success in most of his operations in battlefield. Patton has been celebrated as one of the greatest leaders driven by a sense of destiny and mission. He was born a worrier.
References
Hatch, Alden (1950). George Patton, A General in Spurs" Julian Messner Press, New York.
Essame, Hubert (1974). Patton, A Study in Command" Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
Farago, Ladislas (1970). Patton, Ordeal and Triumph" Dell Publishing Co, New York.
Semmes, Harry ( 1971). Portrait of Patton" Paperback Library, New York.
Axelrod, Alan (1999). Patton on Leadership: strategic lessons for corporate warfare. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Press.
Axelrod, Alan (1999). Patton on Leadership: strategic lessons for corporate warfare. New York: Simon & Schuster Audio.
Blumenson, Martin (1972). Patton: The Man Behind the Legend. New York: Morrow.
Patton, George S., Jr. (1980). War as I Knew It. New York: Bantam.
