Target: Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton

by Robert K. Wilcox

Book Overview

Murder, He Wrote...

... And he wrote the true story. Investigative and military reporter Robert Wilcox unravels the mystery surrounding the death of one of history's preeminent war heroes: George S. Patton. Wilcox cries foul play and reveals the shocking truth behind Old Blood and Guts' untimely demise in Target: Patton--the Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton.

Conflicting testimony, disappearing witnesses,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1621572919
• ISBN13: 9781621572916
• Release Date: September 2014
• Publisher: Regnery History
• Length: 444 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A historical diversion

The attempt to blame Patton's murder on NKVD Zionist killers at least as far as Patton goes is ridiculous. The NKVD lacked the attitude and tech skills required to carry out such a sophisticated operation. About all they were good at was digging large mass graves and shooting their victims in the head or burying them alive. The Katyn forest was a classic example of their work, along with the attempt to blame the Germans for the massacre. Clearly, the murder was carried out by the OSS at the direction of Eisenhower, a known Stalinist puppet.

Target Patton; The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton

I recently read, with a great deal of interest, Robert K. Wilcox's Target Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton. The book was meticulously well researched and documented, and leaves the reader with many questions regarding the actual possibility that it was no "accident" that took the life of one of America's greatest generals. I believe, based on the evidence put forth in this book, that Gen. Patton was assassinated. I won't spoil the book by saying by whom, but am not surprised at the author's premise. It makes perfect sense. (I know whereof I speak, as I am currently writing my own father's posthumous memoirs. He was Gen. Patton's chaplain during World War II.)

And no accident report to be found

The most compelling case to be made that General Patton was to be murdered was him telling his own family in the United States that they would not see him again. This during a visit in June 1945. He was also warned about a Russian plot to kill him by a Special Agent of the Counter-Intelligence Corps, Stephen J. Skubik. Mr. Skubik had privately published a book in 1993 titled The Murder of General Patton. Aside from other suspicious details, the author clearly shows Patton's disgust over the Russians being allowed to take over Eastern Europe after the war. In fact, though not mentioned in the book, Winston Churchill had a study drawn up titled Operation Unthinkable, in which a scenario involving the Rusian Army sweeping across Western Europe was contemplated. There was a working relationship between the still functioning but renamed OSS and the Russian NKVD. They had, after all, fought the Germans as our Allies, and Patton was talking about going to war with the Russians. The author suggests that an OSS-NKVD agreement was reached to eliminate the General. In the midst of tying up loose ends in the immediate Post-War Period, it would have been a pragmatic solution. As any seasoned World War II historian knows, however, the Russians were merely Allies of convenience and tensions between the Americans and the Russians were in existence before the last bullets were fired in World War II, especially over the technological spoils of a defeated Germany. General Patton was indeed in the way of certain interests, and stability in Europe. The author jumps around a bit in presenting his material but the writing is adequate. I think any reasonable person would be inclined to think there are enough unanswered questions to accept the possibility of an assassination. For example, he is able to prove that the General's car on display at the Patton Museum is not the genuine article. As to possible methods used to actually kill Patton, it appears that even exhuming the body might not give a definitive answer.

A Powerful Investigative Work

The rumors started in the hours after the death from natural causes of General George S. Patton, Jr., and have not gone away in the more than 60 years; there were forces that wanted him silenced and he was murdered. Investigative reporter Robert K. Wilcox peels back the thick volumes of the official narrative to uncover a murky world of spycraft, hired assassins and chronicling the evil forces who wanted the controversial general removed as the world entered the Cold War. Through interviews, material from recently declassified government documents and tirelessly pursuing a number of historical angles, Wilcox credibly questions the results of the U.S. Army investigation that stated the December 9, 1945, car crash in occupied Germany that left Patton severely injured - with paralysis from the neck down - was an accident and there was no foul play in his death at age 60 - from an embolism - on December 21 at a military hospital in Heidelberg. Wilcox emerges from the mists where history is chronicled with a powerful investigative work that ultimately calls for a spotlight to be directed on the crevices where the truth may have been stuffed for so many years.

Best U.S. General which defeated Nazi Germany in WWII

I'm no hero-worshipper....! But I have had read several accounts of the life and times of General George Patton and also viewed the classic movie: PATTON and the TV miniseries: THE LAST DAYS OF PATTON. By these exposures, I come to admire this man, a great soldier and one who had been so dedicated to fighting battles, great and small, to bring down the tyrannies in the then Nazi Germany. Even the Germans admired him for his fighting tactics which were second to none...!!! Invariably, as the Chinese saying goes: "When a tree grows big and luxuriant, it will invite the attention of the prevailing evil wind...!" Hence, Gen. Patton became an object of envy and even evoked jealousies among his colleagues, particularly the British commanders of his seemingly fighting courage which eluded them. I think the Allied Commanders in occupied Europe could not beat Gen. Patton, his fighting tactics, his firm leadership and exception command and thus from "admiration" was transformed to extreme jealousies! In particularly, Field Marshal Montgomery hated Gen. Patton, so much that he called him the "mad man" in front of Eisenhower and his team, when the Patton beat him to a punch by taken Palemo in the Sicily campaign. Eisenhower unfairly ordered Patton to stop at Palemo and the latter angrily replied whether to return them back to the Fascists regime! When Patton slapped the young soldier for battle fatigue, he was duly punished and humiliated by having to apologize to all the ranks and files by Eisenhower. Patton humorously said: "To see whether he was the bigger son of a bitch..." which illicited much laughter among his troops. In the TV movie: The Last Days of Patton, Gen. Patton was ordered to lay off all Germans in his employ and which were even remotely related to the Nazi regime. Even if to turn Bavaria, in which he was the enlightened governor, into shambles if necessary to shake of all connection of the Nazis. A seemingly mild "accident" at the railway crossing couldn't have killed the tough and courageous Patton. I am inclined to believe as to many others that Patton was definitely murdered by rougue elements of the U.S. military under Eisenhower to get rid of him. In the eyes of Eisenhower, the future president of U.S., Patton could be the main stumbling block and the revealer of truth of what was then happening in occupied Germany. I BELIEVE NOW AND I AM TOTALLY CONVINCED THAT GEN. PATTON WAS MURDERED...! Hence, the reason for me wanting to read this enlightening book. I also invite you, dear readers to order this book too. Cheers.