     On the morning of December 19th, General Dwight D. Eisenhower met with the top commanders of the American army to assess the situation. There was no doubt now that this was a major offensive, that Hitler was staking everything on this battle. Despite the bad news coming in from the front, the meeting bristled with optimism. Eisenhower traced the basic plan: to hold the Germans east of the Meuse River, while General George Patton's Third Army delivered the counterstroke from the south.
     "How long before you can attack, George?" Eisenhower asked.
     "I can attack with three divisions on the 22nd; a full-blown attack with six divisions can start on the 25th," came the response.
     Some of those present smiled, some exchanged worried glances. Patton was boasting. He was talking about two entire corps with 100,000 men and tens of thousands of vehicles. He was promising to disengage this huge force from the enemy, pivot it 90 degrees, and march it across a hundred miles of narrow and icy roads in the dead of winter. An operation that big would take days to plan, much less execute. It couldn't be done. Even Eisenhower was skeptical. "OK, George; just make sure that your attack starts by the 24th."
     Patton strode up to the big wall map. "This time the German has stuck his head into a meatgrinder. And I've got my hand on the handle!" Everybody laughed.
     As the meeting broke up, Patton grabbed a telephone and called his chief of staff back at Third Army headquarters. A single code word gave the go-ahead. Cagey Patton had been planning this move for two days.
     The first attack started on the 22nd, as promised.
/George Patton
     George S. Patton, Jr. was one of the most colorful generals to emerge from World War II, and certainly one of the best. He participated in most of the important American land battles: the North African campaign, Sicily, the breakout from Normandy and the pursuit across France, the Bulge, the bridgehead at Remagen, and the conquest of Germany itself. His performance in these battles was generally good, and he learned and improved with each battle. Although he was uncertain in North Africa and clumsy in Sicily, the breakout from Normandy was brilliant, and his handling of the Bulge operation was good.
     Patton's style was bold and risky. He believed that a fast and determined attack would unhinge an enemy and produce better results than a slow, deliberate one. In this respect, Patton was poles apart from Montgomery, and had much in common with Rommel and von Manstein. On many occasions Patton, confronted with the excuse that the advance was stopped by "heavy resistance", would go there himself and personally walk into the undefended objective, shaming his men and winning their respect at the same time.
     The dark side of Patton's gung-ho attitude was his intolerance for those less tough. In Sicily he slapped a shell-shocked soldier, calling him a coward; the act cost him his command. He was brash and tactless, antagonizing his colleagues and superiors. Glory was more important to him than the lives of his men; his Third Army suffered proportionately higher casualties than any other outfit. But he was also one of the most deeply intellectual and well-read generals in the army.
     Patton died in an automobile accident on December 9th, 1945 -- less than a year after the Battle of the Bulge./