Patton Talking

Like many another military man, the late General George Patton was prayerful as well as profane. He was also a peremptory commander who did not hesitate to let the Almighty know what kind of cooperation he expected. When bad weather held up his advance before the Battle of the Bulge, he is reported (by one of his staff) to have called in Third Army Chaplain James H. O'Neill, and said: "Chaplain, I want you to publish a prayer for good weather . . . See if we can't get God to work on our side." The chaplain demurred but Patton roared: "Chaplain, are you teaching me theology or are you the chaplain of the Third Army? I want a prayer." The prayer, printed with a Christmas greeting, was distributed to the troops.

Another Patton prayer for success in battle, recently published in the Swedish Life Guard Grenadiers' regimental journal, kicked up an ecclesiastical furor. It was accompanied by an editorial praising the general's "truehearted, frank religiousness in his intercourse with God."

"Sir," began Patton in a prayer on Dec. 23, 1944, the eve of the Ardennes offensive, "this is Patton talking . . . Rain, snow, more rain, more snow--and I am beginning to wonder on which side they actually are in Thy headquarters . . . You must decide for Yourself on whose, side You are standing. You must come to my help so that I can annihilate the whole German army with one stroke as a birthday present for Your Prince of Peace."

Four days later Patton prayed in a different vein: "Sir, this is Patton again and I beg to report complete progress . . . Sir, it seems to me that You have been much better informed about the situation than I was, because it was that awful weather which I cursed so much which made it possible for the German army to commit suicide. That, Sir, was a brilliant military move and I bow humbly to a supreme military genius."

Sweden's clergy was piously thunderstruck to learn of the U.S. general's prayers. Said the Rev. Hans Ackerhielm, assistant pastor of Stockholm's fashionable Hedvig Eleonora parish: "I have read this with the greatest discomfort." Said Dean Anderberg of Uppsala, chief of Swedish army chaplains: "For that kind of thing I can only use the old-fashioned word 'heresy.' When religion is degraded to serve human desires, it becomes entirely useless."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.