Talking About Military History: Did General George S. Patton retire from the military?
Did General George S. Patton retire from the military? No. George S. Patton, Jr. was still on active duty as commander of the U.S. Fifteenth Army in Germany at the time of his death on December 21, 1945, in a military hospital in Heidelberg. Patton had been only recently reassigned from the Third Army, which at the time was part of the U.S. occupation forces in western Germany. He was relieved from his most famous command on October 7, 1945; one week later, he assumed command of the Fifteenth Army, which by then was only a small establishment of military researchers and clerks charged with recording recent military history based on after-action reports and interviews with Allied and Axis military personnel and civilians. At first, Patton tried to put a positive spin on his new assignment; at one point he claimed he was thrilled because he had been enthralled with military history since he was seven years old. In reality, though, Patton was restless and soon lost interest in ...