Alexander Patch

Alexander Patch
Birth name	Alexander McCarrell Patch
Nickname(s)	"Sandy" Patch
Born	(1889-11-23)November 23, 1889 Fort Huachuca, Arizona
Died	November 21, 1945(1945-11-21) (aged 55) Fort Sam Houston, Texas
Place of burial	West Point Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1913–1945
Rank	General
Unit	Infantry Branch
Commands held	23rd Infantry Division XIV Corps IV Corps Seventh Army Fourth Army
Battles/wars	World War I World War II Guadalcanal Campaign Operation Dragoon
Awards	Army Distinguished Service Medal Navy Distinguished Service Medal

General Alexander McCarrell "Sandy" Patch (23 November 1889 – 21 November 1945) was a senior officer of the United States Army, best known for his service in World War II. He commanded U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps forces during the Guadalcanal Campaign, and the Seventh Army in France and Germany. He died a few months after the end of the war.

Early career

Patch was born on Fort Huachuca, a military post in Arizona where his father commanded a detachment. He never considered any career other than the army, and received his appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1909. He wanted to follow his father into the cavalry, but realizing that it was becoming obsolete, he instead chose the infantry, and was commissioned in 1913.

During World War I, Patch served as an infantry officer and as an instructor in the Army's machine gun school. While he was commanding troops on the front line in France, his leadership came to the attention of George Marshall, then a member of General John J. Pershing's staff.

Marshall was appointed Army Chief of Staff in 1939, just before World War II. He promoted Patch to brigadier general, and sent him to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to supervise the training of new soldiers there.

World War II

Pacific Theater

Patch was promoted to major general on 10 March 1942. In that year, he was sent to the Pacific Theater of Operations to organize the reinforcement and defense of New Caledonia. He took command of a loose collection of units, and formed them into the Americal Division (a contraction of "American, New Caledonian Division" adopted as the division's name on Patch's suggestion after it was proposed by a soldier in the division.)

The Americal Division first saw action in the Guadalcanal campaign in October 1942, when it relieved the valiant but malaria-ridden 1st Marine Division there. In December 1942, Patch moved up to command of the XIV Corps, and he was given charge of the entire offensive on Guadalcanal. Patch personally led troops under his command on a dangerous offensive in the Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse to capture several fortified hills and ridges from Japanese forces. Under his leadership, by February 1943 the Japanese were driven from Guadalcanal.

European Theater

Impressed by Patch's performance on Guadalcanal, Marshall ordered him to the European Theater of Operations (ETO), where he took over command of the Seventh Army from Lieutenant General Mark Clark, then commanding the Fifth Army in the Italian Campaign. Under Patch, the Seventh Army invaded southern France in Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944. Patch–promoted to lieutenant general three days later– then led the Seventh Army in a fast offensive up the Rhône valley. On 9 September 1944, near Dijon, France, it met up with the Third Army, under Lieutenant General George Patton, which had driven east from Normandy. The Seventh Army came under the command of the 12th Army Group, commanded by Lieutenant General Jacob Devers.

Devers and Patch at Luneville, January 1945.

The Seventh Army distinguished itself in difficult winter conditions during the Vosges Mountains campaign, clearing strong and entrenched German forces from the west bank of the Rhine and stopping a German counteroffensive, Operation Nordwind, while reserve forces were being committed to the Battle of the Bulge. The campaign marked the only contested advance through the Vosges Mountains ever to succeed.

Patch stayed in command of the Seventh Army through the end of the war in Europe in May 1945, leading the Seventh Army through the Siegfried Line, over the Rhine, and then into southern Germany.

In the spring of 1945, the Supreme Allied Commander on the Western Front, General Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower, offered Patch a B-25 Mitchell and pilot for his personal use. Patch turned down the offer because he wished to remain in touch with his subordinate commanders during fast-moving operations and preferred a smaller plane that could land on unimproved fields and pastures. Patch narrowly escaped injury or death on 18 April 1945, while flying from Kitzingen to Öhringen in Germany during the Battle of Nuremberg. His Stinson L-5 Sentinel liaison aircraft Sea Level was intercepted by a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter, but the pilot, Technical Sergeant Robert Stretton, maneuvered the L-5 so skillfully that it escaped and landed safely at Öhringen. Stretton later received the Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight.^[1]

Personal life

On 20 November 1915, he married Julia Adrianne Littell (1893 - 1988), daughter of Colonel Isaac W. Littell.^[2] They had two children. Patch suffered personal tragedy when their son, Captain Alexander M. Patch III, was killed in action on 22 October 1944 while serving as an infantry company commander in the 79th Infantry Division.

Death and legacy

In August 1945, Patch returned to the United States to take command of the Fourth Army, but he was soon hospitalized with lung problems. He died of pneumonia on 21 November 1945 at Brooke General Hospital at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He is buried at West Point Cemetery on the grounds of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Kurmärker Kaserne, in Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany, was renamed Patch Barracks in his honor on July 4, 1952. Patch Barracks is the home of Headquarters, United States European Command (HQ USEUCOM), the supreme American military command in Europe. Patch Barracks also has a middle school named after General Patch. The United States Navy transport USNS General Alexander M. Patch (T-AP-122) was also named for General Patch. Boulevard Patch going from the main road to Pampelone Plage in Ramatuelle France is named for General Patch.

Patch was promoted posthumously to general on 19 July 1954 under Pub.L. 83–508.

Awards and decorations

Ribbon bar with the list of General Alexander M. Patch´s decorations:

Notes

References

• Charles Pfannes and Victor Salamone. The Great Commanders of World War II, Volume III: The Americans. 
• Weirather, Larry. "Saving General Patch." Aviation History, May 2012, pp. 18–19.
• William K. Wyant (1991). Sandy Patch - A Biography of Lt. Gen. Alexander M. Patch. Praeger. ISBN 0-275-93454-3. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander M. Patch.

• "Alexander M. Patch 1913". Memorials. West Point Association of Graduates. 
• Lost Victory - Strasbourg, November 1944
• Alexander Patch at Find a Grave