by Duke Doering
On December 21, 1945, Gen. George S. Patton, commander of the U.S. 3rd Army, died from injuries suffered not in battle, but in a freak car accident. He was 60 years old.
For a few months in 1943, South Dakota Guardsmen in the 109th Engineer Battalion earned bragging rights to the often-repeated claim of having “served with Patton.” The connection had its roots during action from Feb.13-17 when the Army’s II Corps suffered a harsh defeat at the hands of the Germany Army at Kasserine Pass in the North African nation of Tunisia.
Company C of the 109th was at Faid Pass when its parent unit, the 168th Infantry Regiment, was overrun by Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s German attack. The Americans were forced to withdraw from the pass. During that maneuver, 14 Guardsmen from the 109th were captured in the early morning on Feb. 17. The men spent the remainder of the war as prisoners in German POW camps.
During the German attack, commander of II Corps Maj. Gen. Lloyd Fredendall was reportedly in a bunker about 80 miles from the action. Following the Kasserine Pass incident, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower replaced Gen. Fredendall with Gen. Patton, at the time a two-star general. The 109th continued to serve with its 34th Division, all under the aggressive leadership of the freshly promoted Corps Commander, Lt. Gen. Patton. Hardened by the Kasserine Pass battle the 34th Infantry Division and its 109th Engineers went on to take Hill 609 in May 1943, essentially the final battle driving the German Army out of North Africa.
As a result of Patton’s performance during the North African Campaign, Patton received command of the Seventh Army in preparation for the 1943 invasion of Sicily. Patton formed a provisional corps under his chief of staff and swiftly pushed through Western Sicily, liberating the Capital, Palermo. After that, Patton quickly turned east toward Messenia. The 109th went on to participate in the invasion of Italy and served there until the end of the war. Gen. Patton, one of the most celebrated U.S. Army officers in World War II, came from a long line of distinguished military officers and graduated from the West Point Military Academy in 1909. He went on to serve in the Tank Corps during World War I, an experience that made him a dedicated proponent of armored warfare.
Following combat success as commander of II Corps and leader of the invasion planning for Sicily and Italy, Gen. Patton eventually became 3rd Army commander and was promoted to full general by the conclusion of fighting in Europe. He was paralyzed from the neck down in a car-truck accident in Germany on Dec. 9, 1945, and died 12 days later.
