Patton’s Prayers: A True Story of Courage, Faith and Victory in World War II

George Patton was “an unusual mixture of a profane and highly religious man,” writes bestseller Kershaw (Against All Odds) in this perceptive biography, which focuses on the general’s leadership during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944. With nearly three months of rainy weather hindering his eastward advancement, Patton, better known among his soldiers for his wisecracks and vulgarity than for his faith, ordered his chaplain to write a special prayer for the troops that requested clear skies (“We humbly beseech Thee... to restrain these immoderate rains”). Two days before Christmas, after 250,000 copies had been printed and dispersed, the weather lifted (“What a glorious day for killing Germans!” Patton noted in his diary), allowing the Americans to drive their armored battalions into Belgium and, over the coming months, onward into Germany. Kershaw presents the prayer as a skeleton key to Patton’s mercurial personality, going on to trace how he was ruled by a profound sense of honor complemented by a rough pragmatism. For example, Patton went from having “enormous contempt” for Nazis to publicly opposing Eisenhower’s de-Nazification plans, arguing that most former Nazis weren’t genuine party extremists. Such character analysis is undertaken with a light touch; for the most part, Kershaw’s novelistic rendering of Patton’s exploits amuses with its punchy dialogue and propulsive action. WWII buffs will want to check this out. (May)