What was Barton's outstanding performance in World War II?

In the second world war, there was a famous figure, who was a national hero in the eyes of the American people and one of the world famous stars today, George? Barton.

1885165438+1October 1 1, George? Barton was born in a wealthy military family in Southern California. Barton's family has a ranch, and Barton, who is deeply loved by his parents and aunt, spent a happy childhood in the ranch. When he was very young, like other boys, he liked to kill people with toy weapons and climb trees to spy on the enemy. He learned superb riding skills in the pasture and developed a rough and unrestrained character. Aunt Anne often reads Barton Jr. some works describing thrilling military battle stories, such as The Crusader Story and three musketeers, which not only expands Barton's rich imagination, but also develops Barton's chivalry and adventurous spirit. He longed to be a front-line soldier since he was a child.

1903, Barton entered the Virginia Military Academy where his grandfather and father studied, and was sent to the famous American Army Military Academy-West Point Military Academy one year later.

At school, he studied books on military, strategy and tactics, meticulously practiced the essentials of queue training, and strived to become a qualified soldier. Moreover, he is good at track and field and fencing. Barton is willing to take part in any sports activities that can improve military technology and make him healthy. At this time, he has secretly made a great wish to become a great strategist in the future.

Barton inherited millions of dollars when he was at school, but he didn't drop out of school like others. Barton graduated from West Point Military Academy in 1909 and was appointed as a second lieutenant in cavalry. A year later, he and the daughter of a wealthy businessman in Massachusetts formed a happy family. Later, they had a son and two daughters.

From 19 10 to 19 14, Barton served as the adjutant of Army Chief of Staff Wood, and later became the adjutant of Army Minister Stimson, which had a great influence on Barton's future development.

2. General of Blood and Gallbladder

After the outbreak of World War I, Barton went to the front, made meritorious military service in the war and won the Purple Heart Medal. Later, he won the cross medal for his excellent service in training tank troops and was promoted to colonel. After World War I, Barton gradually developed the ability to observe the dangers of future wars. When he was the intelligence director of the Hawaii Military Region, he wrote a report on April 26th, 1935/kloc-0, discussing the possible future storms in the Pacific Ocean and the strategic position of the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. In the conclusion of the report, Barton hit the nail on the head and pointed out that Japan's sudden attack on Pearl Harbor was "both potentially dangerous and possible", and such an attack would cause great disaster to the United States.

At the same time, Barton's rude and bold personality has not changed, but has increased, and his words and deeds have become more incisive. His personality was appreciated by some generals, but it also offended many senior military leaders, thus affecting Barton's promotion. For a while, Barton felt depressed and unhappy.

When World War II broke out, Patton's good friend Colonel Marshall was appointed as the army chief of staff by President Roosevelt. In order to cope with the coming war, Marshall promoted a group of enterprising and talented officers to senior command positions according to the president's opinion. Barton, as one of the few commanders with rich experience in tank operations in the United States, was appointed as Major General of the Second Armored Division. Barton is a general who advocates fearless attack. He often tells his officers and men that winning a war depends on two things, namely courage and blood. Therefore, when he was the commander of the group army in World War II, he was nicknamed "General of Blood and Gallbladder".

Barton's slogan is: "Dare, dare, dare forever!" "Forward, fight, at any cost!" If one of his teachers reports to Barton that his teacher is too tired to launch a new attack, Barton will say, "Well, who do you recommend to take your place?" Teachers always reconsider and still carry out Barton's original orders. Practice has proved that Barton is right, and this division is not too tired to attack. Barton knows that "soldiers can attack for 60 hours in a row, which can often save a lot of time and suffer a lot less." More than 60 hours is a waste of time, because soldiers will be exhausted from lack of sleep. "

Barton often lectured the troops in rude language to encourage officers and men to go forward bravely. For example, "War is the business of killing people. If you don't let him bleed, he will kill you. Cut open your opponent's stomach or punch through their intestines. " "Americans like fighting, the excitement of fighting and the jingle of swords." "Failure is cowardly and fatal. Don't be a coward of our army! " One of Barton's teachers once commented: "Barton talks like a mule driver in Missouri, trying to trick stubborn mules into carrying heavy loads for him." Many officers blushed at Barton's rude words and asked him why he spoke like that. Barton replied, "You can't command the army without vulgarity." Barton believes that war is killing and destruction, and a man with a face cannot compete with a man full of hatred and bloodthirsty nature. He once wrote: "The only temperament that American soldiers don't have is fanaticism, which is our disadvantage when fighting fanatics." Therefore, Barton tried to incite soldiers to hate the enemy with vulgar and provocative language and cultivate soldiers' rough character. Therefore, most soldiers are willing to accept this kind of training, and gradually cultivate a deep hatred and tenacious fighting spirit against fascism.

Barton not only inspired the troops with words, but also often set an example and went deep into the dangerous front line to inspect. He always rides in a shiny jeep with a big red seat cover, a general star marked with Barton's rank at the front and rear, and a large-caliber machine gun controlled by Barton's adjutant in the back seat. Whenever Barton's driver arrives at the army, he tries to honk his horn to let the soldiers know that their commander, General Barton, is with them.

Barton's first instruction to his commanders was that "everyone should take the lead within his proper authority", and he certainly did it himself. Whenever a town is occupied, Barton always rushes in with the first troops at the risk of enemy sniper shooting and delayed bomb explosion.

On a rainy and cold afternoon in Europe, Barton saw a group of soldiers repairing a tank damaged by enemy gunfire. He immediately jumped off the jeep, lay on the muddy ground, got under the tank and stayed for 25 minutes. In the end, although the tank could not be repaired, the officers and men and mechanics around him could not help but admire Barton when they looked at his general uniform covered with oil and mud. In amphibious operations, Barton always jumped into the water before the landing craft landed, waded ashore with the soldiers under constant gunfire, and loudly encouraged the soldiers to move forward.

Although Barton's management of the troops is extremely strict, the soldiers who have worked under him know very well that the general's strictness is only superficial and his heart is kind. Barton not only knows how to motivate soldiers to fight bravely, but also knows how to care about the vital interests of soldiers. He asked his commander to "always care about the welfare and food of soldiers; You must know this soldier like the back of your hand. If you have any diseases or neurological symptoms, he should know at a glance. Soldiers' feet must be taken care of to ensure that shoes and socks fit, because socks that are too loose and too tight will hurt their feet; We must predict climate change and make timely requests so that soldiers can get seasonal clothes, shoes and socks. "

Barton's principle has always been "to exchange the minimum cost of American life for the maximum casualties of the enemy." He believes that the heavy casualties of the troops are a manifestation of poor command ability. In order to reduce the casualties of soldiers, Barton told the commander not to save ammunition, because "wasting ammunition is much better than wasting life." It takes at least 18 years to make a soldier and only a few months to make ammunition. "

Barton attaches great importance to the preservation of soldiers' physical strength. His principle is that soldiers will not be allowed to walk as long as they have the opportunity to ride in a battle. He knows that "soldiers who are tired of marching will not be full of physical strength when fighting." Therefore, Barton used trucks, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and trailers to transport soldiers as much as possible. Some generals criticized Barton's unsightly way of marching, but Barton thought that this could exchange the least fatigue for the fastest progress.

Whenever Barton's army wins trophies, he always shares them with the soldiers as much as possible. In France, his soldiers can get seven bottles of brandy each on Thanksgiving Day, and they can also use the beef in the German freezer to make fried steak, roast beef and beef stew instead of tired dry food.

Whenever soldiers are found injured or rendered meritorious service during the review, Barton always asks them carefully about the course of their injuries and rendered meritorious service. Barton always honours the soldiers who have performed well in front-line battles as soon as possible, and honours the seriously injured soldiers at the bedside. Barton firmly believes in Napoleon's motto, "As long as I have enough medals, I can conquer the world." Of course, Barton also pays great attention to protecting these excellent soldiers. He once ordered that people who won the Medal of Honor or the Cross of Excellent Service should not go to the front line again, because he found that the officers and men who won the medal "often sacrificed their lives because of heroic fighting."

3. Merits in World War II

After the Pearl Harbor incident broke out, Barton served as the commander of the US First Armored Army.

1942165438+10. In October, the United States and Britain implemented the "Torch" operation plan in French North Africa, and Barton's troops were sent directly from the United States to Morocco as a special force to the west. Before the battle began, Barton issued a battle order to the troops: "We attack, attack until we are exhausted, and then we attack."

Under Barton's leadership, the special forces on the western front struggled tenaciously with the huge waves and began to land in the early morning of165438+1October 8.

The target of this unit is Casablanca. The local French chief is General Souillard, and the United States has already done the work for him in advance. He agreed to Barton's troops landing. However, Nogai, the new plenipotentiary of Vichy government in North Africa, as a puppet of German fascism, arrested Bei Souillard for treason and ordered the French army to prevent the American troops from landing.

There was a fierce artillery battle between the French artillery and the American escort fleet. On the morning of the 9th, Barton braved the strafe of enemy planes and came to the beach to inspect the unloading of troops' supplies. When he saw the ship carrying reinforcements, ammunition and materials ashore, the soldiers hid themselves from the enemy's shooting, unable to push the ship away or unload the goods on board, which were urgently needed by the troops fighting nearby. After observing for a few minutes, Barton jumped out of the jeep and risked his life to push the boat with the soldiers. He stayed on the beach for nearly 18 hours and was soaked to the skin. His behavior greatly boosted morale and made this batch of materials reach the combat troops smoothly.

165438+1October 12. Nogai learned that another American army had landed in Algiers and had to agree to a ceasefire. Barton's army occupied Casablanca, and Barton became the governor of the United States in Morocco. He led the army here to prevent Franco's army from going south from Spain.

1943 At the beginning of the year, Rommel, the German general who retreated to Tunisia after the Battle of El Alamein, commanded the Axis forces to attack the 2nd Army of the United States first in order to prevent the Allied counterattack and ensure the right-wing security when his "African Army" retreated northward. The American army was defeated and suffered heavy casualties. It was forced to retreat to the Kaselin Pass, but it was attacked by Rommel's army here. The Germans advanced 150 miles. The officers and men of the 2 nd Army of the United States were depressed, and the commander was dismissed for lack of command ability.

Barton was appointed to take his place. Eisenhower instructed Barton to immediately restore the morale of the soldiers of the Second Army. After Barton arrived in the army, he quickly rectified the discipline and style of the whole army with a resolute spirit. He issued a dress code to punish violators; Ordered that breakfast must be finished at 7: 30, so that those staff officers who are used to being lazy can go to work on time; He instilled the fighting style of continuous attack into the second army, which made the fighting style of the whole army look brand-new.

Under Barton's leadership, the Second Army launched a counterattack against the enemy after receiving the battle order. As a result, Lien Chan won the battle and recovered all the lost ground. Moreover, it effectively cooperated with the allied forces led by British general Montgomery to launch a general attack on the Axis forces in southern Tunisia, which eventually led to the surrender of 250,000 German and Italian troops in Tunisia to the allied forces on May 1943.

Barton was promoted to lieutenant general because of his meritorious military service, and was transferred back to Morocco to plan the Sicilian campaign. The Second Army was handed over to his deputy commander, Bradley.

1943 65438+ 10, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill reached a plan to attack Sicily, Italy at a meeting in Casablanca.

The task of directly attacking Sicily is the 7th Army of American Army led by Barton and the 8th Army of British Army led by Montgomery.

The battle plan for this campaign was made by Montgomery. The military goal is to capture Messina in the northeast corner of Sicily, which is close to Italy. British troops landed in the southeast of Sicily and headed for Messina along the east coast. This attack point is hidden and the marching route is short.

The American troops led by Patton played an auxiliary role in protecting the British flank. They landed in the south of Sicily, where the terrain is open and prone to casualties. They turned to the northwest first and then to the east for a long circuitous battle.

Barton was very angry at this obvious plot to discriminate against the American army, because the British army had ridiculed the defeat of the American army in the North African campaign before, so he tried his best to compete with Montgomery before the war. On the eve of landing in Sicily, Barton issued an order to the whole army: "We must attack quickly, mercilessly, bravely and endlessly to maintain our superiority. No matter how tired and hungry you are, you must keep attacking, because the enemy will only be more tired and hungry than you. "

After the Allied forces landed on July 1943, Barton led troops to launch a stormy attack on the enemy and quickly occupied Palermo, the capital of Sicily in the northwest of the island. At this time, the British army led by Montgomery was stubbornly blocked by German reinforcements in Catania on the east coast, and the progress was difficult. Barton led the American troops to advance along the north shore of the island to Messina in the east. Axis forces were attacked by Britain and the United States and decided to withdraw their main forces to Italy. In order to cover the main retreat, the Germans made a tenacious defense against the American troops advancing eastward in the mountainous area of northeast Sicily. Barton's troops were blocked from attacking. He used a small amphibious assault ship to cooperate at sea three times in an attempt to stop the main enemy from retreating, but failed because he failed to get the assistance of the allied planes. However, under Barton's command, the Seventh Army finally captured Messina on August 16 after tenacious fighting. The American army can finally hold its head high in front of the British army, and Barton has gained great fame. Amid all the praise, he began to feel a little carried away.

However, when Montgomery and another American general, Clark, commanded the allied forces to fight in Italy, and Bradley was transferred to Britain to organize troops to prepare for the "Battle of Overlord" (that is, the Normandy landing campaign), Barton caused public outcry because he slapped an orderly, so that he could not be reused.

1943 in the second half of the year, Barton led some staff officers to wander around malta island, Corsica and other islands to confuse the enemy.

It was not until June 1944 that Barton received the new appointment of the commander of the third army. His task is to continue to expand the results in the upcoming "Overlord Battle" after the vanguard troops launched an attack. But when Barton took office in Britain, the soldiers of the Third Army were basically still in the United States, and Barton only established the army headquarters in Kennazford, a small town facing the Irish Sea in western England. At the same time, in order not to let the enemy know the actual landing site, the allied leaders set up a fake headquarters in Dover, the nearest British port to Calais, France, with the famous Barton playing a fake commander to attract the attention of the Germans. This task made Barton very unhappy, but it achieved the expected goal, which made Germany deploy heavy troops near Calais and reduced the pressure of Normandy landing.

1On June 6, 944, the key battle of World War II began to land in Normandy. Brad, the first American army quickly landed and occupied the beachhead position. Although Barton flew to the battlefield on July 6, he could not fight because the Third Army had not assembled. On July 25, Bradley launched the "Cobra Campaign" again and continued to expand the results. He appointed Barton as the deputy commander of the First Army and went to the front to direct the Eighth Army to go deep into Avilance. Barton led armored forces to capture Avilance at the end of July, which opened the door to Brittany. In August of 1 year, Bradley was promoted to the position of commander of 12 army group, belonging to 1 and the 3rd army group.

Barton's third army has been assembled and put into battle. Before the action, Barton held a meeting of officers, calling on everyone to go forward bravely. Don't hesitate because of the lack of protection on the flank, and don't consider how to stick to it before occupying a place, but be fearless. He said to everyone, "remember, from now until victory or sacrifice, we must never be afraid!" "

Originally, the task of the Third Army was to capture Brittany to the west, but Barton thought it was a waste to occupy the area with such a large force, and it would also delay the attack on fighters from other places. So only one army was sent to the west to capture Brost, and another army to the east to capture Rennes, the capital of Brittany, and then to capture Wenge in the southeast. Another army moved eastward and occupied Le Mans in the northeast of Wenge. In this way, Barton's army broke the German defense in the hedgerow of Normandy with fierce attack and rapid advance, and turned the local battle into a full-scale mobile war. When Barton rode eastward with the victorious troops in a jeep, he looked at the vast battlefield full of corpses and shouted excitedly, "Is there anything more spectacular than this?"

On August 9, the Germans sent troops to recapture Avilance. Barton immediately suggested to Bradley that the Third Army should advance northward and cut off the enemy's retreat. On August 13, when Barton attacked Ajintang, he asked Bradley to cross the border with 2 1 British troops led by Montgomery and continue to advance northward to Fares. But Bradley ordered Barton to stop marching and wait for Montgomery's invitation. Montgomery thought that the Canadian army could quickly go south from Connie to Farce, so he didn't send an invitation to the American army, so as not to be robbed by Barton. As a result, when the Canadian troops arrived in Fares three days later, the Germans had already fled between Algin Hall and Farez. In order to make up for the failure to destroy the enemy this time, Barton persuaded Bradley to lead the army eastward to intercept the fleeing enemy. When the Germans fled to the Seine behind Paris, they accidentally found Barton's army standing in front. The Germans were forced to cross the river downstream, intending to rebuild their defense lines with the Seine River after crossing the river. But Barton has sent a division to cross the river first, which has frustrated the German plan.

Since then, other allied forces have pushed northward, attacked Belgium and Luxembourg, and seized coastal cities. Barton led the Third Army to rush eastward from the gap between Paris and Orleans. With the armored division as the pioneer, he kept attacking, leaving the fleeing enemy to the subsequent motorized infantry division to solve, and arrived at Mas River at the end of August. Barton suggested to his boss at this moment that he immediately broke through siegfried line in western Germany, crossed the Rhine River and entered Germany, thus ending the war ahead of schedule. However, Montgomery urged the British to launch a large-scale attack in the north. Eisenhower ordered Barton to lead the third army as a flank to cooperate with the British army, and at the same time reduce the truck and oil supply of the army.

In this difficult condition, Barton, although very upset, firmly ordered the troops to move forward quickly. He ordered the tank fuel to be concentrated for 1/4 tank troops to advance at high speed, and the logistics personnel tried their best to get gasoline. He personally drove a jeep that was short of gasoline to Bradley's headquarters to ask for gasoline. In this way, in August of 3 1 year, Barton led troops to cross the Maas River, crossed the Verdun and approached Maas. However, the advance of the group army was forced to stop because the advance speed was too fast and the logistics supply could not keep up. Hitler ordered135,000 troops to reinforce siegfried line, and Barton attacked again in September, but failed to break through the defense line.

65438+February 65438+June, Germany assembled 25 divisions and launched a sudden counterattack against the allied forces in the Ardennes area, which was called "the battle of sadness" in history. The US 1 Army was caught off guard, and the Germans broke through the defense line and pushed the Germans 50 kilometers. For this kind of counterattack by the Germans, Barton had already detected the general direction of his actions based on the information collected by the Germans. He has ordered the General Staff to draw up a plan in advance, so that the Third Army can abandon its eastward advance and prepare to attack Luxembourg to attack the German flank. On February 20th, 65438, Eisenhower held a meeting in Verdun to plan how to deal with the German counterattack. When Eisenhower asked Barton when his troops could attack the German flank, Barton replied that they could attack the north within 48 hours. The participants were all surprised, because it was a very complicated job to transfer an army from the east to the north, and it was necessary to make major changes to the use of roads and the supply system, which was impossible in a short time, so Eisenhower said incredulously after listening to Barton's assurance: "George, don't be ridiculous!" But Barton quickly mobilized his troops because of his early preparation, and launched an attack on the Germans in the early morning of February 22, 65438. He used one army to strengthen the American position in Luxemburg and two other troops to rescue American paratroopers trapped in Bastoni. Barton, regardless of the bad weather, drove the troops to run at full speed. On February 26th, 65438, the first armored troops took the lead in attacking the besieged city of Bastoni, repelling the German siege of the city and keeping this important transportation hub. At this time, the weather began to improve, and the allies dispatched a large number of planes to bomb the Germans and their communication lines. By the end of 1945, 1, due to the Soviet attack on the eastern front, the Germans were unable to attend to each other from beginning to end, and the "sad war" collapsed with the German sadness. The front lines of the two American army groups were reconnected, and Barton's surprise rescue became a masterpiece in military history.

After the German counterattack was shattered, the Allied Command decided to let Montgomery lead the British army to launch a main attack on the German army in the north, and Barton's army defended in situ. Barton was full of anger at this arrangement, believing that it was a distrust of his combat capability and was not conducive to an all-round attack on the Germans. So Barton ordered the troops to March eastward in parallel with the British troops on the southern line. On March 12, while the British troops in the northern line captured Trier in western Germany, General Barton's troops also attacked the Rhine River south to destroy the Germans in Hexi.

In order to break through siegfried line and expand the results in the German hinterland, Barton urgently needs to add an armored division. /kloc-in March of 0/6, when Eisenhower's plane stopped at Barton's airport for a short time because of a snowstorm, Barton made every effort to entertain the supreme commander of the allied forces and made him promise to send Barton another armored division in a very happy situation. After the troops increased, Barton immediately went north along the Rhine River, targeting Mainz and koblenz. In this thunderous March, Barton's Third Army broke through siegfried line, defeated two German army groups and wiped out most of them. On the night of March 22, Barton pursued the Germans and crossed the Rhine River, which the Germans regarded as a defensive barrier. The 3rd Army crossed the river before the British and built two bridgeheads. Barton was very excited about winning the British army again. When he called Bradley after repelling the German counterattack and consolidating the bridgehead, he shouted: "Announce to the world that we have crossed the river!" "I want the world to know that the Third Army crossed the Rhine before Montgomery!"

1in April, 945, the German defense line completely collapsed, and the Allied Command deployed the final action against Germany. Bradley's army group continued to attack the northeast, went deep into Germany, and went straight to the Elbe River and the Mudd River until it reached Leipzig and Dresden and joined forces with the Soviet Union. Barton led the third army to the western border of Czechoslovakia, but according to the agreement reached by the allies, American troops could not enter Czech territory. At this time, the Allied Command got the information. Some Nazis are building so-called "national defense fortresses" in the Alps, assembling troops and materials in an attempt to continue the war, and ordering Barton to change the direction of marching in order to destroy the enemy there. 17 In April, Barton learned in the newspaper that he was promoted to a four-star general, and he was very happy. On April 20th, according to the order of Allied Command, Barton led the 3rd Army to launch a powerful offensive to the southwest, and found that this "national defense fortress" was just a fragile military fortress.

On May 2, after the Soviet invasion of Berlin, Barton once again hoped to lead the army into Prague, the Czech capital, but Bradley was instructed by Eisenhower to resolutely stop Barton from violating the agreement reached with the Soviet Union, despite Barton's loud protest. On May 9, the European War ended and Barton became the military chief of Bavaria, Germany. He was praised all over Europe for his outstanding military exploits. Once he returned to the United States, he became the most popular general among the American people after Eisenhower.

Barton is brave and wise in the military, but blind and naive in politics. After World War II, his political naivety began to rise again, showing hostility to the Soviet Union and tolerance to the Nazis. At a reception, a reporter asked him if it was similar for Germans to join the Nazi Party and Americans to join communist party or the Democratic Party. Barton gave a positive answer. This incident caused an uproar in the media. Barton's remarks made the US military very passive. Eisenhower, under the pressure of public opinion, removed Barton from his post as commander of the third army and Bavarian military chief, and appointed him as commander of the 15 army. This group army is actually a nominal unit, with only some officers, gendarmes and logistics personnel. Its task is to sort out and compile the military history of the European battlefield.

The contrast between Barton's military toughness and his political naivety is so great that it is incredible. This contrast made him lose his position as commander of the Third Group, and ended his earth-shattering and sobbing feat in the army, leaving his beloved career ahead of time and returning home sadly.