Patton Dies in 1943: Alternate Commanders for the US Army in 1944-45 Europe

What if George S. Patton is killed in 1943 at the conclusion of the Sicily campaign and after the slapping incident comes out. Maybe he is killed in a plane crash or his car accident happens earlier. Frank Andrews still dies in a plane crash as OTL.
Who takes command of the Third Army? Courtney Hodges was in command prior to Patton OTL but he became Bradley’s deputy at First Army and then took over when Bradley moved up to Twelfth Army Group Command.
If Hodges keeps Third Army then does Bradley keep First Army or who else steps in? Who else could Eisenhower bring up from the Italian campaign for Overlord and beyond? Would Devers stay in England and take over Twelfth Army Group?
Who are your nominations/recommendations for any of the command slots and what will the butterflies look like?
 
There were a dozen qualified corps commanders on the list for promotion. Patch turned out to be a good pick. So did Simpson, Truscott, Gerow & Krueger. Buckner, Gruenert, & a number of others were either selected for Army command, or equivalent Deparment & Defense commands.
 
The Three that would do a good job would have been Patch, Walker and Truscott.
Of those, I would preferred Walton Walker.
He serve under Patton and would command the 8th in Korea.
 
Patch was available at the time of this hypothetical death in August 1943. He had recovered his health and had just accompanied a corps HQ to the MTO. At that point the had about the same amount of time in combat command vs the Japanese as Bradley had vs the Germans. Truscott was a relatively junior division commander in Aiugust 1943 & Walker was still in the US untried in combat. Clark had already been designated 5th Army commander and was deep in preparations for invading Italy. Bradley was at loose ends, still commanding II Corps. Lucas was on Eisenhowers staff & had not yet had a combat command or a corps overseas. Devers had already held army command scale responsibilities. He'd been in Charge of Armored Forces Branch since 1941, organizing the formation and training of some sixteen armored divisions & over half a million men. In May 1943 Marshal sent him to the UK as commander of 'European Theatre of Operations US Army' which was a even larger organizational, training, and command responsibility. Marshal may have offered him as a army commander to Eisenhower.

McNair is another long shot. Marshal was still turning down his requests for overseas service. Lear, Drum, & DeWitt were possibles, they certainly had the organizational and planning experience at that level, but were getting a bit old and tired. Drum had also made something of a fool of himself ten months earlier.

At this point my picks would be either Patch or Bradley, with Devers as the third. Marshal could have offered several others from the US, but I'm inclined to think those three would be Ikes picks.
 
Going with Patch gives Ike two veteran Army commanders going into France. I think Bradley would still lead the initial Overlord assault because of his relationship with Ike so he stays with First Army. What could be interesting is Patch in command of D-Day with Collins as his Corps commander. Two Pacific veterans together.
 
Alternate is to elevate Patch or Bradley to the US 5th Army in Italy, & bring Clark to command 1st Army in Normandy, Clark had been involved in far more amphibious training, planning & execution for Ops TORCH HUSKY AVALANCHE BRIMSTONE SHINGLE, and commanded the AVALANCHE SHINGLE operations. Bradley was a relative amateur with command of II Corps for Op HUSKY & a brief division orientation exercise being his only experience.
 
Alternate is to elevate Patch or Bradley to the US 5th Army in Italy, & bring Clark to command 1st Army in Normandy, Clark had been involved in far more amphibious training, planning & execution for Ops TORCH HUSKY AVALANCHE BRIMSTONE SHINGLE, and commanded the AVALANCHE SHINGLE operations. Bradley was a relative amateur with command of II Corps for Op HUSKY & a brief division orientation exercise being his only experience.
Would you give Mark Clark command of The Twelfth Army Group or leave him with First Army for the duration?
 
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