Patton in Korea/MacArthur in the White House
- Thread starter BiteNibbleChomp
- Start date
- Status
Watched! Another interesting TL. Hoping to see other characters across the UN forces and the red forces and also hoping to see Patton capturing Manchuria
I mean, that incident only took about three hours after he arrived in Korea, so who knows how long it will take him to blow another fuse?
I don't want to repeat the "slap a soldier" debacle here though - not only is it a one-way ticket back to California for Patton and effectively the end of a good TL for me, but I get the feeling that that stuff-up, if nothing else, was one Patton would actually make an effort not to repeat.
Shooting mules is pretty much exactly what he says he would do in a future war - p305 of my copy of War as I Knew It. Of course, doing so in front of a crowd of Koreans probably wasn't his finest idea.
Thanks! Hope you enjoy itWatched! Another interesting TL. Hoping to see other characters across the UN forces and the red forces and also hoping to see Patton capturing Manchuria
- BNC
I think the author is thinking about Patton's experience in North Africa and how he took green troops and made them viable soldiers.
Well, this is certainly an interesting looking timeline.
One question though - were Pattons two sergeants real people?
One question though - were Pattons two sergeants real people?
Every book you care to read. Every source will tell you Washington, Tokyo, and the American Advisory Group in South Korea were completely surprised by the NK Invasion. Even though the Chinese had made statements via India that they might intervene in Korea, and 8th Army had been picking up Chinese prisoners for weeks, everyone was caught flatfooted by the Thanksgiving Offensive. After that Chinese, and Soviet intentions were sheer guess work. American Intelligence had completely failed to penetrate the Soviet & Chinese military, or political command, we had no idea what they were going to do, or what they were thinking. There is no debate about this, every source agrees Washington, and the UN Command was groping in the dark.
The only bright spot in intelligence was that 8th Army had a special field intelligence unit that had broken the NK radio codes. Walker had good advanced warning for NK operational moves, and deployments. Without that the NK Army may have broken through the Pusan Perimeter, and destroyed 8th Army. Like Waterloo late August 1950 was a near run thing. The NK's made some serious operational mistakes.
I'm interested in knowing about these- perhaps they could be good POD-s?
Forgive me for pouring cold water on a well written, and enjoyable story. Truman hated MacArthur, for being a brass hat. He hated bragging, load mouth generals, and disliked admirals in general, calling them "Fancy Dan's" See "The Revolt of the Admirals." The chances of Truman picking Patton would've been about nil. Mat Ridgeway was the overwhelming favorite for the job. He was the Golden Boy of the JCS, who were thinking of him for the job from the start of the war.
George C. Marshall made the judgement that Patton would never rise above the level of army commander. He made that decision in North Africa after noting deficiencies in properly supervising the material, and personnel preparations for 7th Army's invasion of Sicily. Even though they were close personal friends, Marshall was less then impressed with his command style, and demeanor. Read Omar Bradly's auto bio. The slapping incidents in Sicily had nothing to do with it, it was before that, that Patton was "Black Balled". Patton lacked the tact, and even temperament to head a coalition command like 8th Army. Besides at 64 Patton was too old for the riggers of commanding a field army. There were younger, and more able generals available for the job.
George C. Marshall made the judgement that Patton would never rise above the level of army commander. He made that decision in North Africa after noting deficiencies in properly supervising the material, and personnel preparations for 7th Army's invasion of Sicily. Even though they were close personal friends, Marshall was less then impressed with his command style, and demeanor. Read Omar Bradly's auto bio. The slapping incidents in Sicily had nothing to do with it, it was before that, that Patton was "Black Balled". Patton lacked the tact, and even temperament to head a coalition command like 8th Army. Besides at 64 Patton was too old for the riggers of commanding a field army. There were younger, and more able generals available for the job.
That, and Patton is just too cool to not write a story about. I first came up with this idea when I was still writing FS - unlike most other TL ideas it has kind of stuck with me ever since.
Mac dealing with Patton, Montgomery AND De Gaulle? I think for the safety and sanity of all involved, we are better off not imagining such a thing
Every named character in the story will be a real person, including the sergeants. IOTL they were both in Korea anyway (I'm not certain if they were there in July, but there's five years of butterflies if we want to be picky), and seeing as Patton basically insisted on taking staff with him, they would have become part of his command the moment he knew they were there.
Yeah, I'm aware of that. But I liked the idea for the TL too much and this was the best explanation for getting him there that I could come up with. If it requires a bit of a handwave, then oh well.
That said, Truman isn't going to be 100% thrilled about his new pick for army commander. Not at all
- BNC
Part I, Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.
July 19, 1950
Patton frowned as he put down the telephone. He had just been talking with a major in Chonju, who was in charge of a company-strength patrol southwest of Taejon. That part of the front belonged to the ROK Army – there weren’t enough Americans to defend everything – but just because the ROK forces were supposed to be there, it didn’t mean they actually were. Sometimes, such as last night at Yongdok on the east coast, the Koreans were reasonably good soldiers. More often than not, they still fled at the first sign of enemy action.
That major had given Patton news that he had been dreading. The communists were below the 36th parallel now, and had captured the port of Kunsan on the west coast. Actually the major had said that communications with the port had been lost, and had been for the last twenty-four hours. Phone lines still could not be relied on, although General Whitney, one of MacArthur’s men, had promised more would be delivered soon. Radio was out too, and nothing had been heard from the small ROK force that had been in the city. Unless the Koreans had pulled together a new force, something Patton thought highly unlikely, Kunsan was gone. It had probably been gone yesterday.
One look at the map pinned to the wall was enough to see that the fall of Kunsan was, while not a disaster in itself, very close to becoming one. While US and ROK troops had formed something of a line stretching from the east coast to Taejon, practically nothing was positioned west of that city. Apart from a couple of regiments in Pusan, Eighth Army didn’t have many reserves. From Kunsan, it would be possible to storm down the west coast, or perhaps down the road through Chinju, and then strike at Pusan from the west.
Patton traced the path down the map once, then twice, with his hand. It was exactly the sort of manoeuvre he would have tried himself had he been commanding the other side.
God damn. He thought. This is the same move we used to break out of Normandy.
“Landrum!” he called to the chief of staff he had inherited from Walker. “What reinforcements do we have coming up?”
“The 19th Infantry is coming from Okinawa, sir. Should be about four days before they arrive.” Colonel Landrum said at once, referring to a regiment that had just been pulled from occupation duties. “And of course there’s the rest of the 1st Cavalry ready to unload in Pusan when the typhoon passes.”
“1st Cavalry is no good.” Patton said. “I’ll need those at Taejon before too long. Any others you’re aware of?”
“The 2nd Division is supposed to be coming from Washington state, although we don’t know when they will arrive.” Landrum said. “Likely to be too late to launch a counterattack with them.”
ROK troops it would have to be, then. “Cut orders for the 19th to move to Sunchon as soon as they get off the boats.” Patton said. “And find as many ROKs as you can in the area to join them.” Sunchon, on the southern coast of Korea, was far to the south of Kunsan, but it was the furthest forward position along the likely North Korean route where he felt confident a position could be established. Chonju, much closer to Kunsan and the only other city of note along the western roads, would easily be taken in the next four or five days.
Eighth Army intelligence wasn’t able to determine exactly what units the NKPA was using in the attack along the west coast, but it seemed likely that neither their 3rd or 4th Divisions were taking part – General Dean had reported both as active in the battle for Taejon, as well as a tank brigade. A couple of hours later, when digging through some old papers, they found another division that had been in western South Korea at the start of the war but seemed to have disappeared off the map since – the 6th.
“I’d say it’s likely to be them at Kunsan.” Patton said as soon as he was informed. He had Sergeant Meeks contact General Willoughby, MacArthur’s chief of intelligence, only for Willoughby to claim that there was no 6th Division before hanging up.
Furious, Patton called him again. “This is General Patton.” he barked. “I don’t know where you got that bullshit about the North Korean 6th Division not existing, but I’m holding a report dated June 26 saying they were near Inchon then, and my men believe that it is in the Kunsan region now.”
“General, nobody in this headquarters has any record of such a unit.” Willoughby replied. “Your report is likely mistaken.”
“It’s not.” Patton snapped. He had seen enough intelligence reports in Europe to be sure this one was good. “If you don’t know where the 6th is, get your men off their asses and have them find it. I won’t have a communist division running around my rear just because you don’t have a goddamn paper saying it exists.”
“Sir, I’ve been following orders from General MacArthur.” Willoughby said, as if that helped anything.
“I don’t give a good goddamn. I’m giving you this order. Find that division.” Patton said, knowing that he had two stars more than Willoughby. As he slammed down the phone, he remarked to Meeks, “If that man was on my staff I’d have relieved him for that.”
As it turned out, Eighth Army would get a new G2 before the week was out. Although he didn’t like removing men from command, Lieutenant Colonel James Tarkenton hadn't been performing as well as he would have liked, and Patton couldn’t afford the time needed for his existing intelligence team to learn on the job. A message was sent to Washington, requesting Colonel Oscar W. Koch be sent to Korea to take up the same role he had held in Third Army. The rest of the intelligence guys would work things out given time. Koch was the best intelligence man Patton knew. He would get things moving, even if Willoughby refused to.
***
July 20, 1950
Not one step back. They were words uttered by many a commander on the eve of a lost battle, and now Patton had given them to the defenders of Taejon. General William F. Dean of the 24th Division knew that Patton was gambling with the lives of the entire division that the town could be held.
Dean wasn’t feeling confident himself. Until Patton showed up, he had been planning to evacuate the city – indeed he would have done it yesterday – and then make a stand further south. There were at least two, possibly three, North Korean divisions out there, and his unit had already taken 25 or 30% casualties. Taejon had also been filled with roadblocks, installed by North Korean sympathisers either from what little of the local population had stuck around, or more likely elements of their army that had taken off their uniform to act like spies. Now that Patton had ordered the unit stop moving, he wondered if the little bastards would keep building those obstacles.
“Taejon is the key to everything.” Patton had explained. “We can’t afford to lose it, and as long as we hold it we cramp the enemy’s style.” The comments held some merit: most major roads in the area ran straight through the town. Whatever enemy force had managed to take Kunsan to the west would be relying on a roundabout route if it was receiving any supplies at all, and those routes were being watched all the time by air now. Rumours circulated that Patton had yelled at the boss of the air force until the bombers had been flown out.
Bombers wouldn’t be much help here. The fighting was much too close for that now. While his staff had evacuated to Yongdong, twenty miles down the road, he was now holed up in the second story of what might have been a bank. An hour ago, a couple of friendly halftracks had driven past on a street that hadn’t yet been blocked by the communists. Orders were to shoot anyone seen building a roadblock, no questions asked. Patton didn’t want Eighth Army laying them – they were bad for morale or something. Civilians had no right to build them, and there was warning enough given yesterday.
He looked out of a glassless window at that same street. He thought that the street was still friendly controlled, until he saw the T-34 rolling down it.
“Wish I had a damned bazooka.” he muttered. A few of them had made it to the unit, but a general was never going to be the first to use them. Then he noticed that the tank’s commander, an either arrogant or stupid North Korean, had left the hatch of the cupola open.
Almost without thinking, he pulled a grenade from his belt and removed the pin. As he threw it out the window, he grabbed his gun and ran into the next room, and then the one after that. He hoped to land the grenade in the tank, but if he didn’t kill it, the Koreans would know where he had been, and a couple dozen pounds of high explosive would be heading there shortly.
An explosion outside came, and then some screaming. Nothing more. He might have hit something, but the tank was still a going concern. More crashes outside told him the battle wasn’t ending any time soon.
***
July 22, 1950
General Hobart “Hap” Gay watched through his field glasses as the artillery fire rained down on the hills north of Yongdong. 1st Cavalry had been rushed into this position all through the previous night, by jeep, train and 2½ ton truck. The communists had captured a stretch of the road up ahead, cutting the best road and only rail track into Taejon, and Patton was adamant that they had to be regained immediately. The Air Force was dropping supplies east of the city, and had been ever since Patton decided to draw the North Koreans into an urban battle, but Dean’s unit was getting chewed up regardless. As soon as the road was opened again, the Cavalry was going to send two-thirds of its strength to join that fight.
Every artilleryman’s helmet shined. Everyone wore their tie. More than a thousand dollars lined Gay’s pocket for minor infractions (Patton’s usual fine of $25 had increased to $40 for this war). When their commander toured the unit a couple of days ago, he had brought back discipline with the force of a whirlwind, or maybe a tornado. A week ago, Eighth Army had been sloppy about such things. No more. Gay had been Patton’s chief of staff in the last war. He still remembered how his old boss worked. 1st Cavalry might whinge about the so-called chickenshit, but they would follow it.
The radio began crackling. “Hap Here.” the general said.
“Eighth Regiment here, sir.” Someone – Gay didn’t recognise the voice – said on the other end. “Colonel’s down.”
“Damn it!” Gay cursed. “How’s the advance moving?”
“Slowly” was the reply. Gay was satisfied with that: the regiment was almost entirely green, and the North Koreans hadn’t been checked too many times anywhere on the front.
“Tell the men to keep firing.” Gay said. Patton hadn’t had a lot of time to train the troops before he sent them into battle, but he’d made a point out of that. “Doesn’t matter how scared the troops get, they have to keep firing. Make the enemy keep their heads down.”
It would take until the middle of the next day to fully clear the communists away from the road. Gay might have been happy if he hadn’t heard news making the situation much worse.
“Chinsan and Chonju have fallen.” Came the message. It referred to a couple of small towns both almost due south of Taejon. As his troops picked over the communist dead and saw the rest of them retreat here in the east, it became apparent that the battle he had just fought had only defeated a diversion.
And Taejon looked set to be outflanked again…
- BNC
I have known the call to battle
In each changeless changing shape
From the high souled voice of conscience
To the beastly lust for rape.
July 19, 1950
Patton frowned as he put down the telephone. He had just been talking with a major in Chonju, who was in charge of a company-strength patrol southwest of Taejon. That part of the front belonged to the ROK Army – there weren’t enough Americans to defend everything – but just because the ROK forces were supposed to be there, it didn’t mean they actually were. Sometimes, such as last night at Yongdok on the east coast, the Koreans were reasonably good soldiers. More often than not, they still fled at the first sign of enemy action.
That major had given Patton news that he had been dreading. The communists were below the 36th parallel now, and had captured the port of Kunsan on the west coast. Actually the major had said that communications with the port had been lost, and had been for the last twenty-four hours. Phone lines still could not be relied on, although General Whitney, one of MacArthur’s men, had promised more would be delivered soon. Radio was out too, and nothing had been heard from the small ROK force that had been in the city. Unless the Koreans had pulled together a new force, something Patton thought highly unlikely, Kunsan was gone. It had probably been gone yesterday.
One look at the map pinned to the wall was enough to see that the fall of Kunsan was, while not a disaster in itself, very close to becoming one. While US and ROK troops had formed something of a line stretching from the east coast to Taejon, practically nothing was positioned west of that city. Apart from a couple of regiments in Pusan, Eighth Army didn’t have many reserves. From Kunsan, it would be possible to storm down the west coast, or perhaps down the road through Chinju, and then strike at Pusan from the west.
Patton traced the path down the map once, then twice, with his hand. It was exactly the sort of manoeuvre he would have tried himself had he been commanding the other side.
God damn. He thought. This is the same move we used to break out of Normandy.
“Landrum!” he called to the chief of staff he had inherited from Walker. “What reinforcements do we have coming up?”
“The 19th Infantry is coming from Okinawa, sir. Should be about four days before they arrive.” Colonel Landrum said at once, referring to a regiment that had just been pulled from occupation duties. “And of course there’s the rest of the 1st Cavalry ready to unload in Pusan when the typhoon passes.”
“1st Cavalry is no good.” Patton said. “I’ll need those at Taejon before too long. Any others you’re aware of?”
“The 2nd Division is supposed to be coming from Washington state, although we don’t know when they will arrive.” Landrum said. “Likely to be too late to launch a counterattack with them.”
ROK troops it would have to be, then. “Cut orders for the 19th to move to Sunchon as soon as they get off the boats.” Patton said. “And find as many ROKs as you can in the area to join them.” Sunchon, on the southern coast of Korea, was far to the south of Kunsan, but it was the furthest forward position along the likely North Korean route where he felt confident a position could be established. Chonju, much closer to Kunsan and the only other city of note along the western roads, would easily be taken in the next four or five days.
Eighth Army intelligence wasn’t able to determine exactly what units the NKPA was using in the attack along the west coast, but it seemed likely that neither their 3rd or 4th Divisions were taking part – General Dean had reported both as active in the battle for Taejon, as well as a tank brigade. A couple of hours later, when digging through some old papers, they found another division that had been in western South Korea at the start of the war but seemed to have disappeared off the map since – the 6th.
“I’d say it’s likely to be them at Kunsan.” Patton said as soon as he was informed. He had Sergeant Meeks contact General Willoughby, MacArthur’s chief of intelligence, only for Willoughby to claim that there was no 6th Division before hanging up.
Furious, Patton called him again. “This is General Patton.” he barked. “I don’t know where you got that bullshit about the North Korean 6th Division not existing, but I’m holding a report dated June 26 saying they were near Inchon then, and my men believe that it is in the Kunsan region now.”
“General, nobody in this headquarters has any record of such a unit.” Willoughby replied. “Your report is likely mistaken.”
“It’s not.” Patton snapped. He had seen enough intelligence reports in Europe to be sure this one was good. “If you don’t know where the 6th is, get your men off their asses and have them find it. I won’t have a communist division running around my rear just because you don’t have a goddamn paper saying it exists.”
“Sir, I’ve been following orders from General MacArthur.” Willoughby said, as if that helped anything.
“I don’t give a good goddamn. I’m giving you this order. Find that division.” Patton said, knowing that he had two stars more than Willoughby. As he slammed down the phone, he remarked to Meeks, “If that man was on my staff I’d have relieved him for that.”
As it turned out, Eighth Army would get a new G2 before the week was out. Although he didn’t like removing men from command, Lieutenant Colonel James Tarkenton hadn't been performing as well as he would have liked, and Patton couldn’t afford the time needed for his existing intelligence team to learn on the job. A message was sent to Washington, requesting Colonel Oscar W. Koch be sent to Korea to take up the same role he had held in Third Army. The rest of the intelligence guys would work things out given time. Koch was the best intelligence man Patton knew. He would get things moving, even if Willoughby refused to.
***
July 20, 1950
Not one step back. They were words uttered by many a commander on the eve of a lost battle, and now Patton had given them to the defenders of Taejon. General William F. Dean of the 24th Division knew that Patton was gambling with the lives of the entire division that the town could be held.
Dean wasn’t feeling confident himself. Until Patton showed up, he had been planning to evacuate the city – indeed he would have done it yesterday – and then make a stand further south. There were at least two, possibly three, North Korean divisions out there, and his unit had already taken 25 or 30% casualties. Taejon had also been filled with roadblocks, installed by North Korean sympathisers either from what little of the local population had stuck around, or more likely elements of their army that had taken off their uniform to act like spies. Now that Patton had ordered the unit stop moving, he wondered if the little bastards would keep building those obstacles.
“Taejon is the key to everything.” Patton had explained. “We can’t afford to lose it, and as long as we hold it we cramp the enemy’s style.” The comments held some merit: most major roads in the area ran straight through the town. Whatever enemy force had managed to take Kunsan to the west would be relying on a roundabout route if it was receiving any supplies at all, and those routes were being watched all the time by air now. Rumours circulated that Patton had yelled at the boss of the air force until the bombers had been flown out.
Bombers wouldn’t be much help here. The fighting was much too close for that now. While his staff had evacuated to Yongdong, twenty miles down the road, he was now holed up in the second story of what might have been a bank. An hour ago, a couple of friendly halftracks had driven past on a street that hadn’t yet been blocked by the communists. Orders were to shoot anyone seen building a roadblock, no questions asked. Patton didn’t want Eighth Army laying them – they were bad for morale or something. Civilians had no right to build them, and there was warning enough given yesterday.
He looked out of a glassless window at that same street. He thought that the street was still friendly controlled, until he saw the T-34 rolling down it.
“Wish I had a damned bazooka.” he muttered. A few of them had made it to the unit, but a general was never going to be the first to use them. Then he noticed that the tank’s commander, an either arrogant or stupid North Korean, had left the hatch of the cupola open.
Almost without thinking, he pulled a grenade from his belt and removed the pin. As he threw it out the window, he grabbed his gun and ran into the next room, and then the one after that. He hoped to land the grenade in the tank, but if he didn’t kill it, the Koreans would know where he had been, and a couple dozen pounds of high explosive would be heading there shortly.
An explosion outside came, and then some screaming. Nothing more. He might have hit something, but the tank was still a going concern. More crashes outside told him the battle wasn’t ending any time soon.
***
July 22, 1950
General Hobart “Hap” Gay watched through his field glasses as the artillery fire rained down on the hills north of Yongdong. 1st Cavalry had been rushed into this position all through the previous night, by jeep, train and 2½ ton truck. The communists had captured a stretch of the road up ahead, cutting the best road and only rail track into Taejon, and Patton was adamant that they had to be regained immediately. The Air Force was dropping supplies east of the city, and had been ever since Patton decided to draw the North Koreans into an urban battle, but Dean’s unit was getting chewed up regardless. As soon as the road was opened again, the Cavalry was going to send two-thirds of its strength to join that fight.
Every artilleryman’s helmet shined. Everyone wore their tie. More than a thousand dollars lined Gay’s pocket for minor infractions (Patton’s usual fine of $25 had increased to $40 for this war). When their commander toured the unit a couple of days ago, he had brought back discipline with the force of a whirlwind, or maybe a tornado. A week ago, Eighth Army had been sloppy about such things. No more. Gay had been Patton’s chief of staff in the last war. He still remembered how his old boss worked. 1st Cavalry might whinge about the so-called chickenshit, but they would follow it.
The radio began crackling. “Hap Here.” the general said.
“Eighth Regiment here, sir.” Someone – Gay didn’t recognise the voice – said on the other end. “Colonel’s down.”
“Damn it!” Gay cursed. “How’s the advance moving?”
“Slowly” was the reply. Gay was satisfied with that: the regiment was almost entirely green, and the North Koreans hadn’t been checked too many times anywhere on the front.
“Tell the men to keep firing.” Gay said. Patton hadn’t had a lot of time to train the troops before he sent them into battle, but he’d made a point out of that. “Doesn’t matter how scared the troops get, they have to keep firing. Make the enemy keep their heads down.”
It would take until the middle of the next day to fully clear the communists away from the road. Gay might have been happy if he hadn’t heard news making the situation much worse.
“Chinsan and Chonju have fallen.” Came the message. It referred to a couple of small towns both almost due south of Taejon. As his troops picked over the communist dead and saw the rest of them retreat here in the east, it became apparent that the battle he had just fought had only defeated a diversion.
And Taejon looked set to be outflanked again…
- BNC
Last edited:
BlackDragon98
Banned
I searched up Willoughby and oh boy did i get a bad surprise.
Turns out this was the guy who let Unit 731 get off scot free in exchange for data that was worth shit.
And gave Ishii a cherry on top in the form a unspecific monetary payment.
Fortunately, he's gone as of ITTL.
Good riddance I'd say.
Turns out this was the guy who let Unit 731 get off scot free in exchange for data that was worth shit.
And gave Ishii a cherry on top in the form a unspecific monetary payment.
Fortunately, he's gone as of ITTL.
Good riddance I'd say.
Hate to burst your bubble, but Willoughby is still around. He works for Mac, while Patton fired whoever was Walker's G2 IOTL (I've yet to find a name despite looking for months!).
Patton is stuck wishing he could sack the bastard.
- BNC
And where are 3 RAR (Royal Australian Regiment)? Are they still in Japan or have they already embarked for Pusan? How about 77 Squadron RAAF? Are they already flying missions against the North Koreans? An inquiring Australian would like to find out? There were more than just US and ROK units present in Korea...
“All right you son of bitches, you know how I feel”
I can just hear George C. Scott’s voice giving that speech.
That’s very good writing and has the feel of an unplanned, impromptu speech.
Well done
The Regiment would be in Japan at this point... the first non-US/ROK unit I'm aware of to deploy in Korea was the 27th Commonwealth Bde which only arrived in late August.
The squadron has been flying for a few weeks
There's two Patton movies starring him ITTL... one that's basically the Patton movie all of us have watched but change the last 5-10 minutes. And another about his Korean exploits. Gregory Peck plays MacArthur in that one.
- BNC
- Status