Patton instead of Clark in Italy.

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How would General Patton of changed the campaign in Italy if he was in charge of the 5th Army instead of General Clark?
 
Badly.
Terrain in Italy made fighting more akin to WW1 than WW2, with the Allies having to break through a series of very strong defensive lines. Patton would have adopted a "Try harder" policy when faced with difficulties, and would probably be sacked after increasingly costly failed attacks.
 
Italy, with the geography and resource priorities it has, is the worst possible terrain for Patton. It's going to be one Metz after another.

The flip side is how Clark would do commanding the Third Army in France.
 
Italy, with the geography and resource priorities it has, is the worst possible terrain for Patton. It's going to be one Metz after another.

The flip side is how Clark would do commanding the Third Army in France.

5th Army didn't have logistics curtailed for Monty's Road to Nowhere, like Patton had after the race across France.

Patton did well in Sicily, with repeated amphibious landings, that were successful, unlike Anzio. Sicily wasn't exactly friendly to movement, either.

He would have done a better job than Clark did
 
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I think Patton would have realized the futility of slogging up Italy by land and utilized air and sea power for a series of amphibious invasions up the Italian coast. These would have had the strenght to allow the invading army to do more than seize a beachhead like Anzio.

Ultimately there would have been an earlier invasion of southern France.
 
When Patton received his orders to the UK at the end of 1943 he visited his friend Lucas. The latter showed Patton the plans for Op SHINGLE, wherapon Patton declared it a "suicide mission". The force allocated to weak.

Earlier when given the directive for Op SHINGLE Clark determined the amphib fleet would be to small, & recommended the operation be canceled. Alexander declined and Clark carried out his orders like a good soldier. Question is, would Patton have refused a weak and high risk operation and thus ended his career?
 
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Ultimately there would have been an earlier invasion of southern France.

That was SHAEFs call from December 1943. Eisenhower wanted a south France invasion executed April 1944, but postphoned it to late summer when it was clear there would not be a large enough amphib fleet in the Med. While this was clear to Ike in Jan & Feb he continued to hope and did not give the final cancelation order until March 1944.
 
When Patton received his orders to the UK at the end of 1943 he visited his friend Lucas. The latter showed Patton the plans for Op SHINGLE, wherapon Patton declared it a "suicide mission". The force allocated to weak.

Earlier when given the directive for Op SHINGLE Clark determined the amphib fleet would be to small, & recommended the operation be canceled. Alexander declined and Clark carried out his orders like a good soldier. Question is, would Patton have refused a weak and high risk operation and thus ended his career?

Being offered command of 5th Army for Italy means that the Slapping Incident isn't uncovered, so Patton would have enough goodwill built up to do so, and modify that plan.

SHINGLE could have worked, and that's still in the air if Patton would have done things the same way, to end up stuck in front of the Gustav Line as Clark did, to need a landing at Anzio
 
Being offered command of 5th Army for Italy means that the Slapping Incident isn't uncovered, so Patton would have enough goodwill built up to do so, and modify that plan.

SHINGLE could have worked, ...

Given the amphib lift available I can see any way the concept could be achieved. When Churchill fell in love with the idea in October 1943 the concept was a army size envelopment. A rapid build up of 2-3 corps groups and 6+ divisions. The withdrawal of the amphibs for the projected OVERLORD Op killed that idea. The only way to keep the strong left hook in play would be to short change Op NEPTUNE, keeping it at the 1943 'three corps three beach' size. This likely would slow the overall OVERLORD build up as well. A alternative would be to delay OVERLORD for a couple months to allow repositioning of the amphib fleet. Given the attitude of eisenhower, the Joint Chiefs, and Roosevelt thats a non starter.

... if Patton would have done things the same way, to end up stuck in front of the Gustav Line as Clark did, to need a landing at Anzio

One could hope so.
 
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