1907
Leonard Wood laughed harshly, looking at the paper in his hand,
"Field promotion ?!" he laughed harshly
"They don't want a colonel to surrender this place" the Captain said
"They should not want
anyone to surrender it !" Wood growled
"Its a bit late for that, sir"
Outside, the fighting was intensifying. The collapse of the inner trench line had let the Fredonians into the city proper, and the battle would have been described as house-to-house were there any houses left standing. As it was, the tattered remnants of the US Army fought amongst the ruins, but the Fredonians were stronger, fitter and more numerous. It was a losing battle, and they were being forced back upon themselves, back upon the few remaining fortified positions. But it was just a delaying action, and the few remaining commanders of the US armed forces were beginning to think of saving as many of their people as possible from the impending disaster
A young lieutenant staggered down the entrance, blood pouring from a wound to his brow,
"Sir !", his voice was haggard, "The Fredonians have over-run the underground station !"
General Wood nodded; given recent events it was no surprise,
"Where is the defensive perimeter ?"
The man simply stared at him
"Sir !" the radio operator had seen his position grow from that of a new-fangled device stuck in the corner to the central operating space in the command post, "Communication from Tijuana", he listened carefully, struggling to hear amidst the battle-induced static, "Insufficient rolling stock to try again..."
Wood waved it aside,
"Without a terminus, it scarcely matters whether they can run us a train or not"
"As you will, sir"
Wood ignored him, running a hand through his hair, repeating to himself
"Without a terminus, whether there is a train or not is immaterial"
A man came out of the inner sanctum, surgeon in smocks once white, now red with blood. He cast aside his gloves, and looked straight ahead at the general,
"How many more ?!" he demanded
"When is the apposite moment...?" Wood wondered
"Kill it now !" the surgeon snapped, "Bring an end to this slaughter !"
"Sir ?" the young lieutenant stuttered, "Surrender ?"
"Without resupply it is inevitable" Wood snatched his attention to the young warrior, "Prolonging the conflict is simply increasing the death toll"
"We are happy to die", the lieutenant saluted
Wood looked carefully at him,
"What is your name ?" he asked
"George Patton, sir"
"Have you ten men you can trust ?"
"Yes sir...if they still live"
"Can you disengage and withdraw ?"
"The Southern front is still open, sir...if you know where to look"
"And you know ?"
"Yes sir"
"Take as many men as you can and get out"
"Is this an order, sir ?"
"It is an order..."
One hour later, under a flag of truce, General Wood led his command staff towards the frontline. The long and bloody siege of San Diego was finally over
Best Regards
Grey Wolf
Note - although in OTL, Patton was born in California, the different pattern of wars and settlement seem more likely to have his family end up in the SW Territories of the USA in this ATL. Of course, you could argue that butterflies mean he never exists at all, but what fun is that ?! It makes it more interesting to have a FEW OTL analogues floating around 