For all the Military historians out there?

Question

What exactly happen to General Patton after WWII? Was he killed in an accident or by something else. I have heard several different stories just was woundering after watching Patton the other night on TV.

Answer 1

This is the story I remember
Accident and death
On December 9, 1945, in Germany a day before he was due to return to the United States, Patton was severely injured in a road accident. He and his chief of staff, Major General Hobart R. 'Hap' Gay, were on a daytrip to hunt pheasants in the country outside Mannheim. Their 1939 Cadillac Model 75 was driven by PFC Horace Woodring (1926 - 2003). Patton sat in the back seat, on the right with General Gay on his left, as per custom. At 11:45 near Neckarstadt, (Käfertal), a 2½ ton truck driven by T/5 Robert L. Thompson appeared out of the haze and made a left-hand turn towards a side road. The Cadillac smashed into the truck. General Patton was thrown forward and his head struck a metal part of the partition between the front and back seats. Gay and Woodring were uninjured. Paralyzed from the neck down, George Patton died of an embolism on December 21, 1945 at the military hospital in Heidelberg, Germany with his wife present.


Patton's grave in LuxembourgPatton was buried at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg along with other members of the Third Army

Answer 2

There are rumors that Patton supported an offensive of American and German forces against USSR still before the end of the war in Europe. Certainly Patton was a strong anti-communist and he disliked the Soviet influence in Europe tolerated by others Western generals and politicians. But I don't think that behind the death of George Patton there was a covert operation of the NKVD.
Patton died in a car accident, and that's all.

Answer 3

Patton was a passenger in a staff car that was involved in a collision. He suffered neck injuries that would ultimately prove fatal to him and resulted in his immediate paralysis.

He did not immediately die.

There has always been a certain amount of speculation that his death was not entirely accidental. A book and movie entitled "Brass Target" explores such a theory.

I personally believe his death was an accident, but he certainly had some enemies who were not unhappy at his passing.

Answer 4

The official cause is he was involved in a car accident in Germany between his staff car and 2/1/2 ton truck. He was thrown forward from his back seat and broke his neck, paralyzing him from the neck down. The government was extremely concerned he might die in Germany, so they were placing him in a body cast, but he developed pneumonia and died in Germany anyway.

Some people think he might have been murdered by the Soviets over the Reich Gold that turned up missing in 1945. Others think our own government did it. I guess that will be one of histories mystery.

Answer 5

Warren is correct