Target Patton: The Plot to Assassinate General George S. Patton (World War II Collection) Paperback – September 9, 2014

I can't review this book as eloquently as some reviewers have. All I can say is that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Information was well laid out and easy to understand. The book fleshes out Patton with details, humor and his own words. Especially interesting was the back stories on the OSS, WWII and Stalin, revealing how things really work in the world. Learning how pervasive Russian spies were in America at that time just confirmed how right Joseph McCarthy was in the '50's. The book never dragged and held my interest till the end. I'll be looking for other books by this author.

I love a good Conspiracy Theory!!In the 1st chapter the author meets an older gentleman, talking in a cryptic language, and old journals, dropping little suggestive clues about his involvement in Patton's death. I said come on........is the basis of the book. It sounds silly , but I kept reading.The author summarizes all the books on the subject of Patton, and a fair amount of the WWII lI books, and espionage sources that support his discussion. I did find myself wanting more footnotes at key points of his argument. Aside from that the books appears to be well researched.The books points out a lot of strange circumstances, and even stranger happenings surrounding the death of Patton. I found myself intrigued with the story; it is mind-boggling to think about. A conspiracy to kill a famous American General and speculates who might be involved: Russians and NKVD , or Donavon and the OSS, or is it the British. Secret Services. The most interesting parts of the book were the big picture ideas. The books claims the USA, and specifically the FDR administration was riddled with communist spies, to the point of just being rotten. Then the whole situation of espionage situation between the Allies, and how the USA was extremely naive, and pretty much childlike in our approach to espionage, and how we treated the Soviets with kid gloves, trying to keep the peace. I can just see that happening.....the USA being a newcomer to the international spy game and world domination........like a Joe Six-Pack......or Larry the Cable Guy, trying take on a centuries old European spy game.I have come to realize anything is possible, but I keep coming back to the main question......why kill Patton? I don't know that the author really answers that, but he leaves it for the reader deduce. He gives some hints, and alludes to ideas, but facts, as well as foot notes are thin here. What was Patton planning on doing? The facts indicate Patton was a wild card and unpredictable, but was he dangerous? Who was he dangerous too? The author indicates he was critical of the Allied management of war......and Patton being Patton he was going to be vocal. Plus, the leaders of the war tried to soft pedal, hide, change facts, about the decisions they made that were generally considered to be wrong. Patton intended to run for a Senate seat. Patton made the prediction in 1944 Ike was planning a career in politics. Also, Patton was aware that the Russians captured and kept between 10 and 30 thousand American prisoners of war, about the same number of British pows; this made Patton cringe inside, not too mention mad as hell. This is well documented, and they were never seen or heard from again. One of Ike's last orders to his generals is that no one will criticize the management of the war. Then you might consider how the managers of the war had alot mistrust, and and even more contempt for Patton, and each other.The author talks about the OSS and Wild Bill Donavon, and even questions Wild Bill's motives and true loyalties. His decision making process is questioned and how he handled the information concerning threats to Patton. A considerable part of the book centers on the man making the claims he killed Patton. He is something of mystery man before, during, after the war. No records existed to verify his claims of service during war, or the injuries he recieved. Could the guberment really delete all the data on this guy. And of course being in the clandestine services the mystery man has no real proof of any his claims, or his secret meetings and orders from Donavon. Well, I guess the answer is yes because they "lost" all the original reports and investigations on Patton's accident. Hmmm.Then you have to consider CIC agent investigating and discovered the threat to kill Patton, and yet no one took him seriously. He meets with a lot resistance from Donavon, and the American occupation guberment.Then the Thompson guy with the mysterious document held in a safety box, nearly 20 years after his death. His lawyer is holding evidence to clear his name should he be accused of any involvement in the plot to kill Patton. The author did a good job of track down the mysterious characters that had "disappeared" and no could find.I enjoyed reading the book; it was page burner. The story is complex, lots of details, and just plain Good. I am not convinced by any means. The story is great. I gave the book 5 stars because it is well written, researched, and easy to read. Unfortunately, we will know what happened to Patton. Clandestine services are very good at keeping secrets.If the Patton was killed.......he may have been the victim of the Cold War.

In this Cold War CSI thriller, Robert K. Wilcox argues that General George S. Patton Jr. did not succumb to injuries suffered in an unfortunate fender-bender accident, in December 1945, but was instead murdered. The author goes on to claim the hit was a joint OSS (Office of Strategic Services-forerunner to the CIA)/ Soviet NKVD plot orchestrated between William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan and Joseph Stalin's secret spy organization. The author holds that Patton, who had created strong enemies among the highest levels of American, British, and Soviet political and military hierarchy, was bitter, if not somewhat mentally unbalanced, due to retire and write a tell-all book. He needed to be silenced. According to Wilcox, the murder was a complex conspiracy that involved, among others: the driver of the truck that veered in the path of Patton's Cadillac staff limo, a well placed assassin firing a rock from a specially designed Czechoslovakian air rifle through a four inch opening in the back window (recall the movie "Brass Target"), striking Patton, to MPs on the scene, medical personnel at the hospital, and the list goes on and on. When the so-called accident failed to kill Patton, Wilcox suggests the possibilities that Patton was bludgeoned inside the military ambulance en route to the Hospital (causing his serious scalp wound), and finally, a co-conspirator disguised as a hospital attendant slipping a cyanide solution through his intravenous tube triggering the embolism the eventually caused his death twelve days later (a favorite Soviet assassination method, as Wilcox reveals).Presenting such an extraordinary case is one thing, convincing his readers is quite another. Wilcox's star witness is an ex-OSS agent who claims (as early as 1979) that he received the mission to assassinate Patton directly from Donovan. Since this agent admired Patton, he passed it off to an accomplice. The only trouble is, anyone who could either contest or verify his story is already dead (a fact that Wilcox readily admits to). A second witness, a former Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) agent who infiltrated the NKVD warned Donovan that Patton was on Stalin's hit list, unaware of Donovan's involvement. Wilcox enjoys adding an element of cloak & dagger to his trek by stating that his OSS witness's multi-volume diary has been copied and dispersed to trusted friends for safe-keeping. This die-hard Cold-Warriorism seeps through Wilcox's story in a few places. He also tends to dramatize a discovery by stating: "A formally Top Secret document I found at the National Archives...." Anyone who has ever conducted research at the National Archives will smile as 99.9% of all documents housed there were at one time classified as "Top Secret." The author's notes are extensive, if somewhat sloppy, in places. One example states confusingly, "hospital records," without clearly citing what records, where were they located, who comprised them, etc.In true CSI fashion, Wilcox takes his readers along with him as he retraces the events leading to Patton's death. This is a smart tactic, and one that holds the reader's interest. Hurdles abound: from missing accident reports, numerous conflicting eye-witness testimonies, Wilcox seems to run into one dead end after another. The author is up-front and admits openly when a research path has become exhausted, but at the same time, it seems obvious that some ellipsis sprinkled statements; especially those from clueless relatives of long-dead participants are taken out of context to support his argument. Although Wilcox lists secondary sources published by Patton family members, there is no suggestion that he has support from the family. He does get the nod from Charles Province, Patton scholar and keeper of the George S. Patton Jr. Society web site, however. The author seems to have a fixation with automobiles, methodically concluding, that the Cadillac limo housed at the Patton Museum at Fort Knox in not THE car that Patton was riding in at the time of his accident (as claimed), to a needless tangent investigating what ever happened to Hermann Goering's limo, (the Russians have it) a vehicle that had nothing to do with Patton's death.This reviewer dove into this book with skeptical red flags flying (no Cold War pun intended). Admittedly, Wilcox's presentation is well written and holds the readers' interest. This is especially true when the author takes the reader off on many lengthy tangents and digressions suggesting: Donovan allowed hundreds of Soviet spies to operate within the United States during the war; the Soviet Union not only co-operated with the Allies in an effort to defeat Nazi Germany, but actually influenced favorable post-war policy from within the United States. Written looking through Cold War lenses, Wilcox argues, for example, that a great opportunity was missed when a Nazi spy ring in the Balkans offered its services to the US to spy on the Soviet Union, but was declined by Donovan. Informed readers will quickly note that help from former Nazis in any capacity was against official policy, something Patton was rebuked for in post-war Bavaria, and risks facing Wilcox with an interesting contradiction. While at risk of losing readers in these far flung digressions, the author's writing skills instead maintains interest, and makes for the book's strongest asset.Although the case arguing the Patton was murdered is not new, Wilcox tries to get a lot of mileage revamping it. The questions he raises range from the etude and thought provoking, to the ridiculous. In his final argument, Wilcox admits the truth may never be known, but that a "strong case" exists that Patton was murdered. This reader isn't buying it, and Wilcox's case is admittedly strong in places while exceedingly weak in others. His book attests to the fact, however, that no matter how controversial a theory is, a well written argument strengthens its foundation. Wilcox's ability to spin a good yarn and hold the readers' interest warrants a four-star rating.