Patton 360

When Winston Churchill convinces the Americans that they aren't yet ready to take on German forces, the Allies launch an attack on North Africa. U.S. Army Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., charged with capturing Casablanca, launches a complex, three-pronged plan of his own where he faces French forces allied with Germany. But in the end, Patton regrets he didn't distinguish himself. Yet, he and his soldiers embark on the road to Germany by invading North Africa on Nov. 8, 1942.

After American forces are overwhelmed at Kasserine Pass, Patton is sent to the front to take charge. After whipping the American troops into shape and crushing an Afrika Corps surprise attack at El Guettar, Patton and the British drive the Germans from Tunisia.

Patton's success in North Africa leads to his being given command of the 7th Army for the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. Fought from July to August, this amphibious and airborne campaign was code-named "Operation Husky."

Frustrated by British forces' slow progress in Sicily, Patton ignores orders to stay by their side and pushes his 7th Army on to capture Palermo and Messina in 1943. Patton is relieved of command for slapping a pair of shell-shocked soldiers and ordered to apologize.

Months after Patton's removal from command in Sicily, Eisenhower appoints Patton commander of the First Army Group, a fictitious army in England to fool the Germans about the Allies' real plans for the D-Day invasion of Normandy in 1944. Weeks later in command of Third Army, Patton helps spearhead the breakout as U.S. forces smash through the German lines using their blitzkrieg tactics.

As American forces fight their way across France in 1944, Patton is ordered to halt before completely trapping a German army. Later pushing toward Paris, the city is liberated by the Free French armored division and not the Third Army under Patton's leadership. Patton's troops come within 60 miles of the German border by summer's end in 1944.

The Lorraine campaign of 1944 is recalled where the Third Army gained territory, but slower compared to previous campaigns for the general. Not content to wait for Montgomery and lacking fuel Patton engages in local operations preempting a German counter-attack. But when Patton allows his infantry to regroup the Germans attack again and again only to be crushed by Patton's forces.

Anxious to breakout of Lorraine, Patton's frustrations turn from supply issues to a stubborn network of German bunkers. His army will pay a heavy price to overcome them.

Nazi Germany wages a desperate major counterattack on the Western Front. Despite the worst weather in 20 years, Patton's Third Army races north to smash through German lines and relieve besieged Americans defending Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge.

After Patton's troops invade Germany, a secret mission to rescue U.S. POWs goes horribly wrong; the Third Army liberates the Buchenwald death camp; when the Soviets deny Patton the greatest prize of the war, Berlin, he is sent to liberate Czechoslovakia; Nazi Germany surrenders; Patton dies of injuries from a postwar car accident.