Editing Alexander Patch (section)

==World War II==
===Pacific Theater===
[[File:US Generals Harmon, Patch and Twining in the Southwest Pacific 1943.jpg|thumb|left|U.S. Army ground and air generals confer with their chief. From left to right: Major General Alexander Patch, Lieutenant General [[Millard Harmon]], and Major General [[Nathan F. Twining]], conferring over a map whilst serving in the South Pacific, February 1943]]

Patch was promoted to [[Major general (United States)|major general]] in November 1941 and was assigned to command [[Task Force 6814]], a hastily assembled force of divisional size, composed of two [[Army National Guard]] infantry regiments. The following month the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] [[attack on Pearl Harbor|attacked Pearl Harbor]], followed shortly after by the [[Nazi Germany|German]] [[German declaration of war against the United States|declaration of war on the United States]], officially bringing the United States into [[World War II]]. He was sent to the [[Asiatic-Pacific Theater|Pacific Theater of Operations]] in [[Naval Base Noumea|Noumea]] to organize the reinforcement and defense of [[New Caledonia]], arriving there in March 1942. En route he was struck with [[pneumonia]], recovering sufficiently to take command of a loose collection of units and form them into the [[23rd Infantry Division (United States)|Americal Division]] (a contraction of "American, New Caledonian Division").{{sfn|English|2009|p=167}}

The Americal Division first saw action in the [[Guadalcanal campaign]] in December [[1942]], when it relieved the valiant but tired and [[malaria]]-ridden [[1st Marine Division (United States)|1st Marine Division]] there. The Americal Division and the 1st Marine Division were both relieved by the [[25th Infantry Division (United States)|25th Infantry]] and [[2nd Marine Division (United States)|2nd Marine Division]]s, respectively and, in early January [[1943]], Patch moved up to command of the [[XIV Corps (United States)|XIV Corps]], and was given charge of the entire offensive on [[Guadalcanal]]. Patch personally led troops under his command on a dangerous offensive in the [[Battle of Mount Austen, the Galloping Horse, and the Sea Horse]] to capture several fortified hills and ridges from the [[Imperial Japanese Army|Japanese forces]]. Under Patch's leadership, by February 1943 the Japanese were driven from Guadalcanal.{{sfn|English|2009|p=167−168}}

===The Oregon Maneuver===
In the wake of Guadalcanal's conquest, the state of Patch's health, battered by his bout of pneumonia, tropical dysentery and malaria, forced George Marshall to recall him back to the U.S., after recovering from his illness, he took command in May 1943 of the [[IV Corps (United States)|IV Corps]] at [[Fort Lewis (Washington)|Fort Lewis]], [[Washington (state)|Washington]].{{sfn|English|2009|p=168}} That fall he commanded the 100,000 man strong [[Oregon Maneuver]] in central Oregon, the largest training exercise of World War II, designed to test American units prior to deployment in support of Allied combat operations in both the European and Pacific Theaters. In early [[1944]] he took the corps, then just a headquarters, overseas to [[Algiers]], [[Algeria]] to the [[Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army|Mediterranean Theater of Operations]] (MTO). By mid-summer he would put his Oregon Maneuver experience to the test in [[Operation Dragoon]], the amphibious assault of southern France that was pressed clear to the [[Alsace-Lorraine]] on Germany's southwest flank before year's end.{{sfn|English|2009|p=166}}

===Mediterranean and European Theaters===
[[File:80-G-K-2018 Senior Officers on the bridge of USS CATOCTIN (AGC-5).jpg|thumb|right|Senior officers aboard {{USS|Catoctin|AGC-5}}, operation flagship, en route to the invasion area on 14 August 1944. Left to right: Brigadier General [[Gordon P. Saville]], Air Commander; Lieutenant General Alexander Patch, Army Commander; Vice Admiral [[Kent Hewitt]], Naval Commander; [[James Forrestal]], Secretary of the Navy; Rear Admiral [[André Lemonnier]], Chief of Staff of the French Navy ]]

In March 1944, after handing over command of IV Corps to Major General [[Willis D. Crittenberger]], a fellow 1913 West Point classmate, Patch took over command of the [[Seventh United States Army|Seventh Army]] from Lieutenant General [[Mark W. Clark]], who was then also commanding the [[United States Army North|Fifth Army]] during the fighting on the [[Italian campaign (World War II)|Italian Front]]. Under the leadership of [[George S. Patton]], the Seventh Army had been the first American [[field army]] to be deployed in Europe during the war, landed as part of the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]] (codenamed Operation Husky) in July 1943 capturing [[Messina]] on 17 August and bringing the Sicilian campaign to an end.{{sfn|English|2009|p=169}} It was then reduced from a maximum strength of some six divisions and supporting units to a skeleton headquarters with relatively little to do, with Clark taking over from Patton in January 1944.{{sfn|English|2009|p=169}}

Under Patch's command, the Seventh Army was organized to participate in an upcoming [[Amphibious warfare|amphibious]] [[Military operation|operation]] in [[southern France]], codenamed [[Operation Dragoon]]. For this operation the Seventh Army was composed of several veteran formations pulled out of the fighting in Italy. These were Major General [[Lucian Truscott]]'s [[VI Corps (United States)|U.S. VI Corps]] and [[General officer|General]] [[Alphonse Juin]]'s [[French Expeditionary Corps (1943–44)|French Expeditionary Corps]] (CEF), along with numerous [[Airborne forces|airborne]] units in support.{{sfn|English|2009|p=169}}

Under Patch, the Seventh Army invaded southern France in Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944. Patch{{snd}}promoted to the [[three-star rank]] of lieutenant general three days later{{snd}}then led the Seventh Army in a fast offensive up the [[Rhône]] valley. On 9 September 1944, near [[Dijon, France]], it met up with the U.S. [[United States Army Central|Third Army]], under Patton, which had [[Operation Overlord|driven east from Normandy]]. The Seventh Army came under the command of the [[Sixth United States Army Group|6th Army Group]], commanded by Lieutenant General [[Jacob L. Devers]].{{sfn|English|2009|p=175−178}} One of Patch's corps commanders, Major General Truscott, who commanded the VI Corps, which came under command of Patch's Seventh Army, wrote of him:

{{Quote|I came to regard him as a man of outstanding integrity, a courageous and competent leader, and an unselfish comrade-in-arms.}}

[[File:Truscott, Patch and Devers.jpg|thumb|left|Three [[Lieutenant general (United States)|lieutenant general]]s in October 1944: [[Lucian Truscott]], Alexander Patch, and [[Jacob L. Devers]]]]

Patch's Seventh Army distinguished itself in difficult winter conditions during the Vosges Mountains campaign, clearing strong and entrenched German forces from the west bank of the Rhine and stopping a German counteroffensive, [[Operation Nordwind]], while reserve forces were being committed to the [[Battle of the Bulge]]. The campaign marked {{clarification needed span|text=the only contested advance through the Vosges Mountains ever to succeed.|reason= This claim first needs to be better defined, then, second, placed into an appropriate context. It is too boldface and nebulous as stated.|date=May 2024}}[[Arthur R. Wilson]] became the Seventh Army's new chief of staff around this time.{{sfn|English|2009|p=179−187}}

In the spring of 1945, the [[Supreme Allied Commander]] on the [[Western Front (World War II)|Western Front]], [[General of the Army (United States)|General]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], offered Patch a [[North American B-25 Mitchell|B-25 Mitchell]] and pilot for his personal use. Patch turned down the fleet twin-engined bomber because he wished to remain in touch with his subordinate commanders during fast-moving operations and preferred a smaller plane that could land on unimproved fields and pastures. Patch narrowly escaped injury or death on 18 April [[1945]], while flying from [[Kitzingen]] to [[Öhringen]] in Germany during the [[Battle of Nuremberg (1945)|Battle of Nuremberg]]. His [[Stinson L-5 Sentinel]] liaison aircraft ''Sea Level'' was intercepted by a German [[Messerschmitt Bf 109]] fighter, but the pilot, Technical Sergeant Robert Stretton, maneuvered the L-5 so skillfully that it escaped and landed safely at Öhringen. Stretton later received the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] for the flight.<ref>Weirather, pp. 18–19.</ref>

[[File:Devers and Patch.jpg|thumb|right|Lieutenant Generals Jacob L. Devers and Alexander Patch at [[Lunéville]], France, January 1945]]

Patch stayed in command of the Seventh Army through the [[End of World War II in Europe|end of the war in Europe]] in May 1945, leading the Seventh Army in [[Operation Undertone]] through the Siegfried Line, over the [[Rhine]], and then the [[Western Allied invasion of Germany]] into southern Germany. By war's end forward elements sprawled as far afield as Austria<ref>Grotjean, David, Technician Five 2 1/2 ton truck driver [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.34071/mv0001001.stream Oral History interview at the Library of Congress]</ref> and northern Italy.<ref name=wallace>Wallace, Linnel, Lt. Col., Commanding Officer, ''Summary History of the 289th Engineer Combat Battalion – WW II'', 1990, U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center, Carlisle, PA</ref>{{sfn|English|2009|p=203}} 

In August 1945, Patch returned to the United States to take command of the [[Fourth United States Army|Fourth Army]] headquartered at [[Fort Sam Houston]], Texas, but bound for the expected invasion of Japan.  

Patch was hospitalized with lung problems in November and died a week later.<ref name=vadvlr/><ref name=psucpne/>{{sfn|English|2009|p=204}}