General Patton's statement on 8 August 1945:
“The difficulty in understanding the
Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic, and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a
Russian than a Chinaman or a
Japanese, and from what I have seen of them, I have no particular desire to understand them, except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to
kill them. In addition to his other Asiatic characteristics, the
Russian have no regard for human life and is an all out son of bitch, barbarian, and chronic drunk."
He knew what was coming at:
“I understand the situation. Their the Soviet supply system is inadequate to maintain them in a serious action such as I could put to them. They have chickens in the
coop and cattle on the hoof--that's their supply system. They could probably maintain themselves in the type of fighting I could give them for
five days. After that it would make no difference how many million men they have, and if you wanted Moscow I could give it to you. They lived on the land coming down. There is insufficient left for them to maintain themselves going back. Let's not give them
time to build up their supplies. If we do, then . . . we have had a victory over the Germans and disarmed them, but we have failed in the liberation of Europe; we have lost the war!"
How
right the outspoken General was..
