Was General George S. Patton a Victim of an Assassination?

Rumors of Foul Play Surround the War Hero's Death

Later Bazata's confident detailed how he had made the assassination look like an accident. Bazata freely admits that agents in his line of work are prone to exaggeration. His confident claimed that when Patton was inspecting the ruins on the 9th of December he fixed a window in the car so that it would not completely close. The truck that collided with the limo was supposedly completely innocent of the plot. The truck was forced into the path of the limo by another truck that was waiting for the opportunity. The second truck was part of the plot. The accident was of a minor nature and Bazata believes could not have inflicted the kind of whiplash that Patton received. Bazata's confident claims that a special weapon made in Czechoslovakia was used to strike Patton in the head. The weapon was designed to propel seemingly innocuous objects like metal or rocks at terrific force. This weapon, fired at about 10 yards away, allegedly caused the severe head wound and broke Patton's neck. Patton was unsure what had caused the severe whiplash believing that he hit his head on the limo's clock.

Patton's health gradually improved and he was scheduled to travel back to the U.S. on the 22nd when he died unexpectedly on the 21st. Bazata again claims conspiracy. Bazata's confident told him that Patton was given a refined form of cyanide that can cause or appear to cause embolisms and heart failure. This kind of cyanide can take up to 48 hours to work. When the plotters saw that Patton would likely live they were forced to use the poison.

It seems unlikely that the plotters would go to such lengths when Patton was obviously incapacitated for the rest of his life and no real threat militarily or politically to anyone. The entire plot that Bazata's confident told him seems too fantastic at face value, but that doesn't eliminate the fact that Patton had made many enemies during his career, both Triple Axis and Allies that wished him out of the field of play. Donovan allegedly asked Bazata to kill Patton while he was under Roosevelt (1943) and Truman (1945). Donovan worked closely with the presidents but there is nothing to lead us to believe that Roosevelt or Truman ordered Donovan to hatch such a plot. Bazata believes that his confident was not working for Donovan. When Patton died Donovan supposedly congratulated Bazata on his job, apparently thinking Bazata had done it. Bazata's confident never told him who had hired him.

It is no wonder that Patton was quoted in July 1945 as saying, "The more I see of people the more I regret that I survived the war."

Sources:

Farago, Ladislas. Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, Westholme Publishing, New York, 2005.

Leopold, Chris. Blood and Guts is Going Nuts, Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1977.

Frederick, Nolan. The Algonquin Project, Morrow, New York, 1974.

[i] The Troubleshooters.com http://www.thetroubleshooters.com/br/br060.html

[ii] http://www.rense.com/general63/patton.htm

[iii] Ibid.