The year 1945 is, in many respects, the year that the modern world began—for America, the existing world order, and modernity itself. It was the year that World War II ended in a victory for the Allied Powers.

Sadly, 1945—specifically December 21—was the day and year that one of America’s most iconic war heroes would die an ignominious death.

United States Army General George S. Patton is widely viewed as a visionary, albeit controversial, American tank commander who led his legendary Third Army in a mad dash across Europe.

His objective was simple: to break the Nazi war machine in the West—and, secretly, he yearned to beat the Soviet Red Army to Berlin. Widely viewed as a prima donna by his colleagues, feared by his enemies, and glorified after his death, Patton was an incandescent personality who was responsible for some of the greatest victories enjoyed by the Allies in Europe.

Despite having taken grave personal risks during the war, Patton survived all that… only to be bitterly disappointed at the end of the war, and overcome with a sense of ennui at the postwar settlement that gutted Germany and empowered the Soviet Union in Europe.

On December 9, 1945, the general was being transported in the back of a Cadillac limousine that collided with a US Army truck near Mannheim, Germany. Patton struck his head on the partition, causing spinal cord damage leading to his paralysis from the neck-down. 

Although Patton survived the initial crash for 12 days, spending those days in traction, he apparently suffered a pulmonary embolus resulting from the paralysis, killing him in his sleep on December 21 of that year.

Many rumors and conspiracy theories abound about Patton’s death. Some have

© The National Interest