Did Patton and Rommel ever fight each other?
No, Patton and Rommel never commanded opposing forces against each other. Patton took over the US II Corps in Tunisia on 6 March 1943, and three days later Rommel left North Africa for good, worn down and ill, before Patton's own offensive began. The great duel of the war's two most famous armored commanders never happened.
They are the two armored commanders people most love to compare: George Patton, America's hard-driving general, and Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox. Both were masters of fast, aggressive warfare, and both became legends. But did they ever actually fight each other? The honest answer is no. Here they are, side by side.
Head to head
| George Patton | Erwin Rommel | |
|---|---|---|
| Lived | 1885 to 1945 | 1891 to 19441 |
| Role | American general, Third Army | German field marshal, Afrika Korps and Panzer Army Africa |
| Famous for | The breakout across France, 1944 | The desert war and the Desert Fox |
| Method | Speed, aggression and relentless pursuit | Bold maneuver and improvisation |
| Did they fight? | Never directly, as opposing commanders | Never directly, as opposing commanders |
| The end | Died after a car accident in 1945 | Forced to take his own life in 1944 after the July plot |
| Reputation | America's fighting general | The chivalrous Desert Fox |
Patton: America's fighting general
George Patton was the most aggressive American commander of the war. After leading forces in North Africa and Sicily, he took command of the Third Army in 1944 and drove it across France at breakneck speed, then turned it north in days to relieve the besieged town of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. His belief in speed and attack made him feared by the enemy and famous at home.2
Rommel: the Desert Fox
Erwin Rommel made his name with the Afrika Korps, winning a series of audacious victories across North Africa that earned the respect even of his enemies. Stretched supply lines and Allied numbers caught up with him at El Alamein, and he later commanded the defense of Normandy. Accused of involvement in the July 1944 plot against Hitler, he was forced to take his own life.3
Who was the better general, Patton or Rommel?
Patton was the better general, Rommel the more brilliant tactician. Rommel won dazzling battles with fewer men and tanks, but his offensives outran their supplies and his campaigns ended in retreat. Patton led a whole army through a campaign that reached its goals, turning breakthroughs into pursuits. On results, Patton wins.
Rommel's credentials are formidable. He won the Pour le Mérite as a young officer in December 1917, led the 7th Panzer Division through France in May 1940, took over the Afrika Korps in February 1941, and was made field marshal on 22 June 1942 after he captured Tobruk. Five months later the British broke through at El Alamein and he began the long retreat west. Patton's war ran the other way. His Third Army became operational on 1 August 1944, was across the Meuse by the end of the month, beat a German armored counterattack at Arracourt in September and, on 26 December, had tanks of the 4th Armored Division into Bastogne. Rommel's admirers point out that he usually fought outnumbered and short of fuel, while Patton had the industrial weight of the Allies behind him. That is fair, and it is why Rommel wins on pure battlefield flair. But a general is judged on what his victories achieve, and Patton's added up.4
Side by side: the record
| George Patton | Erwin Rommel | |
|---|---|---|
| First fame | Fifth of 42 in the modern pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics; led the 304th Tank Brigade at Saint-Mihiel in 1918 and was wounded in the Meuse-Argonne5 | Pour le Mérite, December 1917; his book Infanterie greift an (Infantry Attacks) published in 19376 |
| Key victories | Casablanca (November 1942), El Guettar (March 1943), Palermo and Messina (July and August 1943), the breakout across France (August 1944), the relief of Bastogne (December 1944)7 | France with the 7th Panzer Division (May 1940), Tobruk (June 1942), Kasserine Pass (February 1943)8 |
| Defeats and setbacks | Sidelined without a combat command for months after slapping two soldiers in Sicily, 19439 | El Alamein (November 1942), Medenine (March 1943)10 |
| Highest command | US Third Army | Army Group B, from July 194311 |
| Death | 21 December 1945 in Heidelberg, after a road accident on 9 December12 | 14 October 1944 at Herrlingen, by poison, after two generals sent by the high command confronted him13 |
How close did they come? Kasserine, El Guettar and Normandy
Closer than most people think. In February 1943 Rommel drove through the Kasserine Pass against the US II Corps. The US 1st Armored Division alone counted 1,401 casualties, yet by the morning of 23 February Rommel had pulled back, and the official US Army history calls the result a tactical success for the Axis rather than a major victory. That beaten corps is the one Patton took over on 6 March. The same morning Rommel attacked Montgomery's Eighth Army at Medenine and lost at least 41 tanks in what the same history calls his last battle in Africa. Three days later, on 9 March, he left on long overdue sick leave and never returned. When German armor did hit Patton's corps at El Guettar on 23 March, it was the 10th Panzer Division, and American artillery, tank destroyers and mines threw back its morning attack by midday and stopped a second one that evening.14
Normandy was the second near miss. Rommel commanded Army Group B against the invasion, but he was badly wounded in a low-level air attack near Caen in July 1944. Patton's Third Army only went into action on 1 August. Before that, Patton had fought Rommel's side in a stranger way: he was the commander of the fictitious First US Army Group, built to fool the Germans about where the landings would come, a deception that held for weeks after D-Day. For the full campaign, see the Battle of Normandy.15
How each handled his worst moment
Patton's worst moment was self-inflicted. In Sicily in 1943 he struck two soldiers suffering from what would now be called post-traumatic stress, was ordered to apologize and was left without a combat command. He spent months on the sidelines, and it was August 1944 before he led an army into battle again, the real Third Army in France. Rommel's came at El Alamein, where the British breakthrough in November 1942 turned his advance into a retreat that ended only in Tunisia. Kasserine showed he could still strike hard, but Medenine showed the desert war was lost, and three days later he left Africa for good. Both men were at their best attacking and at their worst when forced to wait.16
"Rommel, you magnificent bastard": the film myth
Much of the belief that the two men dueled comes from the 1970 film Patton, in which George C. Scott watches the German tanks break at El Guettar and shouts "Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!" It is great cinema and poor history. Rommel had left Africa two weeks earlier, so he was in no position to command anyone there. The book is real, though: Rommel's Infanterie greift an, his study of infantry tactics from World War I, appeared in 1937. The real Patton probably did read it, but the first English edition only came out in 1943, heavily cut by wartime censors.17
The verdict: did they ever fight?
No. Patton and Rommel are endlessly paired, but they never commanded opposing forces against each other. Patton took over the US II Corps in Tunisia on 6 March 1943; three days later Rommel left North Africa for good, worn down and ill, before Patton's own offensive began. So the great duel history wanted never happened. As for who was greater, Rommel was the daring improviser of the desert and Patton the relentless driver of the breakout, the two most famous armored commanders of the war on their respective sides. Rommel had the greater flair; Patton's victories achieved more.18
Compare more in Montgomery vs Rommel and Patton's own rivalry in Patton vs Montgomery, or meet the field in the greatest military commanders.
About this comparison
Each commander above has a full biography on this site, with its own sources. Judgments of who was "greater" are ours and openly a matter of debate; the facts and dates follow established histories. See our editorial policy.
