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DEATH OF GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON
Mystery of WWII’s Most Fateful Car Accident

In one of military history’s great twists of irony, General George S. Patton, arguably America’s greatest tactical battle command general was ignominiously killed by an accident of fate. Bored with little left to do before returning to his home in California days before Christmas in 1945, ready to retire or perhaps go on to politics, his extraordinary life ended when his chauffeured Cadillac personal staff car crashed into a supply truck in a freak accident. The accident occurred on December 9 the day before Patton's scheduled December 10 flight from his headquarters at Bad Nauheim, north of Frankfurt, back to the states. He wouldn’t die until the 21st of December, 1945.

How Patton Died

Patton and his Chief of Staff Major General Hobart Gay decided to go pheasant hunting and sight seeing for a day. With his driver PFC Horace Woodring at the wheel, Patton and Gay in the back seat, the car was driving on a country road just east of Mannheim. The car was driving relatively slowly as the road was rough where railroad tracks crossed. A truck suddenly pulled from a supply yard and Patton’s car struck it on the right front. Patton was thrown forward and hit his head. No one else in the accident was injured but Patton was transported to the 130th Station Army hospital at Heidelberg. He had broken his nose and two vertebrae in his neck. After the accident, he joked in typically Patton style "Relax Gentlemen, I'm in no condition to be a terror, now.", but had trouble breathing. A tear in his scalp was sutured and his neck put in traction. He lingered in the hospital for several days as his wife Beatrice traveled to Germany to be with him. A Neurosurgeon was brought in, but he died after 12 days, officially recorded from "pulmonary edema and heart failure", probably from quadraplegic paralysis, or which could mean he caught a pneumonia-like infection in the hospital, something the Army might want to cover-up, but not uncommon. Some accounts have suggested an embolism.

Patton Death Conspiracy

For a great and controversial miltary figure like Patton to die in such a mundane fashion has caused years of speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding his death. Was he murdered by the Russians, or by those worried about his criticizing the running of the war? Was Eisenhower worried about his presidential political ambitions? There is one theory that Patton possessed the mythical "Spear of Destiny" relic of the Holy Roman Emperors that Hitler had taken from the Habsburgs (see Habsburg Crypt Vienna), with reputed power to control the world and was killed to get it. Patton did have the museum piece authenticated and returned to Vienna. Some conspiracy theories arise from the reports that the car was not going very fast, so perhaps he was in a second wreck of a jeep on the way to the hospital. Some of the stories may arise because the series of events are not so clear. The records taken at the scene were limited because at the time, the accident seemed so minor. The surviving picture of the wrecked car certainly shows enough damage to cause the general to be thrown with force. But even the car was repaired and put back in service. It's now at the Patton Museum at Fort Knox.

Finding the Patton Car Wreck Site

There is even some mystery about where the Patton accident happened. When great generals meet their fate, they have their markers, Wellington has his tower at Waterloo (see Waterloo Battlefield Belgium), Napoleon his great tomb (see Invalides Napoleon Tomb). There is no marker where General Patton met his destiny. He’s buried in the American Cemetery in Luxemburg (see Patton’s Grave Luxemburg), but there is no marker where the accident happened. Mannheim was heavily bombed during the war. The accident reports are less than entirely clear and area has changed a great deal since 1945. The reports indicate Mannheimer Strasse to Neckarstadt in the suburbs of Mannheim. Mannheimer Strasse turns from Neustadter Strasse in a T-bone intersection, passing apartments on one side and the industrial complex headquarters of a German tech company, ABB, on the other from Neustadter to Kallstadter where an army depot was located. A railroad spur once ran down the middle of the street, but is now gone. This is generally regarded as the accident location, though some locals claim that it was farther south on Neustadter Strasse, where it turns across the rail spur from the Spinelli Barracks Army Base, past the Bombardier office and Enterprise Rental Car lot. Perhaps this is where the theory of a second accident arises.

You can investigate for yourself if visiting Heidelberg or Mannheim. By train, the Mannheim-Kafertal station is on Neustadter Strasse within walking distance of both sites. By car, the location is just northwest of the Mannheim City Airport. From the A6 Autobahn take the 656 to Mannheim from the Mannheim Kreuz, then take the 38a north in the direction of Neckerau-Feudenheim, keep strait on Am Aubuckel until it curves past the Spinelli Barracks Army Base then turns into Neustadter Strasse. From Mannheim you can take Friedrich Ebert Strasse to Kallstadter Strasse south a block to Mannheimer Strasse. There's not a lot to do in the area, but just south of the curve on Neustadter where the tracks cross is a green park area, the Alt Au, with a beer garden and a restaurant. If renting a car in Mannheim, a small Hertz location is at the ABB yard, but is closed on weekends.

Patton Barracks Hospital Heidelberg

The Nachrichten Kaserne military hospital in Heidelberg, on the former Grenadier army base now known simply as the "Patton Barracks" is still in use today including the room where Patton died. The general public is not allowed on the base in the current high-security era, but for military members or families with U.S. military I.D., the hospital can be visited. The Heidelberg base is on the list of base closures and the U.S. Army will be moving out in about two years, when it may be possible that the hospital and other areas could become a museum, but not for yet awhile. © Bargain Travel Europe

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See Also:

SINSHEIM AUTO & TECHNIK MUSEUM

HITLER'S MUNICH TOURS

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