The U.S. Seventh Army was officially given a new commander last week. War Secretary Stimson announced that Major General Alexander McCarrell Patch had been appointed to succeed Lieut. General George Patton Jr., who had been given "another army." Only that and nothing more.
The announcement definitely did not indicate either that Patton had been got rid of (Stimson said that the "unfortunate face-slapping incident" was closed) or that he had been promoted. It showed merely that he had been transferred to a new job, leaving his whereabouts a military secret. (Last winter,...