WWII 1943 Secret \"At Sea\" G.S.Patton Original Mimeograph Letter Operation Husky For Sale

Secret at Sea Original field issued military/war Mimeograph that was aboard an Invading ship and read to the troops once the ships were at sea. This letter is a 2 sided 1 page document printed on 8\"x10\" thin paper that is period correct and shows wear and stains from 83 years of existence. it is very brittle and currently stored in a polyester sleeve that is the same type that is used by the national archives.
This letter was read to troops before the invasion of Sicily on July 10, 1943. Patton’s Seventh Army landed on the southern coast and raced to Palermo, then Messina. The speech reflects his aggressive, psychological approach to leadership — he wanted soldiers fired up and unafraid.This Patton order is significant for 3 big reasons, it shows Patton’s leadership style, it set the tone for the Sicily Campaign, and it became part of the controversy that nearly ended his career.1. It launched the U.S. Seventh Army’s identity in WWII
When Patton wrote this on June 27th, 1943, the Seventh Army was brand new. This was its first major combat operation.
• Eisenhower picked Patton to command the “American component” of the invasion of Sicily — but the initial plan gave the glory role to Montgomery’s British 8th Army. • Patton used this address to reframe the mission. He told his men they were selected for a “new and greater attack against the Axis” and paired them with the “justly famous British 8th Army”. Message: you’re not the supporting act. • Result: Within days, Patton turned a defensive flank job into a 100-mile armored dash to Palermo. He captured the capital of Sicily with an army that paperwork said was only supposed to send out a patrol. This order was the psychological kickoff for that.2. It shows Patton’s psychological warfare — on his own troops
This document is pure Patton: blunt, moral, and designed to create aggression.
• Dehumanizing the enemy: He frames German/Italian soldiers as lacking courage compared to American ancestors who “gave up home and country to cross the ocean in search of liberty”. That’s intentional — he wanted to sever any ethnic sympathy. • No retreat, no surrender: “In landing operations, retreat is impossible. To surrender is as ignoble as it is foolish”. He’s removing the psychological safety net. • Initiative doctrine: “We as the attackers have the initiative... We must retain this tremendous advantage by always attacking: rapidly, ruthlessly, viciously, and without rest”. This became the hallmark of Seventh Army’s speed in Sicily.
Historians point to this mindset as why the “amateurs of the American army” suddenly executed deep armored maneuvers that German generals would have envied.
3. It’s tied to the events that almost cost Patton his command
On 8/10/1943, Patton visited the 93rd Evacuation Hospital near Sant’Agata di Militello. That’s where he encountered Private Paul Bennett — the second of the two “slapping incidents”.
• Patton was already “in a foul mood” that morning after clashing with Omar Bradley about the pace of advance. • In the hospital, he slapped Bennett, called him a coward, and said men who shirked duty “should be tried for cowardice and shot”. • The hardline rhetoric in this order — about cowardice, disgrace, and relentless attack — matches what he wrote in his diary and memos that week.
Eisenhower later had to decide whether to relieve him. The slapping incidents + this aggressive tone made Patton politically toxic for months, which is why he missed the D-Day landings in 1944.