“Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge”, said General George S. Patton. Within four years, the famous World War II warlord went from soul-searching about his future in the profession of arms to being one of the main pugilists who brought Nazi Germany on its knees in 1945.

The full measure of Patton’s greatness and vanity are brought to life in Martin Dugard’s last book Taking Berlin: The Bloody Race to Defeat the Third Reich (Caliber), between the covers of which the author doesn’t hide his admiration for the legendary soldier who believed he was the reincarnation of a Roman legionnaire. Full disclosure, I think we can easily forgive this inclination, because it is all too easy to admire the character, a feeling to which I willingly plead guilty.

In the same manner as in his previous book Taking Paris, the author – who collaborated with journalist Bill O’Reilly to write several books – calls upon an army of pertinent details to bring his narrative to life. I personally discovered that the meaning of the Belgian town of Spa’s name “is an acronym of the Latin Salus per Aquam, meaning “health from water” or that the word “Roger” pronounced on the radio means “received”, but is also an acronym for “Received Order Given, Expect Results”.

Coming back to Patton, Martin Dugard depicts him wearing an “immaculate overcoat tailored on Savile Row” on his way to infuriate his nemesis British General Bernard Law Montgomery – who was himself not short on tricks to express his singularity – during a top-level presentation in preparation for D-Day. The author also opens the door of Patton’s combat trailer where we can see him devour books and takes inspiration from William the Conqueror. Everything in Patton’s persona predestined him to play a determining role in war and we should all be thankful for that.

While Montgomery blatantly insubordinates his superiors and accumulates pitfalls on the battlefield – like the delay in capturing Caen or the hastily prepared and doomed Operation Market Garden – Patton goes the whole nine yard to avoid being taken by surprise. “Battles are not won on maps” as General James Gavin – the notorious commander of the 82^nd Airborne Division who is also part of Martin Dugard’s cast – liked to say. Patton only knows it too well.

In what is probably the most consequential relationship of the book, he therefore relies on his intelligence chief, Colonel Oscar Koch, to map his way ahead with an insatiable “need to know more about the enemy”. Koch shouldn’t have gone to war, due to his age – he was 45 years old – but Old Blood and Guts bent the rules in his true fashion. The gamble was notably to be rewarded when the officer informed his superior that the Germans were massing their troops in the Ardennes for what was to be Hitler’s last stand.

After the Battle of the Bulge, during which he will relieve the besieged American troops at Bastogne, the commander of the Third Army “will have his Julius Caesar moment” when urinating in the Rhine upon crossing it. But he won’t be able to fulfill his aspiration to take Berlin, since President Franklin D. Roosevelt has ceded “the German capital [to the Soviets] in return for assistance in the Pacific Theater” during the Yalta Conference with Stalin and Churchill a few weeks earlier. “Winning the ultimate battle in Berlin would have been the perfect finale to a life in uniform”, writes Martin Dugard. Political whims of allied warfare clipped the wings of the old soldier’s aspirations.

Taking Berlin is not a biography of George S. Patton, but he was the focus of my interest because of my insatiable curiosity and admiration towards this fascinating character who walked in the footsteps of military giants. Unfortunately, an untimely death caused by a stupid car accident withdrew him from this world to place him on the pedestal of military history in December 1945. Much could also be said about daredevil American journalist Martha Gellhorn, US Generals James Gavin and Norman Cota, the controversial British warlord Bernard Law Montgomery, or German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, whose programmed death in October 1944 is chronicled in harrowing detail. But you will be able to discover more about their role and personalities upon opening this enthralling book.

Martin Dugard didn’t uncover a treasure trove of new documents to nourish his narrative. If you’re looking for groundbreaking information, you might be disappointed. But wars are won by exceptional and sometimes irritating characters. They’re not made for cold or timid souls. If you want to have a glimpse into the character of what it takes to lead men on the battlefield through the mud of history, look no further.

As a final word, I can only express my desire that Martin Dugard will take up the pen and keyboard again to write about a World War II or military-related subject. He’s an author whose exceptional work I love to see on my bookshelves.

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Martin Dugard, Taking Berlin: The Bloody Race to Defeat the Third Reich, New York, Caliber, 2022, 352 pages.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the Publicity Department of Penguin Random House of Canada for providing me with a copy of this book.