Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness

Podcast general George us patent is known for his aggressive action-oriented tactical brilliance.

His character was also marked by a lesser known but equally fundamental mystic piety.

Those two qualities would come together in the lead up to and execution of Patton's greatest achievement during World War II, the relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Alex Kershaw tells the story in his new book, Patton's Prayer, a true story of courage, faith, and victory in World War II. Today on the show, Alex shares how, when the Third Army's advance and a Germany was stalled by plain grounding clouds and road money and rain,

Patton commissioned a prayer for better weather that was distributed to a quarter million

of his men and how that prayer became even more urgent after the commencement of the

Battle of the Bulge.

We also talk about Patton's qualities as a leader and a man,

including his reading habits,

how he combined a profane assertiveness

with a pious faith and a belief in reincarnation,

and what happened to him as the war came to a close.

After shows over check at our show notes at A.O.M.

I. slash Patton. All right, Alex Kershaw, welcome back to the show. Great to be with you.

So, we had to Welcome back to the show. Great to be with you.

So we had you on at the end of last year to talk about one of your older books, that's the longest

winter, which recounts the story of an 18-man US platoon that faced the thrust of the entire German assault at the Battle of the

Bulge.

You got a new book out and it's about the Battle of the Bulge as well, but this time it's

about General George Patton's role in rebuffing the

Nazis last ditch assault on the Allies and it's called Patton's Prayer and we'll

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