General Patch. by Truman R. Strobridge and Bernard C. Nalty Alexander M. Patch is not as widely recognized as other World War II commanders such as Eisenhower, MacArthur, Bradley and Patton. However, his success as a commander, first in the Pacific and later in Europe, was an important contribution to the final outcome of the war. Who is the successful general? Is skill measured exclusively in terms of captured standards and territory seized? Do losses figure in the reckoning of greatness? Are not the better generals those who gain their victories with the least expenditure of human life? Such an officer may be ignored by the war correspondent or even the military analyst, but the man with the rifle respects him. From the rifleman's point of view, one of the most successful American generals of World War II was Alexander McCarrell Patch who led troops in both the South Pacific and Europe. Many a soldier would agree with the sergeant in Patch's Seventh Army who, looking ...