natural causes. dead at 97. the next news break in one hour, "war stories with oliver north" returns right now here on fox. >> oliver:.

august, 1943, in the wake of the slapping incidents, patton was in the dog house. eisenhower took away his 7th army and ordered him to remain in sicily, a bitter george patton wondered if he'd ever fulfill his destiny. >> he at one point said a year ago i commanded three divisions and now i command more than my dignity. he finally got the call to come to a meeting with eisenhower in england. >> and when he arrived they said, we're giving you command of the 3rd army, air not going to lay the d-day invasion. >> he would have been the commander of the american invasion force, but because of what he did, they felt that they could not allow him to do that. in the meantime, his subordinate omar bradley gets that assignment. and so, ironly bradley becomes his boss. >> my grandfather purchased willy while in england.

he had been left on the sidelines of the d-day invasion which irked him terribly and he bought willie as a pick-me-up and named is william the conqueror and he proved to be a coward and shart shortened the name to willie. with his bull terrier by his side, patton rallied the troops. >> i heard the speech in a tin theater in he think glapd. >> oliver: 27-year-old massachusetts native alvin was captivated by patton's words. >> it was a real motivational kick em in the pants type speech, everyone came out aghast. the speech was immortalized in the film patton. the movie garnered seven academy awards. >> we're advancing constantly and we're not interested in holding on to anything except the enemy. we're going to hold on by the nose and kick him in the ass,

kick the hell out of him all the time and go through him like crap through a goose. >> patton would go around the group to give the famous patton speech and begin it and end it every time with you didn't see me here. i was never here. it was secret that patton was in england 'cause they were creating a fake army around him. >> to fool the germans where we were going to invade and the most logical place was the calais, shortest between britain and france and beautifully staged. >> oliver: patton tried to keep his location secret. on 25 april, 1944, the british press leaked he was in england and while speaking to a ladies group he said quote undoubtedly it's our destiny to rule the world. we british, american and of course, the russian people. >> the brush sas decided to bring him out and let the germans know he was in england. they never told eisenhower this. so eisenhower goes ballistic on patton. >> after d-day he sees the

frustration because they can't break out. they're facing these hedge rows. he's offering ideas to bradley. >> oliver: bradley had had his own ideas how to break out from the country. his plan, operation cobra, called for 3,000 allied aircraft to unleash 8 million pounds of bombs on hitler's wer mark. but bradley's wearing plan went awry when american bombers inflicted over 600 american casualties. despite the setback, cobra achieved the goal. >> all of a sudden they realized there's a gigantic hole and bradley cuts him lost. >> oliver: they advanced in 26 days and liberated 50,000 square miles of france. their dash was unprecedented. patton's jeep driver remembers the need for speed. >> i mean, he's the guy that burst through. >> we were going pretty fast. closer and closer to germany. >> and patton said we'll be in

the rhein in ten days and i believed him. >> oliver: patton wants to keep driving and bradley and eisenhower decided otherwise. we heard the reason we were stopped. there was shortage of gasoline and that eisenhower decide today give it to montgomery and all of us were shocked. the 10th of september, he came up with the very bold, very risky plan called market garden. >> oliver: patton was furious, but the soldiers did what it took to keep fuel in their tanks. and shared his experience in gasoline to patton. >> we kept captured german gas and diverted trucks headed for the first army. he once said, my men can eat their belts, but my men have to have gas. >> oliver: 26 september, 1944, monte's market garden is a near disaster, allied casualties totalled over 17,000. patton's 3rd army was ready to push on, but foul weather and

reinvigorateed german army stymied their efforts. >> it was a totally, totally different war and the tanks couldn't negotiate the field. big, sticky mud. >> patton was trying to take metz, probably the worst set back in the war and the casualties piled up and patton turns in the hour which is the finest hour. >> oliver: 16 december, 1944, a quarter of a million desperate german soldiers burst through the arden forest encircling american units, the battle of bulge had begun. >> three days later in a cold army barracks, ike asked his commanders for help. >> and no one really came with a plan. bradley shows up, he has no idea what he wants to do. patton had three different plans worked out before he even left to go to the meeting. >> eisenhower said, okay, who can relieve fast enough? and patton said i can.

he said what can you get moving? he said december 22nd, three days and eisenhower says no you can't. and he convinces eisenhower to let him do this. he'd get the 3rd corps moving in three days. >> oliver: first, patton needed to motivate his troops. then a major, he remembers meeting old blood and guts. >> he had a tremendous rate of speech approach me and there was standing at the windshield and a lacquered helmet. three stars, three stars, on the shoulder, three stars on the stick. >> and i saluted patton and he had crooked teeth and a crooked smile and went from group to group, wisecrack, slap on the back and word of appreciation, in 30 minutes he mesmerizeed that group. >> the other generals in the high command didn't believe he could do it, turned the army around 90 degrees within three days and was on the attack.

>> my tank led the way. the roads were slippery, better cold, and snow on the ground, that winter of 44-45 was the worst in 50 years, it was frozen hell. >> oliver: 22 december. after traveling nearly 100 miles under cover of darkness and treacherous roads, a victorious patton and third army reached basstone. >> they said that was the test. we were relieved on the 26th, probably the finest performance of any american military commander in world war ii. it was an amazing, amazing feat. >> oliver:, but only a year later, patton would die under mysterious circumstances. war stories returns to the scene of the accident or was it a crime that resulted in it a crime that resulted in george

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legendary reputation relieving the 101st airborne, george patton was poised to enter germany. >> the rhine was the last block to germany. and after you passed that, you're running. >> oliver: they devised an elaborate passage. but george patton beat him to it. >> the secretary of war writes in a letter and says, we sent montgomery the tanks, boats, bridging equipment and by god, patton crossed the rhine. he achieved his life long dream of peeing in the rhine. >> the photographer took the picture and he said send a copy to monty. >> oliver: he want today seize berlin and roosevelt decide that had would go to stalin's red army. >> when bradley called him on

the radio and told him that ike said he's going to cut off, pull your guys, your supplies, that's when he had a couple of little tears in his eyes. >> oliver: patton's contempt for the russians began to show. >> he predicted that the russians would be our next enemy and we might as well fight them now rather than later. >> a lot of us agreed with the way he felt about the russians. >> may 8th the end of the war, some may have said it's the greatest moment of victory. did patton feel that way. >> when the war was over he was looking for another war, applied to go to the pacific. >> macarthur had no interest in having george patton in his back yard. >> george patton is simply hooked on which the great x of the third army-- >> he was saying you are the men that did it, not me. >> oliver: one month after ve-day during the visit home patton shared a premonition about his death. >> he said to both his

daughters, he said this is goodbye, i shant see you again. >> oliver: instead of command in the pacific, patton and the 3rd army sent to govern bavaria in the occupied zone of germany. >> here you have george patton a great warrior asked to make sure we have fuel, food, firewood cut so on through bavaria. >> oliver: kevin is with the united states army europe. >> he had been in the government before, the nazi regime to help run the country. >> this is a parallel with iraq today, but to do this he had to violate iraq's no naz have i policy. >> eisenhower was fed up with patton for defying orders and remarks like quote, the nazi thing is just like a democrat and republican election fight. >> eisenhower takes the 3rd army away from him. >> probably the most humiliating thing that could happen to any officer. >> and then became the commander of the 15th army, paper army, charged with gathering documents from the

second world war. >> decided that's it, i've had enough. he wrote his wife i'm going to retire from the army and before he leaves, he decided to go pheasant hunting. >> oliver: the car he rode in was restored and on display in knoxville, kentucky. he was seated in the 1938 staff car when it collided with 2 1/2 ton u.s. army truck on 9 december 1945, eyewitness reports said he felt immediately paralyzed. strangely, he was the only one injured. >> it was on this busy thoroughfare near mannheim, germany the accident took place. >> the last minute plan. >> oliver: 19-year-old pfc from kentucky had been his driver for four months prior to the accident. in the mid 1990's he shared his story about that day. >> when the train passes, the only thing i see is one vehicle sitting down the road facing me, i take off and the truck takes off and he makes a severe left turn into my car, it was a nasty crash and i looked behind me in the back

see and i see general patton laying across american gate, a chief of staff. he had been scalped from here up and now he's not unconscious, he's talking, he's saying, what happened? what did that crazy guy do? (siren sounding). the first vehicle on the scene was an army ambulance and i tell him immediately that general patton is in the car severely hurt. >> oliver: immediately after the automobile crash, general george patton was brought here to what was then the 130th station hospital. >> he says, tell me the truth, will i ever be able to ride horses again. >> trace: she said, the best thing i can hope for is to be a semi invalid. he said, yes. he said, doc, thanks for be honest with me. >> eisenhower chose to be in the state, but beatrice flew to be by his side. the press was kept in the dark and rumors began to swirl. >> what he had said was i was asked by donovan to kill

patton. >> oliver: military author robert wilcox says this man, oss agent douglas basotta claimed that spy master william donovan ordered him to kill patton and it was agreed to by russian intelligence. >> he's a worldclass marksman. and he shot at close range with a special weapon into that car and that's what broke his neck. >> oliver: is there evidence of russian or soviet complicity in what happened? >> yes, there is. i later found a cic agent, counter intelligence corps, steven stewbick and he said he uncovered the plot, that patton was on a hit list made by stalin and that the nkbd were going to kill him. >> oliver: nkdg predecessor to the kgb.

>> that's correct, the easiest part of the story is the motive. george patton wanted to go and start world war 3. he wanted to start fighting the russians. >> oliver: he was very much an anti-communist. >> correct. >> oliver: there are those who say that he was a political threat to some in washington. >> sure. including eisenhower. he knew that eisenhower was going to lunch his political career. yes, he did have enemies, did he have enemies so afraid of him that they would kill him? >> i do believe that. >> oliver: patton's condition takes a turn for the worse. was there foul play? was there foul play? the last i'm leaving the track behind, but i'm not standing still... was there foul play? the last and with godaddy, i've made my ideas real. ♪ i made my own way, now it's time to make yours. ♪ everything is working, just like it should ♪

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patton's worst fears were realized. he was paralyzed from the neck down. war stories tracked down lieutenant, patton's nurse at the army hospital. >> he said to me once, why can't i feel my hands? that's hard to tell someone, look at that you can't use your arms. >> oliver: the 24-year-old nurse from minnesota remembers the seemingly cruel devices use today keep patton's spine in traction. >> they're big spikes put in your skull, each side of your head and attached to a pullly over the bed and his wife came over and read poetry to him. >> oliver: on 20, december 1945, patton took a tun for the worse and the next day, the 60-year-old general was dead. the official cause of death, pulmonary edema and congestive heart failure. on 23 december, his funeral service was held here at the christ church in heidelberg. >> it was decided that he should lie with his soldiers

in luxembourg that's where he would want to be. >> oliver: before he died, patton told beatrice he didn't want eisenhower or smith to attend his funeral. as news of the general's death spread, so did the mystery surrounding it. jamie, what did you hear about the possibility that your grandfather had been assassinated? >> my grandmother hired several private detectives to investigate it and didn't find anything to substantiate the rumor. >> conspiracy theories, the most outrageous one came from a mysterious colonel who had been a spy for the russians, who had some information from a nurse or a medical aide had been instructed to open the windows on grandpa's room so that he would contract fuma. >> a classic way that the nkbd use today hit people, they would give them things, they were untraceable and make you have a heart attack. >> oliver: is there any

indication to substantiate the allegation? >> there was a doctor who said let's have an autopsy and he says, mrs. patton said no. and so it never was done. you could exhume his body and see. the whole patton death needs to be reexamined. we first of all have to have the on-scene reports and i believe they have been purged. >> oliver: our war stories investigation confirms that these are the only documents remaining regarding the car crash that led to general patton's death. the accident report is not here. >> let's face it an accident report involving general patton could have disappeared any number of ways. >> oliver: some have claimed that george patton was the victim of, assassination, a murder. >> absolute rubbish, i have recorded 19 separate incidents where he would have been killed. it's an irony. he wanted to die a warrior and instead died the victim of a stupid senseless ordinary traffic accident.

>> i have the oss and the nkbd connection, they set up this accident. >> oliver: decades after his death, general george patton's death, general george patton's life inspires world champion

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game the only thing that mattered was to be the winner. >> oliver: to soldiers fighting in iraq. >> i am sure the armored soldiers on the grounds from the generals to the private invoke spirit toward patent. >> of course his family. >> i have come to love and appreciate him as a full bodied person rather than just as a

hero. >> oliver: by the end of world war ii in europe he was seen as american hero by millions. but his determination to take on the soviets thrust america into world war 3. it sparked conspiracy theorys. to that day it's shrouded in mystery. the army concluded it was merely an accident. but questions remain. our investigation the accident report has disappeared. few other documents still exist fueling suspicion. conclusive evidence about how patton died is likely to never be found but the george s. patton will be remembered as a genius of war inspiring troops to triumph on the battlefield. he said it best wars may be fought with weapons but they are won by mens. it's the spirit of the men who follow loep and the man who leads that gains the victory. his incredible life story is a war story that deserves to be

told. i am oliver north. good night. captioned by, closed captioning services, inc. >> lou: good evening, everybody. these are the top stories, tonight. president trump making a push for the border wall. president trump inspecting the eight prototypes that were built for the proposed wall. and a major shake-up in the president's cabinet. president trump fired rex tillerson and named mike pompeo to replace him and nominated gina happensel to be the first woman director. our guest working to expose the deep