In March 1943, in their first fight with the Germans, American soldiers in North Africa were pushed back fifty miles by Rommel's Afrika Korps and nearly annihilated. Only the German decision not to pursue them allowed the Americans to maintain a foothold in the area. Enter Lt. Gen. George Patton: Charismatic, irreverent, Patton possessed a massive ego and ambition. He had just ten days to whip his dispirited troops into shape, then throw them into battle against the Wehrmacht's terrifying Panzers, the speedy and powerful German tanks that U.S. forces had never defeated.
