ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202

George S. Patton Papers

                            George S. Patton's signature from War Diary, 304th (1st) Brigade
                            Tank Corps, September 9, 1918.

A collection relating to U.S. Army General George S. Patton's (1885-1945)World War I career is housed by the University of North Dakota's Chester Fritz Library. The collection includes diaries, letters, reports, maps, photographs, general orders, and related printed ephemera from the Great War. This collection was preserved and brought together by Sereno Elmer Brett (1891-1952), who was Patton's second in command in World War I.

George Patton, one of the most colorful and controversial military men in U.S. history, was detailed to the U.S. Tank Corps during World War I by General Pershing. Patton consequently made tank warfare his specialty and eventually commanded the famed U.S. 2nd Armored Division and 1st Armored Corps during World War II.

Sereno Brett led the first American tank attack in World War I in the St. Mihiel Offensive of 1918. Brett has been regarded as a pioneer and expert in the field of tank operations and wrote many article on tanks and anti-tank warfare that were widely used in various military schools in this country and abroad.

This extraordinary collection represents the genesis of the American tank corps, the part played by George Patton in World War I, and the achievements and activities of Sereno Brett, the acknowledged authority on tank and armored warfare

Photo: Sereno Brett, Patton's Second in Command during World War I, tests a tank, 1927.

Inventory to the George S. Patton Papers