Accident leading to George S. Patton's injury

General George S. Patton sustained fatal injuries on 09/12/1945 after a low speed collision between his staff car and a U.S. Army truck near Mannheim, Germany, while traveling to a pheasant hunting trip with Major General Hobart “Hap” Gay. The accident occurred at a railroad crossing in the Mannheim Käfertal area when a 1938 Cadillac Model 75 limousine driven by Private First Class Horace Woodring struck a two and a half ton Army truck driven by Technical Sergeant Robert L. Thompson that had turned left into a depot road. Patton was seated in the rear of the vehicle and was the only occupant seriously injured. At the moment of impact, he was thrown forward and struck his head on the metal frame of the glass partition separating the front and rear compartments. The collision occurred at relatively low speed, but the force caused a compression fracture and dislocation of the cervical vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed. Other passengers, including Major General Gay and driver Woodring, suffered only minor injuries. Patton was transported to the 130th Station Hospital in Heidelberg, where doctors confirmed a broken neck and spinal cord injury. The accident took place during the Allied occupation period several months after the end of World War II in Europe. Witness accounts and later Army summaries described the truck turning into the Cadillac’s path near the rail crossing, with the sedan striking the truck’s front right side. Patton reportedly realized immediately that he was paralyzed after the crash. He remained hospitalized for twelve days before dying on 21/12/1945 from complications related to the spinal injury.