Patton Succeeds Scott as Commander of I Armored Corps

On 15 January 1942, a few weeks after the American entry into World War II, Patton succeeded Scott as commander of I Armored Corps, and the next month established the Desert Training Center in the Coachella Valley region of Riverside County in California, to run training exercises. Patton chose a 10,000-acre expanse of desert area about 50 miles southeast of Palm Springs. From his first days as a commander, Patton strongly emphasized the need for armored forces to stay in constant contact with opposing forces. His instinctive preference for offensive movement was typified by an answer Patton gave to war correspondents in a 1944 press conference. In response to a question on whether the Third Army's rapid offensive across France should be slowed to reduce the number of U.S. casualties, Patton replied, 'Whenever you slow anything down, you waste human lives.' It was around this time that a reporter, after hearing a speech where Patton said that it took 'blood and brains' to win in combat, began calling him 'blood and guts'. The nickname would follow him for the rest of his life. Soldiers under his command were known at times to have quipped, 'our blood, his guts'. Nonetheless, he was known to be admired widely by the men under his charge.