Patton 's conduct in this campaign met with several controversies . When Alexander sent a transmission on July 19 limiting Patton 's attack on Messina , his chief of staff , Brigadier General Hobart R. Gay , claimed the message was " lost in transmission " until Messina had fallen . On July 22 he shot and killed a pair of mules that had stopped while pulling a cart across a bridge . The cart was blocking the way of a U.S. armored column which was under attack from German aircraft . When their Sicilian owner protested , Patton attacked him with a walking stick and had his troops push the two mule carcasses off of the bridge . When informed of the massacre of Italian prisoners at Biscari by troops under his command , Patton wrote in his diary , " I told Bradley that it was probably an exaggeration , but in any case to tell the officer to certify that the dead men were snipers or had attempted to escape or something , as it would make a stink in the press and also would make the civilians mad . Anyhow , they are dead , so nothing can be done about it . " Bradley refused Patton 's suggestions . Patton later changed his mind . After he learned that the 45th Division 's Inspector General found " no provocation on the part of the prisoners ... They had been slaughtered " Patton is reported to have said : " Try the bastards . " Patton also came into frequent disagreements with Terry de la Mesa Allen Sr. and Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and acquiesced , to their relief , to Bradley
massacre of Italian prisoners at Biscari
Biscari massacre
George S. Patton