Description:

Patton, Commanding General of the Third Army, asks Lt. Gen. Geoffrey Keyes, newly assigned as Commanding General of the Seventh Army, for a favor for "the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg who has been very helpful to the Americans..." – Patton had led his Third Army to victory in the Battle of the Bulge after liberating Luxembourg – with insignia owned by Keyes – From the Estate of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes

GEORGE S. PATTON, JR. (1885-1945) Typed Letter Signed "GSP Jr.," 1p, 8" x 10.5". Headquarters Third United States Army, Office of the Commanding General, [Bad Tolz, Bavaria, Germany], September 16, 1945. To Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes, Headquarters Seventh U.S. Army [Heidelberg, Germany]. Fine condition.

Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes had served as Patton's Deputy Commander of the Seventh U.S. Army. On September 8, 1945, he was appointed Commanding General.

In full, "My dear Geoff: Young Count Rudolph Czernein, who is connected by marriage with the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg who has been very helpful to the Americans, is anxious to attend college in Heidelberg. Could you please have somebody inform me whether or not it is possible for him do do so and what papers, if any, he needs from here? He lives with his mother on an estate in the vicinity of Munich. Devotedly yours."

On December 16, 1944, Germany launched its last great offensive of World War II. German tanks and troops poured over the Belgium-Luxembourg borders in the enemy's final major bid for victory on the Western Front, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge. The counter-offensive was led by Patton's Third Army 10th Armored Division, which began rolling in the direction of Luxembourg on December 17, 1944. On December 26, 1944, Patton's 4th Armored Division hurtled through the snow-clogged roads of Luxembourg to relieve the U.S. 101st Airborne Division besieged by German attackers at Bastogne, approximately 32 miles northwest of Luxembourg City. Amid the fierce fighting that raged in this region, the U.S. Third Army established Hamm Cemetery on December 29, 1944. The Battle of the Bulge ended on January 25, 1945, Prince Félix, Consort of Grand Duchess Charlotte, presented Patton with the Croix de Guerre. On December 24, 1945, Gen. Patton, fatally injured in an automobile accident in Germany, was buried in the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial in Hamm, Luxembourg.

Accompanied by:
• two metal buttons, each depicting the Seal of the United States
• "U.S." metallic collar insignia
• 2.25" x 2.5" metallic Seal of the United States
• two woven "U.S." on a 4" x 1.25" swatch of light brown material
• woven star on a 1.75" x 1.75" swatch of dark brown material.

From the Estate of Lieutenant General Geoffrey Keyes

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