A letter sent from General George S Patton to General Geoffrey Keyes in September 1942 has sold for $18,000 at Alexander Historical Auctions.
The autographed typewritten lot headlined the first day of the 2014 Winter Auction on February 18, achieving an increase of 100% on a $9,000 estimate.
 The letter was written by General George Patton to General George Keyes in 1942 |
It was sent two months before the famed US general landed in north Africa and details his attempts to have Keyes, a close friend, appointed as his deputy.
Patton writes: "My reason aside from personal friendship for taking you is that this thing is going to hang on a shoe string and I am going to have to go ashore in one of the leading waves.
"I have utter confidence in you and know that you... will see that the thing is pushed home and in the last extremity that you will lead the last formed body. However we must face the fact that we may be repulsed in which case I am not coming back alive."
A copy of Keyes' reply, in which he states his loyalty but cites others of more senior rank more likely to take the position, was included.
The appointment ultimately came to pass and the two went on to wage one of the most successful campaigns of the war.
A watercolour painted by Adolf Hitler made $15,000.
The lot shows St Michael's Church in Vienna, and was painted when the dictator was homeless in the city having been rejected by the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.
We have this autographed typewritten letter from Winston Churchill for sale.
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