text: The eventual Allied victory in North Africa prompts Patton and Montgomery to come up with competing plans for the Allied invasion of Sicily. Patton's plan, drawn from reference to the Peloponnesian War, highlights the strategic importance of Syracuse; hypothesising that its fall would trigger an evacuation of Sicily. Patton proposes that Montgomery captures Syracuse, whereas he will land near Palermo then capture Messina to cut off the withdrawal. Though the plan impresses General Harold Alexander, to whom Patton and Montgomery report, General Dwight D. Eisenhower turns it down in favour of Montgomery's more cautious plan that places both armies in a side-by-side landing in the Gulf of Gela. The plan essentially relegates the American forces under Patton into protecting the British advance, and when the allies liberate Syracuse the evacuation predicted by Patton proves correct, but without allied forces in the north, thousands of Italian and German forces manage to retreat. The rear guard left behind to stall the allies bogs down the invasion, prompting an already irate Patton to drive west and capture Palermo before narrowly beating Montgomery to Messina. Though his advance breaks the deadlock in Sicily, his aggression does not sit well with his subordinates Omar Bradley and Lucian Truscott. During a visit to a field hospital, Patton notices a soldier crying amongst the wounded and dead. Furious, Patton accuses the soldiers of cowardice and slaps the soldier before demanding he is returned to the front lines. As a consequence, Eisenhower demands Patton apologise to the soldier, Patton however apologises to his entire command. Despite this, Patton is shocked to find out that he has been sidelined for the coming Allied invasion of France.