General George S. Patton’s Third Army came to life in Europe this week back in 1944 and played a pivotal role in the Allies’ breakout from the Normandy region of northern France. It had been slow going in the weeks following the Allies’ successful D-Day landings on the beaches of Normandy. The Allied powers — the United States, Great Britain and Canada — did not anticipate how fierce the German resistance would be. And the countryside, with its ancient fields proved very advantageous for Nazi defenders. Patton described the “bocage” country in his book “War As I Knew It” as “composed of innume…