Patton was a prominent cavalryman during the early 20th century and was a founding father of the US Army's Tank Corps, seeing action in World War I and commanding a tank brigade. He achieved his greatest fame as during World War II. He commanded armored forces in North Africa after Operation Torch, then commanded the Seventh Army for the invasion of Sicily. But his greatest fame came as commander of the United States Third Army. After a swift drive across France after the Normandy invasion, his forces made a famous relief of the trapped American forces in the siege of Bastogne during the German Ardennes counteroffensive.