The Controversial Withdraw
Welcome to Ridgway’s Notebook, where we offer penetrating essays on military history. Told through the World War II experiences of General Matthew Ridgway and the 82nd Airborne Division, we illustrate some of the similarities between the questions asked by officers of the 82nd yesterday and today—and dissect how they came to be.
The words “rote repetition” did not appear in last week’s edition of Ridgway’s Notebook lightly. It had been a description percolating in my mind for some time. And truth be told, I wonder if the words were too harsh, or if it should be more a question than a statement. So, with great fortuity, almost the the instant after I decided to put pencil to paper on “The Dueling Airborne Advisors,” and completed the draft, I stumbled across an article headline, “Does History have a Replication Crisis?”
Its author, Anton Howes, historian of the Industrial Revolution, asked the question. So rarely does someone put the scrambling thoughts of my mind down on paper with such precision.
A good piece of prose teleports the reader back to a time in their life which allows them to relate to the characters. And so it was with me while reading Anton’s piece. It brought me back to the bookstore, when I first discovered the newly released Gavin at War. I could almost smell the crisp aroma of freshly cut paper as I stood in the isle flipping through the pages. I took in Gavin’s entry for mid-January 1945. Field Marshal Montgomery had recently done Gavin a big favor: he helped him save face to his men.
****
It was already dark on Christmas Eve when Private Hugh Wallis heard the clammer of a German half-track squeaking down the sunken road below him. From the bushes on the bank above it, he could have dropped a grenade on top of them. But as he and the two others were told, as the rear guard, they shouldn’t get in a fight they don’t have to.1 Behind them, their regiment and 82nd Airborne Division were withdrawing to better defensive positions eight miles rearward.
The airborne generals in the field, Ridgway and Gavin, both preeminent in the Army, knew the All-Americans had been in a tough spot that far south. Gavin had rushed two battalions south, pillaging his northern shoulder hemming in Kampfgruppe Peiper’s remnants, and had been perturbed over the situation on his right. One of his regimental commanders, who was orchestrating a masterful screen under-appreciated in military history, told him the position could only be held through heavy casualties.2 Meanwhile, the entire compliment of division artillery was dutifully firing along the line of contact with no slack.
From the first time Field Marshal Montgomery floated the idea of a withdraw, Ridgway was in complete agreement, according to his private message log. Gavin knew it was sound, too. But he was very concerned on the effect it would have on morale. Explaining the rationale to a division of such proud, swashbuckling men was futile. They were falling back, and that was their reality. Their pride did not allow turning back at a fight. This is why Montgomery took the brunt of the paratroopers frustration. If it could be his “fault,” it would be more palatable to the men. It was not all false, per se. The idea was Montgomery’s, even if the actual authority to approve the withdraw fell to First US Army, and he did “tidy up the battlefield.” But Gavin nor Ridgway had any protest; Ridgway being the one who asked for the permission from FUSA before Monty even had time to make it back to the rear.
In light of this, a scrupulous parsing out of Gavin’s semantics is more revealing:
FM Montgomery, at a press conference, very kindly told the world that he ordered the division to withdraw after it had saved the 7th Armd, 106th and 28th Divs. Ordered it against the protests of the division commander. Published in the [Stars & Stripes]. It helped a great deal.3
In reality, Gavin only protested once during the Battle of the Bulge, three days before, when Ridgway instructed him to think of organizing his rear area. This, Gavin protested briefly. Things were looking good, but as will be described in Battle Surgeons, the tactical situation, and Gavin’s thoughts, had changed dramatically by Christmas Eve.
As far as I can tell, the Stars and Stripes is one of the only places in period material the word, “Protest,” actually occurs in connection to Christmas Eve. (If anyone knows any further, please comment!) In Gavin’s 1945 report of the Bulge, he does not mention a protest in relation to Christmas Eve, only his concerns about morale. In his autobiography On to Berlin, Gavin also carefully chooses his words.
It’s an example of a small matter which, told rotely, becomes entrenched. And while minute, it contributes to the subtle shaping of a reader’s perception, something Colonel Eaton had thoughts on. As a human, I am nowhere near perfect and have made mistakes and misrepresentations, perhaps even here on Ridgway’s Notebook. And if I keep writing, I will make more of them. This serves as a reminder, more to myself than anyone else, to keep the pencil sharp but the scrutiny sharper as it jogs across my page.
We’ll see you right back here next Saturday at Ridgway’s Notebook for: “Lighthorse Harry’s Notes: Fighting the Glider Regiment”
You won’t want to miss this one!
📚READ OF THE WEEK📚
Big shock!
Five Books???
Recently, I saw a Twitter/X thread posing the question: “If someone was starting a military history library from scratch, what five books would you tell them to start with?”
Of course, the question is a false dilemma wrapped in a hasty generalization, the latter being the outcome of any such list. Five books could never encompass the magnitude of military history, which itself rests upon the understanding of non-military matters.
Regardless, the lists, arbitrary as they are, make a fun exercise and can unmask a lot about a person’s thinking. So, here’s mine:
The American Way of War (Weigley) on American military history and theory
The British Way of War (Lambert) on grand strategy, the navy, and geography
The Wandering Army (Davies) on military innovation and thinking
The Ghost at the Feast (Kagan) on war aims/policy
The Caine Mutiny (Wouk) on the human dimension—morality, individual perspective, humans under strain, and the limits of leadership [yes, a novel]
Leave your list in the comments!
Tyler Fox, interview of Hugh Wallis, April 2018.
Combat interview of Charles Billingslea. Charles H MacDonald Papers, Box 5A/10, AHEC.
Lewis Sorley, Gavin at War, Casemate Publishing (2022). P. 144.
Looks like there’s a few books I need to purchase with haste.
I recently got THE GERMAN ARMY, 1943 vintage, off eBay, based on the recommendation in your referenced post.
These lists are always bedeviled to put together. I was looking at my own bookshelf and realized that many of the books I own are “favorites” and by no means essential.
For example, Corelli Barnett’s “The Desert Generals” has long been a favorite of mine not least because I love the smarty-pants way he writes. It really appealed to me when I was 12! I wouldn’t call it an absolute must read though.