Always with Honor is the Autobiography of General Pyotr Wrangel, leader of the anti-communist White Army in the Russian Civil War.
Wrangel's story begins during World War I, when he was merely a cavalry officer, having distinguished himself in the previous Russo-Japanese War. As tensions build behind the front lines, Wrangel finds himself at the center of various intrigues in the beginning stages of revolution. However, Wrangel is completely loyal to the Tsar, and when he abdicates Wrangel is crushed.
Disgusted by the actions of the Bolsheviks, Wrangel resigns and returns to his home in Yalta, only to find the entire Crimean peninsula infested with Red soldiers. After being arrested and escaping execution by a hair's breadth (among other humiliations), Wrangel is almost happy to see German boots on Russian soil.
As the civil war begins, Wrangel jumps at the chance to join the volunteer army in Rostov, led by General Anton Denikin. Now engaged in a desperate struggle for the fate of Russia itself, Wrangel uses his strategic genius to score victory after victory, despite the incompetence of Denikin and his staff. Knowing that discipline, uniformity and logistics are just as important for winning a war as force of arms, Wrangel becomes a force for law and order, a hero and liberator to his people. Sadly, the other generals do not share this compunction, and over Wrangel's protests they launch an all-out assault on Moscow with no thought given to stabilizing their position. Wrangel is once again forced to resign.
Him and his family find themselves exiled to Constantinople; while there, the White Army collapses and is beaten back. The Army loses faith in General Denikin, and loses all hope of securing British aid. Despite all this, Wrangel returns to Crimea to rebuild the White Army, and swears to defend Russia to the last strip of native soil. Despite being massively outnumbered and outgunned, Wrangel (now Supreme Commander) and his forces hold Crimea and the surrounding area long enough to negotiate for more foreign aid.
Sadly, once the Soviets make peace with Poland, they quickly reinforce the offensive against Crimea, and Wrangel is left with no choice but to evacuate. Here, his gift for logistics and planning shines like never before as he oversees the orderly evacuation of almost a hundred and fifty thousand men, women and children, with himself the last one onboard. A hundred and fifty thousand people are saved from the subsequent massacre perpetrated against the Crimeans.
After the war, Wrangel continues his life of service, working tirelessly for the wellbeing of the refugees, White emigres, and those still oppressed under the USSR. Sadly, he dies suddenly of Typhus shortly after completing his memoirs in 1928. His family believe a Soviet spy to be responsible.
Always with Honor was originally published in the German magazine White Cause, before being translated into English by Sophie Goulston as "The Memoirs of General Wrangel." It included forewords from the translator and the author, and fell out of print in just one year. In 1957, it was reprinted, this time with a foreword by President Herbert Hoover, under the title "Always with Honor," but did just as poorly. A third reprint followed in 2020 from Mystery Grove Publishing Co, combining the forewords from all previous editions. You can buy it here
(and don't forget to leave a review!) or you can pirate it here. Mystery Grove honestly doesn't care.
Artist Alex Wisner began doing a graphic novel adaptation of the book, expanding it to include Wrangel's exploits from the beginning of World War 1. You can buy the first chapter here.
Always with Honor contains examples of:
- A Father to His Men: Arguably Wrangel's greatest strength. It didn't just apply to his soldiers- his household servants did their part by claiming that money and valuables the Reds would've "confiscated and redistributed" actually belonged to them; the Reds didn't steal from the "oppressed workers." Even when nearly all hope is lost, Wrangel cannot turn his back on his motherland, and returns to Crimea to fight the war to its bitter end.
- Affluent Ascetic: While born to Russian nobility and groomed as befitting his station, he chose to be assigned with Cossacks and worked his way up as a rugged cavalry officer. He also wasn't particularly fond of flaunting his wealth and status, opting to lead by example.
- Army of Thieves and Whores: The Red Army. They happily Rape, Pillage, and Burn, looting innocent people's houses, and executing hundreds of people in show trials (if they even bother with a trial in the first place.) And that's before they throw open all the prisons and start recruiting convicts.
- Autobiography: Of General Pyotr Wrangel. The book chronicles his rise from cavalry officer, to general, to Supreme Commander of the White forces.
- Beige Prose: Downplayed. By Wrangel’s own admission, he didn’t consider himself a good writer with his inability (or unwillingness) to sugarcoat his experiences and observations any more than necessary.
- Bystander Syndrome: In the days leading up to the revolution, Wrangel reflects on how easily people were swept up into revolutionary fervor, even if they disagreed with the Bolsheviks, just as a way to fit in and seem like good people.
- The Chains of Commanding: Wrangel has grown used to them by the start of the book, but they constrict him even tighter when he becomes Supreme Commander and he cannot even promise his army victory.
- Dirty Communists: The entire book expounds on the atrocities committed by the Bolsheviks against the Russian people.
- Foil: Wrangel comes across as one to the infamous Roman von Ungern-Sternberg. Despite both being in the White forces, coming from the upper echelons of Russian society and even having similar combat experiences among Cossacks during the Russo-Japanese War, the so-called Black Baron remained a distinguished commander that stood out among the White forces for his dignity, competence and honorable actions. Things that the Mad Baron, for all his notoriety, could only imagine.
- Foregone Conclusion: Anyone reading this book likely already knows the White Army loses, and the Soviet Union reigns for the next seventy years.
- Heroic Russian Émigré: Wrangel and his entire family after the war. Wrangel spends the rest of his life helping out other emigres and refugees.
- Hero of Another Story: In the first chapter, Wrangel talks about Captain Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, an officer of the cavalry regiment he used to command. While their paths never meet again, he does allude to the prominent part he plays in the civil war in the future, over in Mongolia. Which, if you know anything about Sternberg, is absolutely insane.Wrangel: "He was not an officer in the ordinary sense: he knew nothing of system, turned up his nose at discipline, and was ignorant of the rudiments of decency and decorum. He was not an officer, but a hero out of one of Mayne Reid's novels."
- In Medias Res: The graphic novel adaptation begins with the scene of Wrangel executing Bolshevik officers in order to compel their men to fight for him.
- Leeroy Jenkins: The ill-planned assault on Moscow. Previous successes led the White Army to believe their good fortune would hold, despite Wrangel warning them this was not the case. The carnage that would ensue ultimately cost them the entire war.
- The Men First: Wrangel makes sure he is the very last man onboard the boats in the evacuation of Crimea. He walks the streets of the harbor to make sure no stragglers are remaining, and once aboard is welcomed as a hero.
- Neutral No Longer: While Wrangel himself remained firmly loyal to the Tsar during the leadup to the revolution and personally despised communists, he tried to keep out of the growing political maelstrom by refusing to align himself with the various movements. It's not until the outbreak of civil war, however, that he took up the White Army's cause.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: After being made to resign by General Denikin, Wrangel writes a long letter to him, laying out in great and fully documented detail, exactly how the White Army's losses are due to him not listening to Wrangel. The book merely describes the contents of the letter; you can read the whole thing in full here. One choice excerpt reads:"The enemy’s successes rose and the inefficiency of your strategy and of your politics became more manifest with every day. The Russian society commenced to see clear. Louder and louder grew the voices of those who demanded the replacement of certain chiefs, whose blamable behavior was evident to all, by others, whose names had remained unblemished amidst the general decline of morals. But the poison of ambition had entered your soul, and drunk with power, surrounded by dishonest flatterers, you thought more of safeguarding your power and authority, than of saving your country."
- Red Baron: By the time of the Russian Civil War, he was known as the "Black Baron" due to his love for wearing black, Cossack-style uniforms. By all accounts, he earned that moniker.
- Tragic Keepsake: Invoked by Wrangel and Defied by his wife. When Wrangel is arrested by the Reds along with other former Army officers, he tries to send his wife home to rally support for him. However, his real reason is that he doesn't want to be shot in front of her. He tries to give her his watch as she leaves, but this and the sight of another officer being executed allows her to deduce that he expects to die. She insists on accompanying him to the end, and because of this, ends up saving his life.
- True Companions: General Chatilov urges Wrangel to stay in Constantinople, telling him it would be madness to rejoin the fight when the White Army is so close to losing. But when Wrangel makes it clear to him that he's going no matter what, Chatilov declares that he's coming too.
- We ARE Struggling Together: From the outset, the White Army is beleaguered by division both within their ranks and without. The defining characteristic of the Whites was anti-Communism, but the preferred alternative to a Communist government was anything but unanimous i.e. Tsarist, parliamentary, constitutional monarchy, etc. In their own ranks, a large number of soldiers support Wrangel over Denikin, despite Wrangel rejecting all attempts at insubordination. Outside their ranks, the "Greens" harass them and even accept help from the Bolsheviks to make life harder for them. Only once Wrangel takes over can he unify the Army.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The final chapter in the 2020 edition includes a speech given by Wrangel at a political conference in Brussels, relating the struggles he's had preserving the lives of the evacuees, and the importance of continuing to resist communism wherever it appears.
- You Shall Not Pass!: The second half of the book is titled "On the Last Strip of Native Soil." Appropriately, it deals with Wrangel's efforts to hold the line at Crimea, while attempting to secure aid and reinforcements.
