Dick Winters's Leadership Insights in a Letter to Stephen Ambrose
In the letter, Major Richard “Dick” Winters responded to Stephen Ambrose's request for his thoughts on the strain of command, the problems he faced during the war, and the living conditions his soldiers endured.
在信中，理查德·“迪克”·温特斯少校回应了斯蒂芬·安布罗斯关于他对指挥压力、他在战争期间面临的问题以及他的士兵所忍受的生活条件的看法的请求。
What emerged was also a concise explanation of Winters’s leadership philosophy.
随之而来的是对温特斯领导哲学的简洁解释。
Top Photo: Stephen Ambrose and Dick Winters at the premiere of Band of Brothers in Normandy, June 2001.
上图：斯蒂芬·安布罗斯和迪克·温特斯于 2001 年 6 月在诺曼底出席《兄弟连》首映式。
Courtesy of The National WWII Museum Institutional Records and Archives.
由国家二战博物馆机构记录和档案馆提供。
Twenty-five years after HBO’s Band of Brothers introduced the men of Easy Company to millions of viewers, the series continues to shape how Americans remember the soldiers who fought in World War II.
HBO 的《兄弟连》向数百万观众介绍了 Easy Company 的成员，二十五年后，该剧继续影响着美国人对二战士兵的记忆。
The National WWII Museum marked the anniversary by revisiting the history behind the series, including the firsthand accounts that historian and author Stephen Ambrose collected from the veterans themselves.
国家二战博物馆通过重温该系列背后的历史来纪念周年纪念，其中包括历史学家兼作家斯蒂芬·安布罗斯从退伍军人那里收集的第一手资料。
One particularly revealing example is a five-page letter Major Richard “Dick” Winters wrote to Ambrose on August 12, 1996, now housed in the University of New Orleans Eisenhower Center Peter Kalikow World War II Collection, preserved here at the Museum.
一个特别具有启发意义的例子是理查德·“迪克”·温特斯少校于 1996 年 8 月 12 日写给安布罗斯的一封长达五页的信，该信现藏于新奥尔良大学艾森豪威尔中心彼得·卡里科二战收藏馆内，并保存在博物馆内。
In the letter, Winters responded to Ambrose’s request for his thoughts on the strain of command, the problems he faced during the war, and the living conditions his soldiers endured.
在信中，温特斯回应了安布罗斯关于他对指挥压力、他在战争期间面临的问题以及他的士兵所忍受的生活条件的看法的请求。
What emerged was also a concise explanation of Winters’s leadership philosophy.
随之而来的是对温特斯领导哲学的简洁解释。
Winters’s letter represents one part of a relationship that began in New Orleans.
温特斯的信代表了始于新奥尔良的关系的一部分。
In May 1988, Ambrose learned that Easy Company veterans were holding a reunion at the Hotel Monteleone.
1988年5月，安布罗斯得知Easy公司的老兵正在蒙特莱昂酒店举行聚会。
He and his research assistant, Ron Drez, went to the sixth floor and joined the gathering.
他和他的研究助理罗恩·德雷兹来到六楼参加了聚会。
The veterans had little reason to welcome an historian who had arrived uninvited, but that changed when they learned that Ambrose was Dwight D.
退伍军人没有理由欢迎一位不请自来的历史学家，但当他们得知安布罗斯就是德怀特·D·布什时，情况发生了变化。
Eisenhower’s biographer.
艾森豪威尔的传记作者。
His knowledge of Eisenhower gave him credibility with the men, and the conversation opened the door to the oral histories that became the foundation for Ambrose’s Band of Brothers.
他对艾森豪威尔的了解使他赢得了人们的信任，这次谈话打开了口述历史的大门，这些历史成为安布罗斯兄弟连的基础。
Ambrose’s relationship with Winters and the Easy Company veterans continued for years.
安布罗斯与温特斯和 Easy Company 老兵的关系持续了多年。
Ambrose eventually interviewed Winters for more than 13 hours, and Winters became an important source for the book that was published in 1992 and later inspired the HBO miniseries.
安布罗斯最终对温特斯进行了超过 13 个小时的采访，温特斯成为这本书的重要来源，该书于 1992 年出版，后来为 HBO 迷你剧提供了灵感。
The Museum’s collection preserves not only those oral histories but also a series of letters Winters sent to Ambrose, Tom Hanks, and others involved in telling Easy Company’s story.
博物馆的藏品不仅保存了这些口述历史，还保存了温特斯写给安布罗斯、汤姆·汉克斯和其他参与讲述 Easy Company 故事的人的一系列信件。
The 1996 letter stands out because Winters was not simply recounting what happened—he was explaining what he had learned about leadership.
1996 年的这封信之所以引人注目，是因为温特斯不仅仅是在叙述发生的事情，而是在解释他所学到的关于领导力的知识。
Winters began with preparation.
冬天从准备开始。
“To be a good commanding officer, a leader, you must be in first class physical condition,” he wrote.
“要成为一名优秀的指挥官、领导者，你必须拥有一流的身体条件，”他写道。
For a combat commander, physical fitness was not simply a matter of personal pride.
对于一名作战指挥官来说，身体素质不仅仅是个人荣誉的问题。
A leader had to keep pace with his soldiers and demonstrate that he was willing to endure the same conditions.
领导者必须与他的士兵保持同步，并表明他愿意忍受同样的条件。
Winters then connected physical readiness to a much broader responsibility: “To be a good leader you must do everything in your power for the good of your men and to train your men with the goal in mind of making them the best unit possible, better than any other platoon, company, battalion.”
温特斯随后将身体准备与更广泛的责任联系起来：“要成为一名优秀的领导者，你必须竭尽全力为你的部下谋福利，并以让你的部下成为最好的部队为目标，比任何其他排、连、营都更好。”
Winters believed leaders created that standard through personal example.
温特斯相信领导者通过个人榜样创造了这一标准。
He compared the commander to “a good mother taking care of her children” and insisted that a leader should be “the first one up in the morning and the last to go to bed at night.” He then offered a second comparison, writing that a leader must also be “like a good father,” setting an example by being “up front and visible with the men before an attack and staying with the attack until it is over.” For Winters, leadership did not happen from a distance.
他将指挥官比作“一位照顾孩子的好母亲”，并坚持认为领导人应该“早上第一个起床，晚上最后一个睡觉”。然后，他提出了第二个比较，写道领导者还必须“像一位好父亲”，树立榜样，“在攻击前与士兵们保持一致，并在攻击结束前坚持攻击”。对于温特斯来说，领导力并不是远距离产生的。
Soldiers needed to see their commander sharing their risks.
士兵们需要看到他们的指挥官分担风险。
“To be a good leader you must do everything in your power for the good of your men and to train your men with the goal in mind of making them the best unit possible, better than any other platoon, company, battalion.”
“要成为一名优秀的领导者，你必须尽一切努力为你的士兵谋福利，并以让他们成为最好的部队为目标，比任何其他排、连、营更好地训练你的士兵。”
The ultimate test came when preparation and planning gave way to fear.
当准备和计划被恐惧取代时，最终的考验就到来了。
Winters described a unit caught under a heavy concentration of mortar or artillery fire.
温特斯描述了一支部队遭到密集迫击炮或炮火的袭击。
“When this happens most men will freeze stiff as a board,” he wrote.
“当这种情况发生时，大多数人都会僵硬如木板，”他写道。
“They can’t move.
“他们不能动。
They can’t think.
他们无法思考。
They are frozen by a fear of death.” Winters did not expect leaders to eliminate that fear.
他们因对死亡的恐惧而被冻结。”温特斯并不指望领导人能够消除这种恐惧。
Instead, he expected them to function through it.
相反，他希望他们能够通过它发挥作用。
“The good company commander will be able to think and reason under this fire,” he explained.
“优秀的连长将能够在这种火力下思考和推理，”他解释道。
The leader then had to act.
领导者必须采取行动。
When the barrage ended, Winters believed the commander should immediately leave his foxhole, walk among his soldiers, and speak to them: “Is everybody all right?
当弹幕射击结束后，温特斯认为指挥官应该立即离开散兵坑，走到士兵中间，对他们说：“大家还好吗？
Be on the lookout for an attack.
警惕攻击。
Let’s get moving.” The important thing, he emphasized, was “for him to be the first man on his feet, talking to his men.” That action could break the paralysis of fear.
我们走吧。”他强调，重要的是“他要成为第一个站起来并与他的部下交谈的人。”这一行动可以打破恐惧的麻痹状态。
“Just as soon as he starts talking to the men,” Winters wrote, “that fear of death that had them frozen stiff a minute ago will be broken and they will be up and moving and ready to follow him to hell and back.”
“一旦他开始与这些人交谈，”温特斯写道，“一分钟前让他们僵硬的对死亡的恐惧就会消失，他们就会站起来，行动起来，准备跟随他去地狱并回来。”
He also made it clear that leadership involved much more than tactics.
他还明确表示，领导力不仅仅涉及策略。
When Ambrose asked him to consider the problems he faced during the war, Winters admitted that this was the first time he had tried to make such a list.
当安布罗斯让他考虑一下他在战争期间面临的问题时，温特斯承认这是他第一次尝试列出这样的清单。
“It surprises me how simple it is to put my problems in a few categories and how few problems I really had,” he wrote.
他写道：“令我惊讶的是，将我的问题分为几类是多么简单，而我真正遇到的问题却如此之少。”
He identified six categories: tactics, weapons, terrain and weather, liquor, food, and personnel.
他列出了六大类：战术、武器、地形和天气、酒、食物和人员。
His comments on tactics reveal his belief in the fundamentals.
他对战术的评论揭示了他对基本面的信念。
“They did not change from being a platoon leader to battalion commander,” Winters wrote.
“他们并没有从排长变成营长，”温特斯写道。
The principles remained “simple, easy to understand, and very efficient when ...
这些原则仍然是“简单、易于理解、并且在……时非常有效”。
followed by good leaders.” The same applied to weapons.
其次是优秀的领导者。”这同样适用于武器。
As a commander assumed greater responsibility, he gained access to more firepower, but “in using it the principles did not change.” Winters believed that increasing responsibility did not require abandoning fundamentals.
当指挥官承担更大的责任时，他可以获得更多的火力，但“使用火力的原则并没有改变”。温特斯认为，增加责任并不需要放弃基本原则。
It required applying them at greater scale.
它需要更大规模地应用它们。
Terrain and weather presented different challenges.
地形和天气提出了不同的挑战。
Normandy brought the hedgerows.
诺曼底带来了树篱。
Holland brought “flat fields, drainage ditches, rain and mud.” In Germany, Winters recalled that retreating German forces destroyed bridges, creating problems for advancing American troops.
荷兰带来了“平坦的田野、排水沟渠、雨水和泥土”。在德国，温特斯回忆说，撤退的德军摧毁了桥梁，给前进的美军带来了问题。
His observations show a commander who understood that conditions on the ground could determine what soldiers and units could accomplish.
他的观察表明，指挥官明白地面条件可以决定士兵和部队能够完成什么任务。
A five-page letter Major Richard “Dick” Winters wrote to Stephen Ambrose on August 12, 1996, now housed in the University of New Orleans Eisenhower Center Peter Kalikow World War II Collection at The National WWII Museum.
理查德·“迪克”·温特斯少校于 1996 年 8 月 12 日写给史蒂芬·安布罗斯的一封长达五页的信，现藏于国家二战博物馆的新奥尔良大学艾森豪威尔中心彼得·卡利科二战收藏中心。
A five-page letter Major Richard “Dick” Winters wrote to Stephen Ambrose on August 12, 1996, now housed in the University of New Orleans Eisenhower Center Peter Kalikow World War II Collection at The National WWII Museum.
理查德·“迪克”·温特斯少校于 1996 年 8 月 12 日写给史蒂芬·安布罗斯的一封长达五页的信，现藏于国家二战博物馆的新奥尔良大学艾森豪威尔中心彼得·卡利科二战收藏中心。
A five-page letter Major Richard “Dick” Winters wrote to Stephen Ambrose on August 12, 1996, now housed in the University of New Orleans Eisenhower Center Peter Kalikow World War II Collection at The National WWII Museum.
理查德·“迪克”·温特斯少校于 1996 年 8 月 12 日写给史蒂芬·安布罗斯的一封长达五页的信，现藏于国家二战博物馆的新奥尔良大学艾森豪威尔中心彼得·卡利科二战收藏中心。
A five-page letter Major Richard “Dick” Winters wrote to Stephen Ambrose on August 12, 1996, now housed in the University of New Orleans Eisenhower Center Peter Kalikow World War II Collection at The National WWII Museum.
理查德·“迪克”·温特斯少校于 1996 年 8 月 12 日写给史蒂芬·安布罗斯的一封长达五页的信，现藏于国家二战博物馆的新奥尔良大学艾森豪威尔中心彼得·卡利科二战收藏中心。
A five-page letter Major Richard “Dick” Winters wrote to Stephen Ambrose on August 12, 1996, now housed in the University of New Orleans Eisenhower Center Peter Kalikow World War II Collection at The National WWII Museum.
理查德·“迪克”·温特斯少校于 1996 年 8 月 12 日写给史蒂芬·安布罗斯的一封长达五页的信，现藏于国家二战博物馆的新奥尔良大学艾森豪威尔中心彼得·卡利科二战收藏中心。
He treated the everyday problems of soldiers with the same directness.
他以同样直接的态度对待士兵的日常问题。
There was “too much drinking,” but Winters said he could handle it simply by looking a man in the eye and telling him to sober up.
当时“喝得太多了”，但温特斯说，他只需看着一个人的眼睛并告诉他清醒一点就可以解决这个问题。
“We’ll have a party when the war’s over,” he would tell them.
“战争结束后我们会举办一个聚会，”他告诉他们。
Food presented a more persistent challenge.
食物提出了更持久的挑战。
In Normandy, Easy Company could supplement its supplies with cattle; in Holland, the men found vegetables and fruit.
在诺曼底，Easy 公司可以用牛来补充供应；在荷兰，人们发现了蔬菜和水果。
Bastogne was different: “Here for two weeks we were really hurting.” The 506th found no cattle and few potatoes, although some beans eventually reached the troops on the line.
巴斯托涅则不同：“在这里待了两周，我们真的很受伤。”第 506 团没有发现牛，也没有发现一些土豆，尽管一些豆子最终到达了前线部队手中。
Winters considered personnel the most significant issue.
温特斯认为人员是最重要的问题。
“You could write a book on that one problem,” he told Ambrose.
“你可以就这个问题写一本书，”他告诉安布罗斯。
Instead, he focused on battlefield promotions and the Army’s practice of transferring experienced noncommissioned officers to new companies after they received commissions.
相反，他专注于战场晋升和陆军在获得委任后将经验丰富的士官调往新连的做法。
These men had entered the Army as recruits, worked their way up to platoon sergeant or first sergeant, and “won the respect of their men in training and proven themselves in combat.”
这些人作为新兵加入陆军，一路晋升为排长或中士，“在训练中赢得了士兵的尊重，并在战斗中证明了自己”。
Winters believed the Army undermined that experience by separating those officers from the soldiers who already trusted them.
温特斯认为，陆军将这些军官与已经信任他们的士兵分开，从而破坏了这种体验。
“They did not have a chance to learn to know their men; the men did not have a chance to learn to know and trust them,” he wrote.
“他们没有机会了解他们的男人；男人也没有机会学会了解和信任他们，”他写道。
“They were strangers; there was not that mutual trust they had with their old platoons.” Winters acknowledged that keeping officers from becoming too familiar with their soldiers might make sense in garrison, but he argued that “in combat that logic is flawed.”
“他们是陌生人；他们与老排之间没有那种相互信任。”温特斯承认，在驻军中，防止军官与士兵过于熟悉可能是有意义的，但他认为“在战斗中，这种逻辑是有缺陷的”。
He then pointed to three officers who became casualties after being transferred into unfamiliar units.
然后他指出三名军官在被转移到不熟悉的部队后伤亡。
Winters did not simply describe these incidents as bad luck.
温特斯并没有简单地将这些事件描述为运气不好。
He saw a broader leadership problem.
他看到了更广泛的领导力问题。
New officers had to establish themselves all over again, while their soldiers had to learn whether they could trust them.
新军官必须重新树立自己的形象，而他们的士兵则必须了解是否可以信任他们。
“These new 2nd Lts.
“这些新的第二中尉。
had to do something special, outstanding to gain the mutual trust they had had with their old companies,” he wrote.
必须做一些特别的、杰出的事情才能赢得他们与老公司之间的相互信任，”他写道。
His conclusion remains one of the sharpest observations in the letter: “But why transfer a proven junior officer to a new unit where he must prove himself again?”
他的结论仍然是信中最尖锐的观察之一：“但是为什么要把一位久经考验的初级军官调到一个他必须再次证明自己的新单位呢？”
Winters ended his letter by describing what those leadership decisions meant at the level of the individual soldier.
温特斯在信的结尾描述了这些领导决策对单个士兵的意义。
In Normandy, he lost his weapons, ammunition, extra clothing, and food when his knee bag tore loose from his parachute harness.
在诺曼底，当他的膝盖包从降落伞安全带上脱落时，他失去了武器、弹药、额外的衣服和食物。
He eventually found a dead paratrooper and took his weapon and ammunition.
他最终找到了一名死去的伞兵并拿走了他的武器和弹药。
He got food from his fellow soldiers.
他从战友那里得到了食物。
That experience taught him the value of “traveling light” and being able to move quickly under fire.
这段经历教会了他“轻装上阵”以及能够在炮火下快速移动的价值。
The statue of Maj.
少校的雕像。
Dick Winters of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, stands as reminder of the sacrifice of the Greatest Generation near Utah Beach, Normandy, France, June 7, 2015.
2015 年 6 月 7 日，法国诺曼底犹他海滩附近，第 101 空降师第 506 伞兵团 Easy 连的迪克·温特斯 (Dick Winters) 站立，提醒人们最伟大的一代的牺牲。
U.S. Army photo by Sgt.
美国陆军中士拍摄的照片
Austin Berner.
奥斯汀·伯纳.
At Bastogne, the problem was different.
在巴斯托涅，问题有所不同。
Winters remembered that the 506th defended a sector with “absolutely no farmhouses, buildings, or shelter of any kind.” Other units could retreat into buildings to warm themselves or dry their socks.
温特斯记得，第 506 团保卫的地区“绝对没有农舍、建筑物或任何类型的庇护所”。其他部队可以撤退到建筑物中取暖或烘干袜子。
His men could not.
他的手下不能。
They had no protection from German fire except their foxholes and no protection from the cold except massaging their feet.
除了散兵坑之外，他们无法抵御德国的火力；除了按摩脚之外，他们无法抵御寒冷。
Winters estimated that one third of the 506th’s casualties resulted from trench foot.
温特斯估计，第 506 团的三分之一伤亡是在战壕足部造成的。
His final description captures the physical reality of command better than any abstract definition could.
他的最终描述比任何抽象定义都更好地捕捉到了指挥的物理现实。
One night, sitting “scrunched up in my foxhole,” Winters felt as though “the foxhole was closing in on me, getting smaller.” Ice had accumulated around him, and he rubbed his shoulders against the sides to scrape it away.
一天晚上，温特斯“蜷缩在我的散兵坑里”，感觉“散兵坑正在向我逼近，变得越来越小”。他周围积满了冰，他用肩膀摩擦身体两侧，把冰刮掉。
His conclusion was characteristically understated: “That’s too cold for comfort.”
他的结论一如往常的低调：“太冷了，不舒服。”
The letter reveals a leader who measured his own performance by the men around him.
这封信揭示了一位领导者通过周围的人来衡量自己的表现。
Winters believed that leaders had to prepare themselves, set the example, understand their soldiers, earn their trust, and remain visible when circumstances became dangerous.
温特斯认为，领导者必须做好准备，树立榜样，了解士兵，赢得他们的信任，并在情况变得危险时保持可见。
He understood that fear was inevitable but believed a leader could keep fear from paralyzing an organization.
他明白恐惧是不可避免的，但相信领导者可以防止恐惧使组织陷入瘫痪。
Above all, he believed leadership carried a responsibility to make the people entrusted to you better.
最重要的是，他相信领导力有责任让托付给你的人变得更好。
Winters ended the letter as he often did in his correspondence with Ambrose, signing off with the words “Hanging tough,” or sometimes simply, “Hang tough.” The phrase became his customary signoff when writing to Ambrose, a small but memorable reflection of the straightforward, understated character that came through so clearly in his writing.
温特斯在这封信的结尾，就像他在与安布罗斯的通信中经常做的那样，以“坚持不懈”，有时干脆“坚持坚持”作为结束语。这句话成为他给安布罗斯写信时惯用的结束语，虽然虽小，但令人难忘，反映出他在写作中清晰可见的直率、低调的性格。
Twenty-five years after Band of Brothers brought Winters and Easy Company to the screen, the letter in the Kalikow Collection offers a chance to hear Winters explain those principles in his own words.
《兄弟连》将温特斯和 Easy Company 搬上银幕二十五年后，卡利科夫收藏中的这封信让我们有机会听到温特斯用自己的话解释这些原则。
His message is remarkably direct: Take care of your people.
他的信息非常直接：照顾你的员工。
Train them well.
好好训练他们。
Know your profession.
了解你的职业。
Build trust before you need it.
在需要之前建立信任。
Understand what your soldiers are experiencing.
了解你的士兵正在经历什么。
And when the moment comes, get out of the foxhole and lead.
当那一刻到来时，走出散兵坑并领先。
Adam Coste is the World War II Historian for Digital Content at The National WWII Museum's Jenny Craig Institute for the Study of War and Democracy.
亚当·科斯特 (Adam Coste) 是国家二战博物馆珍妮·克雷格战争与民主研究所数字内容的二战历史学家。
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League served as inspiration for young women across the country and opened the door further for women’s professional sports.
全美女子职业棒球联盟为全国年轻女性提供了灵感，并进一步为女子职业运动打开了大门。
Joseph R.
约瑟夫·R。
Beyrle's experience captures the initiative demanded of airborne soldiers, the brutality endured by prisoners of war, and the unlikely battlefield cooperation between American and Soviet soldiers during the final months of the war.
拜尔的经历体现了空降兵所需要的主动性、战俘所遭受的残酷以及战争最后几个月美国和苏联士兵之间不太可能的战场合作。
At The National WWII Museum, remembering the anniversary of September 11 means remembering all those who perished that day and recognizing the many different stories they carried with them.
在国家二战博物馆，纪念 9 月 11 日的周年纪念意味着纪念那天所有遇难的人，并认识到他们所承载的许多不同的故事。
At The National WWII Museum, visitors can discover artifacts carried, worn, and used by paratroopers of the 101st Airborne alongside items that tell the story of Band of Brothers itself.
在国家二战博物馆，游客可以发现第 101 空降师伞兵携带、佩戴和使用的文物，以及讲述兄弟连本身故事的物品。
During World War II, ship names often referenced earlier eras of American history.
第二次世界大战期间，舰艇名称经常引用美国历史的早期时期。
Today, the US Navy continues its efforts to memorialize the country’s origins by upholding naming traditions that hark back more than 160 years.
如今，美国海军继续努力维护 160 多年前的命名传统，以纪念国家的起源。
Initially, hell ships moved Allied POWs to areas where their labor was needed, such as the Japanese main islands and other recently conquered regions, but later, they also moved prisoners to prevent them from being liberated by advancing Allied forces.
最初，地狱船将盟军战俘转移到需要他们劳动力的地区，例如日本主岛和其他最近征服的地区，但后来，它们也转移囚犯，以防止他们被前进的盟军解放。
A product of post Great War naval treaties and launched amid rising global tensions, the USS New Orleans forged a bond with its namesake city in the years before World War II
新奥尔良号航空母舰是一战后海军条约的产物，在全球紧张局势不断升级的情况下下水，在第二次世界大战前的几年里与同名城市建立了联系
945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130 info@nationalww2museum.org 504-528-1944
945 Magazine Street, 新奥尔良, LA 70130 info@nationalww2museum.org 504-528-1944