U.K. Airborne Divisional HQ Pennant, WWII

U.K. Airborne Divisional HQ Pennant, WWII
This British Airborne Divisional HQ Command Pennant came directly from the Estate of United States Army General Matthew B. Ridgway. In 1986, at the age of ninety-one, the Virginia-born General received from President Reagan the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of a long, brilliant career during which Ridgway had earned the Distinguished Service Cross twice, the Army Distinguished Service Medal four times, the Silver Star twice, and the Bronze Star once.

Ridgway acquired the pennant as a token of appreciation, and a memento of command from elements of the British 6th Airborne Division after the crossing of the Rhine and the advance into Germany in the spring of 1945, when he visited the British Airborne's headquarters in Wismar, Germany, on the Baltic coast, for a Thanksgiving Service at the end of the war.

Doubtless the pennant honored Ridgway's contributions to airborne warfare. From the ultimately triumphant Normandy invasion which had begun on June 6, 1944 and is forever remembered as D-Day; where Ridgway helped plan airborne operations and commanded the U.S. 82nd All-American Airborne Division. A few months after D-Day, he was given command of the new XVIIIth Airborne Corps, and directed its operation in the vicinity of Eindhoven, the Netherlands, in the Ardennes and along the Rhine River. His corps battled the German "Ruhr Pocket" and finally, on May 2, made a historic link up with Soviet Troops on the Baltic.

British Airborne sub-units did not carry individual pennants or guidons like their American counterparts; instead they were designated a divisional command headquarters. Prior to the presentation, the pennant would have been staked outside whatever building was serving as the divisional commander's headquarters at the time in order to identify it as such. During the Second World War the distinguished British officers, Major General Roy Urquhart and Major General Richard Nelson Gale, were both photographed with identical pennants.

The insignia of the British Paratroopers features the winged horse Pegasus beneath Bellerophon, slayer of monsters and, according to Greek myth, the first airborne warrior. In 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill appointed the dashing Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Boy Browning, a former Olympic bobsledding athlete, to raise the Airborne Forces and define the image of soldiers charged with slaying the modern-day monsters of Hitler's Third Reich. Boy Browning assigned the renowned painter Major Edward Seago to design an emblem and Seago, who had concealed a lifelong history of heart problems so he could join the British Amy at the outbreak of World War II, produced the square insignia that all airborne soldiers would wear on their upper arms.

Boy Browning had married Daphne du Maurier, master of modern Gothic narrative and author of the story on which Alfred Hitchcock would base his film 'The Birds'. Unafraid of blood, du Maurier suggested the maroon background color of Seago's design for the airborne soldiers' berets and her husband liked the idea. Those maroon berets would inspire the German nickname for Britain's airborne troops, Rote Teufel or the 'Red Devils'. Today the UK Parachute Regiment carries on the tradition and the maroon beret is recognized as the headgear of airborne troops the world over.

The pennant is in excellent condition, exhibiting minor stains from moderate use.

From Pegasus Archive in UK.
"If this is indeed the Divisional Commander's pennant that you have, then it would have been used as you can see, staked outside whatever building was serving as his Headquarters at the time to identify it. The fact that it ended up in General Ridgway's possession suggests that it was presumably presented to him as a gift some time during the crossing of the Rhine and the advance into Germany in 1945. The Division was under the command of Ridgway's XVIII Airborne Corps for the Rhine Crossing operation and remained so until the 28th March, and again from the 1st to at least the 7th, possibly 10th May. If you take a look at my Rhine Crossing website and the Divisional HQ war diary, http://www.pegasusarchive.org/varsity/war_divhq.htm, Ridgway visited the HQ in Wismar on the 6th May. As the war had effectively come to an end at this time, at least as regards active movement for the 6th Airborne Division was concerned, it could well have been at this meeting that he was presented with the pennant.
6th May 1945
Place: Wismar
Visit of Comd Gen XVIII US Corps (Airborne) on occasion of Thanksgiving Service in WISMAR."

Exhibition History:
University of California - Santa Cruz
Board of Councilors Meeting, Rare Flags Exhibit
Santa Cruz, CA
7 June 2012

ZFC Significant Flag
Item is Framed

Provenance:
• United Kingdom, 6th Airborne Division, 1945.
• Gifted to Lt. General Matthew Ridgway, 1945
• Retained as a memento of service until passing, 1993.
• Estate of Matthew Ridgway, until 1997
• Sold via Dargate Auction Galleries, Pittsburgh, PA to Chris Donaghue Books, San Francisco, CA, agent for Zaricor Flag Collection, 1997.
Deaccessed at auction via Bonham's 21 November 2023, Auction #BOK23110NY, - 28447 -
Lot #221



Sources:

Image Source
Zaricor Flag Collection

(Formerly in the General Mathew B. Ridgway Sub-collection.)