     December 23rd was the day that the Americans abandoned the Fortified Goose Egg. This was a huge hedgehog left over from the desperate defense of St. Vith. The Germans had penetrated deeply to the north and south of the area, but the Americans stubbornly clung to the ground here. Montgomery, always the conservative, ordered the abandonment of the position. There was only one main road, and one main bridge, to support the retreat.
     All day long the Americans streamed out of their positions and over the vital bridge at Vielsalm. By leapfrogging each other, they were able to disengage from the German forces and make good their escape. But there were some snafus.
     At one point, the 112th Regiment, covering the retreat, failed to receive its orders to pull out, and so remained in position far too long. German forces worked their way around the 112th and nearly cut it off. The order to retreat came in the nick of time.
     Another near-disaster arose when traffic on the one escape route bogged down and the Germans began shelling the road. Panic broke out in the trapped Americans. Fortunately, a few unsung American officers dealt with the crisis. Some of the vehicles broke out of the jam and found alternate routes. Somebody else arranged a counterattack that silenced the shelling. Traffic began flowing again.
     Late that night, the Americans blew up the bridge at Vielsalm. The battle of the Fortified Goose Egg was over. 15,000 troops, a hundred tanks, and nine battalions of artillery had made their escape.
/Managing a retreat
     After the victorious battle of Lutzen, one of Frederick the Great's officers exulted to him, "You will go down in history as one of its Great Captains!" To which the German king responded, "Nay, for I have never commanded a successful retreat."
     The most difficult feat of generalship is the management of a retreat. It's easy to control a victorious army; the men are confident and eager, the task is obvious. But an army in retreat is beaten and demoralized. The pursuing victorious army nips at its heels. With its confidence in its commander shaken, orders are often ignored. Anarchy begins to set in as men seek to save themselves. Everything goes wrong.
     The central dilemma of retreat is that retreating forces are weaker than defending forces. Troops that are dug in and prepared for an attack can offer stronger resistance than troops that are retreating. Yet, a retreat is made necessary when the dug-in troops are not strong enough to resist the enemy. Thus, if the situation is bad enough to require a retreat, it will only be made worse by a retreat. Retreating forces are the most vulnerable forces on the battlefield.
     The proper way to retreat is in a leapfrogging system whereby each unit retreats through the lines of another unit. If executed properly, such a system works well. But if something goes wrong, a retreat can easily become a disastrous rout. At Jena in 1809, the French army eked out a thin victory over the Prussian army, but the Prussians were annihilated in the retreat that followed. Six months before the Battle of the Bulge, the German Sixth Panzer Army had been annihilated during its retreat from the Falaise pocket./