01/10/2007
‘NUTS,’ he wrote
By Tom Range, Sr.
For thousands of World War II veterans, and their descendents, the Christmas season conjures up memories of the fateful period from mid-December 1944 to mid-January 1945. The GIs were in the middle of the Battle of the Bulge.
In the fall of 1944 the Allies had every reason to hope that the war in Europe would be over by Christmas. But on December 25, American troops found themselves stuck behind a new German line. Nine days before 30 German divisions, 10 of them armored divisions, had attacked the American Army along the Belgian-German border, achieving absolute tactical and strategic surprise. The result was the largest battle in which Americans had ever fought. Some 640,000 of them took part in the Battle of the Bulge.
The actual "bulge" was the dent the Germans made in the American lines when the offensive was launched. Enjoying numerical superiority of six to one in some places, German forces had penetrated 60 miles at their farthest reach, but the shoulders of the Bulge held firm, and American units held on to key road junctions. Most crucially, they held St. Vith and other towns in what became known as "the fortified goose egg," as well as the Belgian city of Bastogne. For a crucial week the Americans had created a salient that threatened the flank of the German army. The focal point of the American defense was Bastogne. Bastogne never fell.
By December 21, the German forces had surrounded the city, which was defended by the 101st Airborne Division and Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division. Conditions inside the perimeter were tough. Most of the medical supplies and medical personnel had been captured. Food was scarce and ammunition was so low that artillery crews were forbidden to fire on advancing Germans unless there was a large, heavy concentration of them. Despite determined German attacks, however, the perimeter held. The German commander sent this request to General Anthony C. McAuliffe, the American commander in Bastogne.
"To the USA Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne; The fortune of war is changing. This time strong German armored units have encircled the USA forces in and near Bastogne. There is only one possibility to save the encircled USA troops from total annihilation; that is honorable surrender of the encircled town… If this proposal is rejected, one German Artillery Corps and six heavy AA battalions are ready to annihilate USA troops…all the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity…"
When General McAuliffe was awakened by the delivery of the German invitation to surrender, he gave a reply of annoyance that has been variously reported and, in its unsanitized version was probably unprintable. There is no disagreement, however, as to what he wrote on the paper delivered to the Germans: "NUTS!" That reply had to be explained, both to the Germans and to non-American allies.
The defense was hampered by brutal winter weather that had grounded Allied air power. No supplies could be parachuted in to Bastogne nor could aircraft neutralize the attacking German forces. McAuliffe ordered every GI under his command to the front lines. Cooks, clerks and mechanics who probably had not fired a weapon since basic training held the German forces back. The lines around Bastogne held until relieved by units commanded by General George S. Patton. Patton's forces had made a 45-degree turn from their eastward advance toward Germany through southern France and traveled hundreds of miles north to the Bulge.
The German armored divisions, deprived of the use of the network of roads converging in Bastogne, and exhausting their fuel and ammunition, fell back toward the German border to the east. By January 15, 1945, the Allied forces, pressuring the retreating Germans from the north and south, met and effectively cut off the enemy troops remaining in Belgium. The war in Europe went on for another three months.
The Battle of the Bulge resulted in 80,000 Allied casualties and 100,000 German. General McAuliffe was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. In 1953, he returned to Europe as Commander-in-Chief of the Seventh Army and in 1955 was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army Europe. He died in 1975 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Over 60 years after the Battle of the Bulge, the commander of "the battered bastards of Bastogne" is remembered for his one word reply to the enemy, "NUTS!"
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Uploaded: 1/11/2007
