"Surrounded and greatly outnumbered, the men of the 101st Airborne Division were not expecting a merry Christmas in Bastogne, Belgium, in 1944.
"The German army had already begun a brutal offensive against the entrapped Americans, and on Dec. 22, under a white flag, messengers had delivered the German general’s demand of unconditional surrender.
"Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe sent back just one word — NUTS! — to the German commander. When the German messengers appeared puzzled by the term, one of McAuliffe’s attaches told them that, loosely translated, they could “go to hell.”
"McAuliffe then penned a letter to his own troops, in recognition of the imminent holiday, informing them of the events that had transpired." . . .
The German Commander received the following reply:
22 December 1944
“To the German Commander:
N U T S !
. . .
The American Commander”
No comments:
Post a Comment