NUTTTS!!
On December 22, 1944, the 101st Airborne Division was still surrounded by the German troops, while they themselves surrounded & defended the town of Bastogne.
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At 11.00am a group of 4 German soldiers (2 officers and 2 enlisted men) waving 2 white flags approached the American lines to the south of Bastogne. The line was manned by F Company, 327th Glider Infantry Regiment.
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The Germans said they had a message for the American Commander. They had brought blindfolds & would consent to being blindfolded in order to be brought to HQ to present the message. The officers, Major Wagner and Lt Henke, were brought to the F Co command post.
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The message was first phoned in to Battalion CP, then Regimental HQ, then to Division HQ, and then collected by Regimental Operations Officer Major Alvin Jones. It was brought to the Division HQ & shown to Brig. Gen Anthony McAuliffe, acting commander of the 101st Airborne.
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Upon reading the message, McAuliffe said "Us surrender? Aw nuts!" and threw the paper on the ground.
McAuliffe wasn't sure what to put as the formal reply, but his staff all agreed that his initial reaction would be hard to beat.
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The reply was typed up;
"To the German Commander,
N U T S!
The American Commander."
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It was delivered to the Germans at the F Co CP by Col Joseph Harper, CO of the 327th GIR. Henke asked about the contents of the reply because if it was affirmative, they were authorized to negotiate further.
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Harper said, "The reply consists of a single word, NUTS!" Henke, not understanding, asked, "Is that reply negative or affirmative?" Harper said, "The reply is decidedly not affirmative"
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They did not understand the slang & asked what it meant. They were told by German speaking medic PFC Ernest Premetz "Du kannst zum Teufel gehen".... "it means you can go to hell"
The Americans were not surrendering!
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