perpetual memory loss

It has been a long time since I wrote the first great stories post, which can be found here.  I didn’t have any ideas for a new one for the longest time until the other day, as I was in the midst of procrastinating by watching TV, a Jericho promo came on the channel I was watching.  I’ve never seen the show so I wasn’t really paying attention until in one section of the commercial there was some kind of battle going down, and the villain told Skeet that he was surrounded and there was no hope.  Ol’ Skeet put on his best tough guy face, and yelled Nuts into the walkie-talkie.  When I heard this I started laughing because here was yet another great real life story that Hollywood was appropriating and ruining.

Bastonge Surrounded

Our story begins in Europe in December 1944.  Five months after D-Day the Allies had been slowly pushing the German forces back.  Hitler sought to turn the tide with a counteroffensive in the Ardennes–even though he was advised against it by his Generals–the battle would come be known as the Battle of the Bulge.  The plan was for the Germans to slice through the American and British forces–cutting them off from each other and valuable supply lines–and to recapture the port of Antwerp.  It was hoped this move would allow the Germans to either negotiate a more favorable peace treaty with each nation separately or it would allow German time to recoup their losses and continue the war with a new generation of military technologies–like jets and rockets.  The offensive began on December 16, 1944 and the Germans made swift advances, in part, because bad weather grounded Allied planes which allowed them to move quickly.  However, after some quick gains the Germans met stiff resistance and their momentum slowed.

One of those areas of stiff resistance was Bastogne, Belgium.  The importance of Bastonge was that it was a crossroads near the German border.  These roads would be needed to quickly move tanks and other supplies overland to the front.  By December 18 the Germans were outside of Bastogne engaged in a fierce fight with the American troops.  For the next three days the Germans were repulsed by the American forces that were defending Bastonge, and the weather continued to worsen.  The masterly use of small-arms fire, artillery, and some tanks allowed the American forces to hold their ground.  Because of their slow progress two Panzer divisions were told to bypass the town, and were subsequently destroyed near Dinant–making the roads held in Bastogne even more important.

Nuts!

On December 22 four Germans–a major, a captain, and two enlisted men–came up the road to Bastogne carrying a white flag.  They were met by Technical Sergeant Oswald Y. Butler, Staff Sergeant Carl E. Dickinson, and Private First Class Ernest D. Premetz who took the men to one of the command posts where the enlisted men were left, and the two officers were blindfolded and taken to another command post.  It was there that the German officers gave the American officers their ultimatum.  The terms were given to General Anthony McAuliffe, and they appealed to the “Well known American humanity,” they demanded the surrender of Bastonge or face complete destruction.  The Americans were then given two hours to decide their course of action.  Upon hearing these terms General McAuliffe laughed then said “Us surrender? Aw, nuts!”  Realizing that he had to respond to the terms he sat down to prepare a response.  After a few minutes he told his staff that he didn’t know what to say.  Colonel Kinnard then mentioned that the “first remark of yours would be hard to beat.”  When General McAuliffe didn’t immediately understand Kinnard told him “You said, Nuts!”  The rest of the staff heartitly agreed with that choice, so General McAuliffe wrote “Nuts!” as his reply to the German demand to surrender.  The reply was then given to Colonel Harper with the instructions to give the German envoys the response and then take them back to the edge of the American lines.

Colonel Harper took the response back to the command post where the German officers were being held blindfolded and told them he had the response:

The German captain asked, “Is it written or verbal?”

“It is written,” said Harper.

And then he said to the German major, “I will stick it in your hand.”

The German captain translated the message. The major then asked, “Is the reply negative or affirmative? If it is the latter I will negotiate further.”

All of this time the Germans were acting in an upstage and patronizing manner. Colonel Harper was beginning to lose his temper. He said, “The reply is decidedly not affirmative.” Then he added, “If you continue this foolish attack your losses will be tremendous.” The major nodded his head.

Harper put the two officers in the jeep and took them back to the main road where the German privates were waiting with the white flag.

He then removed the blindfold and said to them, speaking through the German captain, “If you don’t understand what ‘Nuts’ means, in plain English it is the same as ‘Go to hell.’ And I will tell you something else—if you continue to attack we will kill every goddamn German that tries to break into this city.”

The German major and captain saluted very stiffly. The captain said, “We will kill many Americans. This is war.”

“On your way, Bud,” said Colonel Harper, “and good luck to you.

The four Germans walked on down the road. Harper returned to the house, regretting that his tongue had slipped and that he had wished them good luck.

Over the next few days the German siege continued and the American forces repelled a series of seventeen attacks, and they endured nightly bombings by the Luftwaffe.  Hitler was infuriated that the town hadn’t been taken yet and demanded the destruction of all U.S. forces.  The American troops, however, continued to hold despite the odds against them, and on Christmas Eve General McAuliffe relayed to the men his response to the German demand for surrender.  This helped to buoy the morale of the troops.  The rest of his message read as follows:

What’s merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting—it’s cold—we aren’t home. All true, but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades of the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the north, east, south and west. We have identifications from four German panzer divisions, two German infantry divisions and one German parachute division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were heading straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in world history. The Germans actually did surround us, their radios blared our doom. Allied troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied armies. We know that our Division commander, General Taylor, will say: “Well done!” We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a merry Christmas.

General McAuliffe was hoping that his men would continue to hold out and that reinforcements would soon arrive.  The American forces did hold, and relief came on December 26.  The weather also made took a turn for the better allowing the Allies to start pushing the Germans back using air superiority.  By the end of January 1945 the Allies would regain all the territory that they lost during the initial German counterattack.  The Americans lost over 75,000 men during the Battle of the Bulge and the Germans lost between 80,000 and 100,000 permanently depleting their forces.  The defenders of Bastonge, however, would come to be known as “The Battered Bastards of Bastogne.”

The Siege of Bastogne proved to be pivotal in rebuffing the German counterattack.  The roads and bridges of Bastogne were absolutely necessary for the Germans to continue their push to Antwerp and their inability to capture the city quickly gave the Allies the time to send in reinforcements and wait out the bad weather.  McAuliffe’s reply of ‘Nuts’ to the German demand to surrender exemplified the American resolve to hold their ground.  It helped to keep the American troops motivated despite the odds against them, and in spite of the cruel winter weather they had to endure.  The response was also typically American in character.

So thanks but no thanks Hollywood, I’ll stick with the real story of “Nuts!” as opposed to your crappy hijacking of the story.

The Battered Bastards of Bastogne

Sources:

“A Duty to Memory’“ by Stephen Osmond

“SURRENDER? NUTS!“ by:Renita Foster

“Bastogne” by Colonel S.L.A. Marshall – http://www.history.army.mil/books/wwii/Bastogne/bast-fm.htm

http://www.worldwar2history.info/Bulge/#Bulge-features

http://www.defenselink.mil/home/Specials/bulge/

http://images.google.com/images?q=bastogne&q=source%3Alife

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