Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe tells the Germans, December 22, “Nuts!” 1944
During the Battle of the Bulge, the US 101st Airborne Division, under McAuliffe’s command, was tasked with defending Bastogne, Belgium, against a siege from a numerically superior German force.
A most odd sight presents itself. Marching toward the American lines, carrying a white flag, are four German soldiers. The German general Heinrich Lüttwitz thinks it absurd to needlessly slaughter so many brave American soldiers. Instead, he has sent a note, offering McAuliffe and the 101st a chance to save their own lives by surrendering. A response is quickly typed: “To the German Commander, ‘Nuts!’ The American Commander.”