American Valor Quarterly Issue 12 - Spring 2015 | Page 39

Christmas at Bastogne
On December 22, 1944 - the U.S. forces at Bastogne completely
surrounded - four German soldiers approached under flags of truce.
They were blindfolded and taken behind American lines, where they
presented a note which read, in part:
“To the U.S.A Commander...
The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and
near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units...
There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from
total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town...
The German Commander.”
The German demand of surrender was relayed to the acting
commander of the 101st Airborne, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe,
who initially thought the Germans had offered to the Americans.
When told that in fact, the Germans were demanding the Americans
surrendered, McAuliffe famously exclaimed, “Us surrender? Aw,
nuts!”

U.S. Army Center of Military History

As the Germans had requested a formal reply, McAuliffe met with
his staff to determine the proper response. The Division Operations
Officer, then-Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard, offered, “What you said
initially would be tough to beat.” McAuliffe asked, “What do you
mean?” to which Kinnard replied, “Sir, you said ‘Nuts!’”
The staff in enthusiastic agreement, McAuliffe ordered the following
response:
“December 22, 1944
To the German Commander,

The American Commander”
The message was relayed to the German soldiers by Col. Bud Harper,
who told them, “The reply consists of a single word - NUTS!” The
lead German officer, perplexed, asked, “Is that reply affirmative or
negative?”
“The reply is decidedly not affirmative,” Harper told him. The reply
was further clarified to the Germans by an interpreter, PFC Ernest
Premetz, who told them, “Du kannst zum Tuefel gehen” - or “You
can go to hell.” Harper added, “If you continue to attack, we will kill
every goddamn German that tries to break into this city.” The German
officer replied, “We will kill many Americans. This is war,” to which
Harper replied, “On your way, bud. And good luck to you.”
The Germans returned their lines, and the siege resumed. Yet the
Americans held, spurred on by a Christmas Eve address delivered by
General McAuliffe to the soldiers holding Bastogne, which read in part:
“What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting - it’s cold - we
aren’t home... We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at
us from the North, East, South, and West... How effectively this has
been done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious
history, but in world history.
Allied troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold
Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied
Armies.
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.”
Two days later, the siege was broken. The 101st had held, and
victory in the Battle of the Bulge was assured.

NUTS!
SPRING 2015

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