Summary and Key Points: On December 22, 1944, four German soldiers walked up to F Company, 327th Glider Infantry, south of Bastogne, and handed the 101st Airborne a written demand: surrender the encircled town in two hours or be annihilated by artillery. Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, woken from sleep and told the Germans had come to take the American surrender, answered with the word he already used when he was annoyed.
The Battle of the Bulge and That One Word Rebuttal
It’s one of the better-known World War II anecdotes: When the Germans, during the Battle of the Bulge, tried to deliver an ultimatum of surrender to the Americans, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe responded with an unforgettable one-word reply.
According to an account published on the Army’s official website in 2013, written by the general’s nephew, Kenneth J. McAuliffe, Jr., it happened on December 22, 1944, just over a week after the battle began. The author wrote that the story has been “verified to be 100% accurate.”
A Famous Ultimatum
According to the younger McAuliffe’s account, the story began on the morning of December 22, when four German soldiers- two officers and two enlisted men- approached the American line south of Bastogne.
The Americans were from the F Company of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
The junior officer, Lt. Hellmuth Henke of the Panzer Lehr Operations Section, said in English, “I want to see the commanding officer of this section.” He later explained that the Germans had a written message to deliver to the American commander, and that the Germans were willing to be blindfolded on their way to the meeting.
In fact, they brought their own blindfolds.
The two German officers were eventually taken to F Company’s command post.
M4 Sherman Tank from WWII Image: Creative Commons.
Their message moved up the chain of command.
Eventually, it reached the Acting Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Ned Moore, who brought the message to Brig. Gen. McAuliffe, who was asleep at the time.
“The Germans have sent some people forward to take our surrender,” Moore told McAuliffe, according to the Army’s account.
“Nuts!” McAuliffe replied, still half-asleep.
His orders were then relayed back down the chain of command.
The Message
According to the Army’s account, which included the actual document, the message from the Germans was two pages, one in English and one in German.
“To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne. 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,” the message began.
Panzer IV tank. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
It went on to state that “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 Germans then said that delivering the note would start a two-hour clock for the Americans to decide whether to accept the surrender.
Should they not, the Germans stated, “one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne.” The note was signed, “The German Commander.”
Beyond “Nuts!”
McAuliffe, the Army account said, had first believed that it was the Germans who wanted to surrender to the Americans.
When apprised that it was the other way around, he “arose and erupted in anger.” Now fully awake, he said “Nuts” again.
“Us surrender, aw nuts!” the general added.
When McAuliffe and his staff were debating what to do next, Division Operations Officer, Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard, told him, “What you said initially would be hard to beat.”
So the reply, sent to the Germans, was the following:
“December 22, 1944
To the German Commander, N U T S! The American Commander”
Upon delivering the note to Henke, Col. Bud Harper, the 327th Regimental Commander, told the German that “The reply is decidedly not affirmative.
If you continue this foolish attack, your losses will be tremendous.” The Germans, still blindfolded, were driven back to their entry point.
Not understanding what “nuts” meant, they further translated it as “go to hell.”
According to one account, Captain Vincent Vicari, McAuliffe’s aide, said that “General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. ‘Nuts’ was part of his normal vocabulary.”
After “Nuts!”
What happened next was somewhat anticlimactic.
No major artillery attack followed, and Panzer Lehr Division advanced around Bastogne to Rochefort, though the German Luftwaffe bombed the town throughout the battle.
McAuliffe was later promoted repeatedly and retired in 1956, living until 1975. A biography called “Nuts! The Life and Times of General Tony McAuliffe” was published in 2022, authored by Tom McAuliffe, another relative of the general.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.