Brigadier General Anthony "Nuts" McAuliffe, commander of the 101st Airborne Division in World War II, acquired his famous nickname of "Nuts" after his notorious use of this expression in response to a call for surrender from the Germans during a pivotal time during the war.
On December 22, 1944 near Bastogne, Belgium, four German soldiers waving the white flag of surrender walked past an American bazooka team before coming upon 14,000 American soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division.
Out-numbered 5 to 1, the Americans had been under siege for the past two days, enduring armored attacks, artillery fire and frigid temperatures. German morale was high, “The snow must turn red with American blood,” one German soldier had written his wife of the situation, “Victory was never as close as it is now.” Meanwhile, the American defenders were outgunned and lacking ammunition, food and cold weather gear. The harsh winter weather made resupply from the air improbable.
Among the four German soldiers, a major had a message from his commander to deliver which demanded surrender from the Americans within two hours or face "total annihilation." After donning blindfolds, two German officers were taken to the nearby American company command post to deliver the message.
The division’s acting chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Ned Moore, was the first to deliver the news to Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, commander of the 101st, “The Germans have sent some people forward to take our surrender,” he reported to his superior officer. McAuliffe, still half-asleep and climbing out of his sleeping bag, responded with one word, “Nuts!” Eventually, McAuliffe read the full message, which was typewritten in English and German.
“They want to surrender?” McAuliffe asked his operations officer.
“No sir, they want us to surrender,” replied Lieutenant Colonel Harry Kinnard.
The general laughed. “Us, surrender? Aw, nuts!” he said, before dropping the message on the floor.
McAuliffe walked out of his command post and headed toward the western perimeter to congratulate a unit that had destroyed a German roadblock earlier in the morning. As far as he was concerned, the Germans were taking a beating and his men could hold out. Meanwhile, the two German officers were waiting for an official reply. They had delivered a formal demand for surrender and wanted a formal response to take back. At division headquarters, McAuliffe sat down with a pencil and paper and thought for a few minutes about what he would say.
“Well, I don’t know what to tell them,” McAuliffe wondered aloud to his surrounding staff.
“What you said initially would be hard to beat,” replied Kinnard. McAuliffe wasn’t sure what he meant. “Sir, you said ‘nuts,’” Kinnard reminded him, drawing applause from other American officers for the pithy initial reply.
McAuliffe wrote it down. “Have it typed up,” he said. The typewritten response was given to Colonel Bud Harper, who delivered it to the waiting Germans.
“I have the American commander’s reply,” Harper told them, placing the message in the German major’s hand.
The English-speaking lieutenant quickly read and translated the message, “To the German Commander, NUTS! The American Commander.”
“Is that reply negative or affirmative?” the German officer asked. “If it is the latter, I will negotiate further.”
“The reply is decidedly not affirmative,” said Harper. The confused German officers were then put into a jeep and taken back to the entry point to deliver the message to their superiors.
Captain Vincent Vicari, General McAuliffe’s personal aide at the time, recalled “General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language. 'Nuts' was part of his normal vocabulary." (Source: Szoldra, Paul, “Task & Purpose” newsletter, December 20, 2022; Pyle, Richard, report for the Associated Press, 2004-12-12)
This painting depicts the moment McAuliffe wrote up his official reply of "Nuts!" amid his amused staff.
