75 years ago today, during the Battle of the Bulge, four German soldiers, two officers and two enlisted men approached the American lines waving white flags. They had a message for the American commander. They were blindfolded and led to headquarters in the encircled town of Bastogne, Belgium, where they delivered the following message for Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe:
December 22nd 1944
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. More German armored units have crossed
the river Ourthe near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.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. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.
If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours’ term.
All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well known American humanity.
The German Commander.
The general, still half asleep, said “Nuts!” as he climbed out of his sleeping bag.
Since a written message was received, it was only fitting to deliver a written reply. After some consultation as to the exact language, someone suggested that the general’s initial response was the best. A typist was summoned, and the following reply was made:
December 22, 1944
To the German Commander,
N U T S !
The American Commander
It was explained to the German officers that the message essentially meant, “Go to hell,” and the Germans communicated this to their commander.
In his Christmas message to his troops, the general included the exchange, as shown above. As 
we saw in a previous post, even though the town was cut off, it had a reliable VHF communications link, and supplies were being air dropped. And there was even a mimeograph machine which could be used for a Christmas message. If the German commander had known these things, it’s doubtful that he would have expected a surrender.
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