“NUTS!”
That was the official answer Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe delivered to the four German soldiers sent on December 22, 1944, to urge him to surrender the town of Bastogne in the Belgian Ardennes.
In June 1944, on D-Day, the Allies had begun an invasion of northern Europe, and Allied soldiers had advanced against the German troops more quickly than anticipated. By December the Allied troops were stretched out along a 600-mile (1,000 km) front and were tired. General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his staff decided to hold the most fatigued troops in the easily defended Ardennes region over the Christmas to let them rest. To reinforce them, they sent inexperienced troops. The Allies anticipated little trouble.
So they were surprised on December 16, 1944, when the Germans launched more than 400,000 personnel, more than 1,400 tanks and armored vehicles, 2,600 pieces of artillery, and more than 1,000 combat aircraft directly at a 75-mile (120 km) stretch of the front in the Ardennes in an offensive designed to punch through the Allied lines.
And thus began the Battle of the Bulge.
Read the rest of Heather's blog at > https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-24-2025?r=2c9xwq&utm...
Comments
Be the first to comment