Why General McAuliffe Could Say “Nuts”

self | 12/13/24 | Self

[Retain Mike]

Eighty years ago, on December 16, the Germans launched the Ardennes Offensive, which proved the bloodiest American battle of WW II with 89,000 casualties including 19,000 dead. At the center of the offensive beleaguered Bastogne featured the 101st Airborne withstanding a German siege.

However, these 10,000 paratroopers did not alone forge the severe impediment presented to 500,000 Germans troops attacking with tanks. Contributions from the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions, and the 28th Division’s 109th and 687th Field Artillery Battalions provided needed firepower. Remnants of the 9th Armored CCR including the 73rd Armored Field Artillery retreated into the town. The CCB of the 10th Armored was detached and ordered to occupy Bastogne ahead of the Nazi’s. It took heavy casualties along the way but arrived with 30 tanks and the 420th Armored Field Artillery Battalion. The 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion was ordered forward and arrived with 36 powerful 76mm long cannon.

Overall General Anthony McAuliffe, acting division commander and division artillery commander, directed eleven artillery battalions and tanks from two armored divisions as well as his paratroopers. He developed a plan allowing many of the artillery units 360-degree coverage for points of attack. The paratroopers alone would probably have been annihilated and not withstood the siege. The tanks and artillery alone could not have prevailed against the combined arms of the German assault without this airborne infantry support.

No wonder at the Battle of the Bulge McAuliffe could say “nuts” when the Germans demanded his surrender.

Partial Bibliography:

A Time for Trumpets by Charles B. MacDonald

Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in WW II by Belton Y. Cooper

WWII Armored Division

http://xbradtc.com/2008/10/24/wwii-armored-division/

10th Armored Division (United States)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._10th_Armored_Division http://www.combatreels.com/10th_Armored_Division.cfm

9th Armored Division (United States)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._9th_Armored_Division

Battle of the Bulge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge

Siege of Bastogne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bastogne

705th Tank Destroyer Battalion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/705th_Tank_Destroyer_Battalion

Why the General Could Say, ‘Nuts!’

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-general-could-say-nuts-letters-to-the-editor-1419984120

[Midwesterner53]

I was in for all of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Like night and day difference.

[FreedomPoster]

Repost so links appear:

Partial Bibliography:

A Time for Trumpets by Charles B. MacDonald

Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in WW II by Belton Y. Cooper

WWII Armored Division

http://xbradtc.com/2008/10/24/wwii-armored-division/

10th Armored Division (United States)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._10th_Armored_Division http://www.combatreels.com/10th_Armored_Division.cfm

9th Armored Division (United States)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._9th_Armored_Division

Battle of the Bulge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge

Siege of Bastogne

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bastogne

705th Tank Destroyer Battalion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/705th_Tank_Destroyer_Battalion

Why the General Could Say, ‘Nuts!’

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-the-general-could-say-nuts-letters-to-the-editor-1419984120

[FreedomPoster]

Be careful with that. IIRC the decockers on those were unreliable and the pistol might discharge on using the decocker. A friend had one thus that his father had ended up with after WWII. His dad wasn’t anywhere near infantry combat, he was a PBY pilot scouting for German submarines, but somehow he ended up with a P38.

[laplata]

I was under Nixon and most Nam vets I was with voted for him in ‘72. Most of us were enlisted. The all-volunteer army hadn’t come about yet.

[This_Dude]

The decocker is one of the main reasons I like to carry it, and I heard about the issues. It always worked for me, of course I’ll keep saying that until I hit it and put a hole through my kitchen wall

[FreedomPoster]

Make sure it’s pointed somewhere safe when you use it!

[Wu]

L/75, 101st Abn 70-71

[laplata]

I don’t recognize L/75.

Were you in Nam?

[nicollo]

I was roaming the Belgian countryside on a little motorbike in 1981. Stopped for gas in the middle of nowhere, and the owner of a little store with a single pump out front, an old man, said he was out of fuel. In my bad French I asked him where I could find some, and he said there’s none around.

Then he stopped, looked at me quizzically, and said, “Americain?”

When I told him yes, he smiled and greeted me warmly and filled the little tank for me. He said that he never serves Brits because when they marched through his town in formation during the war it was like a conquering army. The Americans walked through casually, handing out candy and cigarettes.

[This_Dude]

Always do. Usually at the ground. Same thing I do with my M92 and my CZs

[Rockingham]

Great story. As it happens, the Battle of the Bulge veteran I lived across the street from was a lifelong Floridian — except for his tour of Europe with the US Army during WW II.

[Rockingham]

I hope to visit the battlefields in Normandy and the Bulge in the next few years. I’ll make sure to include Carentan. There is a memorable episode in Band of Brothers about its capture.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Although surely there were many factors which determined WW2 assignments, I could see consideration being given to home climate, so that Floridians like your neighbor and SoCal natives like my fellow golfer might be sent to North Africa and the Pacific, and northerners to Europe.

[Political Junkie Too]

Why General McAuliffe Could Say “Nuts”

Because "Boobs" in combat wasn't A Thing back then?

-PJ

[laplata]

Some Rangers who were attached to the 101st for a while. Could that be who you were with?

[SunkenCiv]

These are casualties just for Bastogne (incl KIA but obviously mostly wounded, also shows tank losses), source was pointed out in a discussion page that turned up.

21-26 Dec 44	Bastogne	https://dupuyinstitute.org/pdf/v2n1.pdf
	Troops	Tanks	Losses	%day	Tanks	%day	CEV
US 101st AbnD	20,441	105	2,046	2.0	103	16.3	0.90
Ger XLVII Pz Corps	36,678	351	1,662	0.9	50	2.8	1.11

[laplata]

Thanks. The 101st didn’t have any tanks so those tanks must have been attached.

[SunkenCiv]

RM’s post says they had tanks from the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions. If memory serves, some high commander had pulled tanks out of Bastogne before the German offensive started.

Patton had probably the best G-2 guy, and he looked at the field intel and said, they’re getting staged for attack, not defense, too much getting accumulated. Everyone higher than Patton along with his peers didn’t see it.

Bradley even states in “A Soldier’s Story” that it didn’t look like anything, then said he still thought it was the right call. :^)

[laplata]

I think you’re right about pulling tanks out of Bastogne. I think they wanted to place them in a location to head off the Germans. It turned out they realized they should have left them around Bastogne but by that time it was too late.

Yes, it was Col. Koch. He was the best G-2 in the ETO.

Bradley was one of the most over-rated generals of WW II, imo.

BTW, I was in the 101st in Vietnam 27 years later.

[SunkenCiv]

I don’t dislike Bradley, I just think he was an example of The Peter Principle in action. He was great with logistics and by-the-book tactics, but owed his fourth star to the fact that, as senior to Patton, he’d have to go up a star, as Patton could scarcely be denied his fourth star after his masterpiece in the French theater. :^)

Neither Bradley nor Eisenhower fired a shot in WWI, when Patton was already commanding troops in the field. He thought a lot of both of them, but must have been frustrated with them a lot of the time.