To The German Commander: Nuts – The Siege of Bastogne

by Joris Nieuwint -

The Ardennes Offensive was a last ditch attempt by the German army to halt the Allied advance across western Europe.  The plan called for a surprise attack and a swiftly moving advance encompassing mechanized forces that would brush aside enemy resistance and which had, as its end goal, the harbor city of Antwerp in Belgium.

The town of Bastogne, straddling as it did the point of convergence of all the main roads upon which the advance of the German armour depended on, was to become the scene of one of the most heroically endured sieges of modern times.
The German army sprung its surprise counterattack upon the Allies at 5.30 am on the morning of the 16^th December 1944.  Overly confident and lacking in aerial reconnaissance reports, the Allies were taken completely unawares.

Two soldiers of US 101st Airborne Division manning a forward post near a road, near Bastogne, Belgium, 23 Dec 1944

Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, soon realized the importance of Bastogne to the overall success of the German offensive and dispatched the 10^th Armoured Division and the 101^st Airborne Division to the city. These reinforcements arrived on the 18^th December, a mere day before the arrival of the first German units.
When the Panzer Lehr Division reached the city the next day, an assault was immediately launched upon the defenders of Bastogne.  This initial attack was repulsed, and the German forces engaged in an encircling movement that completely enveloped the city, trapping the American troops within a 6-mile enclave.  German reinforcements and material poured into the occupied area.
To all intents and purposes, the defenders at Bastogne were completely isolated, cut off by German forces that now occupied all of the seven roads leading into Bastogne as well as by the foul winter weather that made a tactical relief effort impossible.

Bastogne Map December 19-23 1944

Realising the desperate situation in which the enemy found itself the besieging forces, on December 22nd, offered an honourable surrender to the American commander, Brigadier General Anthony MaCauliffe, in the hope of sparing American lives.
To their amazement the outnumbered and outgunned McAuliffe responded with a terse “To the German Commander: Nuts.”
Rebuffed by MaCauliffe, the Luftwaffe bombed Bastogne in an attempt to soften up the defense before the main German assault.  The XLVII Panzer Corps then swung into action and advanced upon several key locations.   Eighteen German tanks, supported by infantry, broke through the American defenses and managed to penetrate as far as the American command post at Hemroulle.