Read The Letter General Anthony McAuliffe Sent Exhausted, Surrounded Men At The Battle Of The Bulge

Editor’s Note: This article was previously published on December 24, 2023. We’re bringing it back. * * * Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe and his men - many from the 101st Airborne Division, along with some stragglers from Pennsylvania’s 28th Infantry Division (known as “The Bloody Bucket”) and the 9th Armored “Phantom” Division - spent Christmas of 1944 in the Belgian city of Bastogne, surrounded by an ever-encroaching enemy and greatly outnumbered. On December 22, the German commander sent word to McAuliffe, informing him that he and his troops were surrounded and demanding that they surrender. He warned the American general that if he did not surrender, the attack would be swift and merciless - and he promised that the inevitable civilian casualties would be blamed on the Americans. McAuliffe responded to the German threat with just one word: “Nuts!” And, as promised, the German army began to tighten its grip on Bastogne . Machine-gun fire and approaching tanks met any American soldier who approached the perimeter, and Junkers Ju 88 bombers flew over the city as visibility allowed. The Germans also blanketed the area with pamphlets promising relief from the hunger and frigid conditions to anyone who surrendered. And so it was that on Christmas Eve, McAuliffe sent a letter to rally his troops: 75 years ago this Christmas Eve, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe wrote this letter to his troops during the Battle of the Bulge. Today we remember the service members who served during the holidays both then and now and wish you a Merry Christmas! #NoVeteranEverDies pic.twitter.com/VuYyhYqqVj - National Cemeteries (@VANatCemeteries) December 24, 2019 McAuliffe’s letter began with the heading “Merry Christmas”: What’s Merry about all this, you ask? We’re fighting - it’s cold, we aren’t home. All true but what has the proud Eagle Division accomplished with its worthy comrades the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and all the rest? Just this: We have stopped cold everything that has been thrown at us from the North, East, South and West. We have identifications from four German Panzer Divisions, two German Infantry Divisions and one German Parachute Division. These units, spearheading the last desperate German lunge, were headed straight west for key points when the Eagle Division was hurriedly ordered to stem the advance. How effectively this was done will be written in history; not alone in our Division’s glorious history but in World history. The Germans actually did surround us, their radios blared our doom. Their Commander demanded our surrender in the following impudent arrogance: 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 Hompres-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands. There is only one possibility to save the encircled U. S. A. Troops from total annihilation:...

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