Surrender...Part II

The entire country needs to know the following story. Pass it on to any friends you may have who don't know this tale.

In December of 1944, the German's made what amounted to their final desperate push to try and stem the tide of the war in their favor. General Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division in to secure the town of Bastogne. What ensued is forever etched in history as "The Battle of the Bulge".

The 101st was completely surrounded by 6 Panzer tank divisions, was a 100,000 man force with just rifles and a small amount of mortars, both useless against Panzer tanks. The forest where the 101st was encircled was called the Ardennes, and the snow was a foot deep and the temperatures hovered around 20 degrees. They had no winter clothing, no winter boots, and soon had no ammunition. Air drops with supplies could not get through because of the weather.

Hopeless, desperate, hungry, freezing, and dying by the dozens in hourly artillery attacks, the 101st commander, Major General Anthony McAliffe, was delivered a written request for surrender by the German commander. General McAliffe immediately sent the German Commander a reply, in writing as well.

"NUTS" is what he said.

When delivered to the Germans by an American Colonel named Harper, the German's asked what "nuts" meant. Colonel Harper calmly explained it was an American's way of saying "Go to hell". The German's once again asked Col. Harper for his surrender, and Harper said, "If you insist on your foolish attack, we will be forced to kill all of you." He then went back to his headquarters, leaving a stunned and silent German delegation behind.

Post Script

The 101st held Bastogne, and eventually went on the attack themselves - still armed with only rifles, but a fresh load of ammunition had finally gotten through the drop zone. 19,000 men died in that forest. An additional 48,000 suffered loss of limb, blindness, deafness, and any of a dozen different afflictions from the artillery and the cold.

But they never surrendered.

Yesterday, the Iraq commission recommended what basically amounts to a surrender to Iraqi insurgents who we're actually not losing to. What would General McAliffe and his brave men say to James Baker, Sandra Day O'Connor, Leon Panetta, and the others on the panel if they were here today? I do believe they just might say....


"NUTS"