THE STORY OF “NUTS!”

Bastogne, Belgium was surrounded on Dec. 22, 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans had made it a priority to be taken. At 11:30 AM, a group of four Germans approached an American outpost under a white flag. One of them was Maj. Wagner from Gen. von Luttwitz’s 47^th Panzer Corps. The Americans were from the 327th Glider Regiment of the 101^st Airborne Division. Staff Sergeant Carl Dickinson came out to meet the Germans. They wanted to talk to his commanding officer. Wagner and Lt. Hellmuth Henke, who spoke English, were blindfolded and taken to the F Company command post. Their written message was passed up the line eventually  reaching the commander of the 101^st, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe. McAuliffe asked if the Germans were surrendering. He was told that the Germans demanded he surrender. The note warned that the Germans had received reinforcements that made the American situation hopeless. “There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.” The message then threatened an annihilating artillery bombardment if the answer was no.

An angry McAuliffe balled up the message and threw it in a trashcan saying, “Aw, nuts! We are not surrendering, gentlemen. Now, the question is, how do we articulate that to the German commander?” Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard suggested, “That remark of yours would be hard to beat.” So, the word “Nuts!” was written at the bottom of the message. When the blindfolded Germans asked whether the answer was yes or no, they were told, “The reply consists of a single word – nuts!”  “Is that yes or no?” asked the confused Henke. “The reply is decidedly not affirmative. If you continue with this foolish attack, your losses will be tremendous….If you continue attacking, we will kill every Goddamn German that tries to break into this city.” That was a bit of bravado as the Americans were certainly in a bad situation at that time. Ironically, the Germans were also not in a position to back up their threat.  When Wagner and Henke returned to the outpost, they were still confused as to the American response. Henke knew English but not American slang. Col. Bud Harper explained that it meant “Go take a flying s***!” Private Ernest Premetz, a medic who spoke German, cleaned it up by translating nuts as meaning “Go to hell”. The Germans understood that phrase.

When Luttwitz’s commanding officer learned of the exchange, he was angry because he knew they did not have the artillery to back up the threat and this would make the Germans look foolish. What Gen. Manteuffel did not realize was that the simple word “Nuts!” would boost American morale as the story quickly spread through the American line. That one word became one of the most famous quotes in the war and made Anthony McAuliffe famous.