Original Item. Only One Available. In December of 1944, Allied forces were surprised by a massive German offensive through the Ardennes Forrest that created a "bulge" in the Allied lines in what would become known as the "Battle of the Bulge." The 101st Airborne Division of the United States Armed Forces was holed up in Bastogne while German armored divisions encircled the town. Outnumbered, outgunned, and running out of food, ammunition, and medical supplies, the embattled assistant division commander, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe, faced bleak prospects.

On December 22, the American troops were sent an ultimatum from the German forces outside of the town, demanding "The honorable surrender" of the town within two hours. General McAuliffe reply was brief and succinct: "NUTS!" Having made their position clear, the Americans dug in and waited for the attack. Contrary to German expectations, the 101st held out and reinforcements arrived in the form of the U.S. Army's 4th Armored Division. The Battle of the Bulge continued for several more weeks, with thousands of casualties on both sides, but by the end of January 1945, the Allies had retaken all the territory lost to the Germans and were headed toward Berlin.

This is an extraordinarily scarce example of the third version of the “NUTS” Christmas 1944 letter. There were four known versions of the letter, the first being typed on the 101st Airborne Division’s typewriter, which was badly misaligned, leaving all capital letters a little higher than the lowercase. It was run on the Division’s Ditto machine so that copies have a light purple ink, and has McAuliffe’s signature.

The second version of the letter had the same misalignment of the uppercase letters, but is marked “/s/ A.C. McAULIFFE” above “/t/ McAULIFFE, Commanding” instead of being signed by McAuliffe.

There was a third version, typed on a different typewriter, which does not show any significant misalignment of the upper case letters, and was run off of a machine that used black ink, perhaps a Mimeograph machine. This example is a Third Version, with the typed signature and no misalignment of the uppercase letters. This example comes with printed copies of several versions of the letter, and a few pages of research on the different versions.

The letter measures roughly 8 x 13” and is in great shape with heavy staining and minor tearing to the edges. The ink is very well-retained, and this example should absolutely be professionally framed with museum glass.

A fantastic example of one of the most sought after pieces of 101st Airborne Ephemera. Comes ready for further research and display!

Transcript of “NUTS!” — Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe’s 1944 Christmas Letter

MERRY CHRISTMAS

HEADQUARTERS 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION
Office of the Division Commander

24 December 1944

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 imprudent arrogance:

December 22nd 1944

“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: 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.

If this proposal should be rejected the German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U. S. A. Troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hour’s term.

All the serious civilian losses caused by this Artillery fire would not correspond with the well known American humanity.

The German Commander”

The German Commander received the following reply:

22 December 1944

“To the German Commander:

N U T S !

The American Commander”

Allied Troops are counterattacking in force. We continue to hold Bastogne. By holding Bastogne we assure the success of the Allied Armies. We know that our Division Commander, General Taylor, will say: “Well Done!”

We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.

/s/ A. C. McAULIFFE
/t/ McAULIFFE
Commanding.