Wednesday 20 September 2023

In the city of Bastogene, in the Belgian province of Luxembourg

 During the battle, the 101st Commander, General Anthony Clement McAulifee received a demand for surrender from the German commander fighting the 101st which has become one of the most famous WWII quotes known to this day:

"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.... The German Commander."

+ General McAulifee sent the following in reply: "To the German Commander, 'Nuts!' The American Commander.”
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(in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes mountain range of Belgium.) Bastogne, a city and municipality of Wallonia has a lush, forested landscape that was ravaged by war during the famous Battle of the Bulge. During this time, German forces attacked American troops in hopes of regaining control of the Ardennes. After weeks of being under siege, the American soldiers were able to overcome the Germans, despite thousands of casualties.

+ Bastogne is found in the east of the province of Luxembourg. The city is 12 km (7.5 mi) from the Luxembourg border. Its altitude is 515 meters on the ridge line separating the catchment areas of the Rhine and Meuse. Liberated by the Allies on 10 September 1944, Bastogne was attacked by German forces a few months later. Hitler's plan was to split British from American forces, then advance to and reoccupy the strategic port of Antwerp and cut off the key Allied supply line.

+ On 16 December, taking advantage of cold and fog, German artillery initiated the Battle of the Bulge attacking the American divisions deployed sparsely around Bastogne. A few days later, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe and the 101st Airborne Division along with elements of the 10th Armored Division and the 82nd Airborne Division, arrived to counter-attack but, after heavy fighting, became encircled within the town. On 22 December German emissaries asked for the American surrender, to which the General answered tersely, “Nuts!” The next day the skies cleared, allowing Allied air forces to retaliate and to drop much needed food, medicine, and weaponry to ground forces. On 26 December the Third U.S. Army, under the command of General Patton, arrived and broke the siege. (The official end of the Battle of Bastogne occurred three weeks later, when all fighting in the area ceased.)

+ A definitive account of the Battle of the Bulge is available in the Bastogne War Museum on the grounds of the Mardasson Memorial. Like the memorial, this museum, which opened in 2014 on the site of the former Bastogne Historical Center, is in the shape of a five-pointed American star. The War Museum is a multilingual attraction, in French, Dutch, English and German, and presents an enthralling 30-minute film about the Ardennes Offensive in the winter of 1944-45. The events around Bastogne in December 1944 have been made even more famous by HBO’s 2001 miniseries "Band of Brothers."



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