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Bastogne: Battle of the Bulge
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Bastogne: Battle of the Bulge

by Andrew Curry

Battle of the Bulge

Rookie GIs in other spots were able to stand up to the German panzers.

But rookie GIs in other spots were able to stand up to the German panzers, slowing the blitz. The 101st Airborne Division, who had been fighting almost continuously since D-Day, were trucked into the town of Bastogne just before it was surrounded by German forces. Bastogne was vital: it sat on the intersection of a dozen roads that could give anyone who held it control over the whole area. Cut off from reinforcements, ammunition and food supplies, the 101st was in a tough spot.

But when the Germans asked the 101st's commander to surrender the town, he sent a handwritten one-word note back. It read "NUTS." Surrounded on all sides, the 101st fought for four more days in below-freezing temperatures until American tanks broke through the German lines. (Bastogne is nicknamed "Nuts City" to this day.) Though the Battle of the Bulge lasted another month, the German momentum was broken.

Continuing reading about the Battle of the Bulge with On to Berlin.