United States Army general (1898–1975) who commanded the force defending Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. He was famous for his brief reply to a German surrender ultimatum: “Nuts!” At the sixtieth anniversary of the battle, a veteran claimed to the press that McAuliffe never uttered that exact word, but that the newspapers had found his actual phrasing too strong, and toned it down for their dispatches home. Souvenir typescript, signed in ballpoint “A. C. McAuliffe,” one page on a sheet of imitation parchment, 9.5 x 13, December 24, 1944. A Christmas message from the Headquarters, 101st Airborne Division. In part: “What’s so 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 of 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….” The typescript goes on to relate the circumstances behind McAuliffe’s famous quotation: “[The German] Commander demanded our surrender in the following impudent arrogance…. ‘There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. Troop 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 German commander received the following reply: ‘To the German Commander: NUTS!’….” A few small edge tears and creases, otherwise fine condition. RRAuction COA.
