The Battle of the Bulge was a Hail Mary pass by a führer who was quickly running out of options. Hitler desperately needed a decisive victory on either his Western or Eastern fronts. Remembering his series of victories after sneaking through the Ardennes forest in 1940, he went for a repeat in 1944.
On December 16, 1944, 200,000 German troops and 1,000 tanks attacked 80,000 Allied troops. Here are six things most people don't know about what happened next.
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1. Over 1 million men were involved in the battle.
The fighting started with an assault by 200,000 Germans against 80,000 Allied troops. But as George S. Patton's Third Army swung north to hit the German flank and other Allied units rushed to the aid of the defenders, 600,000 Allied soldiers pushed back the German force, which grew to 500,000 men.
2. The Allied troops who were attacked were primarily there to rest or train.
The Ardennes was used as a training ground for green units and a recovery area for those coming off the frontline. The Americans in the area were expected to quickly fall or retreat. Hitler's strategy depended on it.
Instead rookies became veterans overnight, and fatigued veterans dug deep to slow the German advance. Anti-tank teams targeted choke points in villages and mountain passes, creating flaming barricades of destroyed German armor that slowed the blitzkrieg to a crawl.
3. The famous “NUTS" response to a surrender request was basically bored paratroopers joking around.
One of the best-known responses to a surrender request took place during the battle. Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe responded with "N U T S" centered on a typewritten piece of paper.
McAuliffe had twice said, "Nuts," when briefed on the surrender request, first to his acting chief of staff who woke him and then to his headquarter staff. When it came time to draft the formal response, McAuliffe couldn't think of what to write. His men, who had found the "nuts" comments funny, urged him to just respond with those four letters.
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