Anthony McAuliffe General Anthony Clement " Nuts " McAuliffe ( July 2 , 1898 – August 11 , 1975 ) was the United States Army general who was the acting division commander of the 101st Airborne Division troops defending Bastogne , Belgium , during World War II ' s Battle of the Bulge . He is famous for his single - word reply of " Nuts ! " in response to a German surrender ultimatum . After the Battle of the Bulge , McAuliffe was given command of his own division , the 103rd Infantry Division , which he led from January 1945 to July 1945 , after the war in Europe ended . History . McAuliffe was born in Washington , D . C . , on July 2 , 1898 . He was a student at West Virginia University from 1916 to 1917 . McAuliffe was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon Social Fraternity while at West Virginia University . He enrolled at West Point in 1917 . McAuliffe was part of an accelerated program and graduated shortly after the end of World War I , in November 1918 . During this time period , he visited Europe for a short while and toured through several battlefields . Assigned to field artillery , he graduated from the Artillery School in 1920 . For the next 16 years , McAuliffe would carry out typical peacetime assignments . By 1935 , he had been promoted to the rank of captain . Afterwards , he was chosen to attend the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth . In June 1940 , McAuliffe graduated from the United States Army War College . Just before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941 , he was promoted yet again , temporarily becoming a lieutenant colonel with the Supply Division of the War Department General Staff . While in this position , McAuliffe supervised the development of such new technology as the bazooka and the jeep . He rose through the ranks to four - star general in 1955 . World War II . Brigadier General McAuliffe served as commander of a division artillery of the 101st Airborne Division when he parachuted into Normandy on D - Day and when he landed by glider in the Netherlands during Operation Market Garden . In December 1944 , when the German army launched the surprise Battle of the Bulge , Major General Maxwell D . Taylor , commander of the 101st Airborne Division , was away , attending a staff conference in the United States . In Taylor ' s absence , acting command of the 101st and its attached troops fell to McAuliffe . At Bastogne , the 101st was besieged by a far larger force of Germans under the command of General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz . On December 22 , 1944 , through a party consisting of a major , a lieutenant , and two enlisted men under a flag of truce that entered the American lines southeast of Bastogne ( occupied by Company F , 2nd Battalion , 327th Glider Infantry ) , General von Lüttwitz sent the following ultimatum to Gen . McAuliffe : According to various accounts from those present , when McAuliffe was given the German message , he read it , crumpled it into a ball , threw it in a wastepaper basket , and muttered , " Aw , nuts " . The officers in McAuliffe ' s command post were trying and failing to come up with suitable language for an official reply when Lt . Col . Harry Kinnard suggested that McAuliffe ' s first response summed up the situation pretty well , and the others agreed . The official reply was typed and delivered by Colonel Joseph Harper , commanding the 327th Glider Infantry , to the German delegation . It was as follows : To the German Commander . < br > < br > NUTS ! < br > < br > The American Commander The German major appeared confused and asked Harper what the message meant . Harper said , " In plain English ? Go to hell . " The choice of " Nuts ! " rather than something earthier was typical for McAuliffe . Vincent Vicari , his personal aide at the time , recalled that " General Mac was the only general I ever knew who did not use profane language . ' Nuts ' was part of his normal vocabulary . " The threat of artillery fire did not materialize , although several infantry and tank assaults were directed at the positions of the 327th Glider Infantry . In addition , the German Luftwaffe entered the attacks on the town , bombing it nightly . The 101st was able to hold off the Germans until the 4th Armored Division arrived on December 26 to provide reinforcement . For his actions at Bastogne , McAuliffe was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Patton on December 30 , 1944 , followed later by the Distinguished Service Medal . Immediately after Bastogne , McAuliffe assumed command of the 103rd Infantry Division on January 15 , 1945 , his first divisional command assignment , which he retained until July 1945 . Under McAuliffe , the 103d reached the Rhine Valley , 23 March , and engaged in mopping up operations in the plain west of the Rhine River . In April 1945 , it received occupational duties until 20 April when it resumed the offensive , pursuing a fleeing enemy through Stuttgart and taking Münsingen on 24 April . On 27 April , elements of the division entered Landsberg , where Kaufering concentration camp , a subcamp of Dachau , was liberated . The 103rd crossed the Danube River near Ulm on 26 April . On 3 May 1945 , the 103rd captured Innsbruck , Austria with little to no fighting . The 103d linked up with the 88th Infantry Division which had been fighting its way north , up the Italian peninsula at the Brenner Pass over the Italian / Austrian border . Post - war . Following the war , McAuliffe held many positions , including Chief Chemical Officer of the Army Chemical Corps , and G - 1 , Head of Army Personnel . He returned to Europe as Commander of the Seventh Army in 1953 , and Commander - in - Chief of the United States Army Europe in 1955 . While still in the service , McAuliffe attended the premiere of " Battleground " in Washington D . C . on November 9 , 1949 . The film did not depict McAuliffe directly , but did show a scene of the Germans presenting their surrender demands and their confusion on receiving McAuliffe ' s reply . Retirement . In 1956 , he retired from the Army . He worked for American Cyanamid Corporation from 1956 to 1963 as Vice President for Personnel . He began a program to teach employees to maintain contact with local politicians . The company now requires all branch managers to at least introduce themselves to local politicians . McAuliffe also served as chairman of the New York State Civil Defense Commission from 1960 to 1963 . Following his retirement from American Cyanamid in 1963 , he resided in Chevy Chase , Maryland , until his death on August 11 , 1975 , age 77 . He is buried along with his wife , son , and daughter in Arlington National Cemetery . Memorials . A southern extension of Route 33 in eastern Northampton County , Pennsylvania , completed in 2002 , was named the Gen . Anthony Clement McAuliffe 101st Airborne Memorial Highway . The new headquarters building for the 101st Airborne Division which opened in 2009 at Fort Campbell , Kentucky , is named McAuliffe Hall . One of the 149 rooms at the Thayer Hotel at West Point has been dedicated to General McAuliffe . The central square of Bastogne , Belgium , is named Place Général McAuliffe . A Sherman tank , pierced by an hole from a German 88mm shell , stands in one corner .