Ukrainian Soldiers Recreate 19th Century Painting in Defiance of Russia

There is just something about defiance in the face of overwhelming odds that live on in legend long after the event has passed.

In the dark winter months of December 1944, the German army laid siege to the provincial Belgian town of Bastogne — defending the town were American paratroopers from the famed 101st Airborne Division, my old unit. They were surrounded.

On December 22, two German officers approached the American perimeter and demanded to speak with the U.S. commanding officer.

Their mission was to hand a two-page typed letter offering favorable terms to the Americans if U.S. forces surrendered. “After all,” the letter read, “the only possibility to save the encircled U.S.A troops from total annihilation is the honorable surrender of the encircled town.”

At the time, the 101st Airborne was led by Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe.

When he was handed the German’s demand letter, he skimmed it, and then asked his aides, “They want to surrender?”

They told him, “No sir, they want us to surrender.”

At which point, Gen. McAuliffe composed a one-word reply to the Germans: “Nuts!”

“Nuts” might not seem too offensive to us today, but in the 1940s, it was the equivalent of saying “F*ck off!” In fact, the word “nuts” was forbidden from appearing in the scripts of Hollywood movies of the time.