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This great Nation & Its People War

79 years ago …. The man who said “Nuts!”

General Anthony McAuliffe
General Anthony McAuliffe sometime in or after 1955
(Photo: U.S. Army)
Military commanders have provided us with many quotable lines over the centuries and millennia of warfare, but it’s still hard to find men among them who are intrinsically connected to a single, widely and immediately recognized pithy phrase. “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!” by Admiral David Farragut; “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard dies for his” by General George Patton; these phrases capture the martial spirit of the men who uttered them, but even they pale in comparison to single most laconic and defiant quote of World War II: General Anthony McAuliffe’s “Nuts!” Today’s article is about the career of Anthony McAuliffe, who led the defense of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Anthony Clement McAuliffe (1898-1975) was born in Washington, D.C. to a government employee father and quickly turned toward a career in service of his country. He was admitted to West Virginia University in 1916, but America’s entry into World War I on April 1, 1917, prompted him to switch over to the War Emergency Course offered at West Point. He finished the accelerated program in November 1918, just after the war ended. He managed to stay in the Army despite the large downsizing that followed the war, graduating as a field artillery officer in 1920, and spending the next 16 years at various peacetime postings, including two stints on Oahu in Hawaii. His background placed him on tracks toward artillery operations and staff work, but McAuliffe really wanted to command combat troops, so he attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.
McAuliffe as a West Point cadet
(Photo: The Howitzer)
For the time being, however, he had to stay in staff positions, and he was appointed to a study group examining race relations in the Army. The group recommended racial integration within the Army, a position McAuliffe continued to hold throughout his career, and would later be in a position to do something about.

In 1941, shortly before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, McAuliffe was posted to the Supply Division of the War Department General Staff as a temporary lieutenant colonel. At this post, he supervised the development of various pieces of military equipment, including the bazooka (Read our earlier article) and the jeep (Read our earlier article). McAuliffe finally got his chance for a combat posting in 1942, when he was promoted to colonel and placed in command of the artillery elements of a newly formed unit, the 101st Airborne Division. (Read our earlier article)
General William C. Lee, the first commander of the 101st Airborne, reviewing the unit in 1942
(Photo: Roberston Collection)
The 101st was specifically created to participate in the Normandy landings, but the long buildup for Operation Overlord meant they only got to see action for the first time in the summer of 1944. McAuliffe, a brigadier general by the time, jumped with his men into German-held territory on the chaotic night of June 6. (Read our earlier article) Confident in the ability of the 101st to achieve victory, he handed out signed 100-franc notes before boarding the planes in England so that the men could invite each other to celebratory drinks later.
A soldier of the 101st Airborne Division boarding a C-47 for the flight to Normandy
(Photo: U.S. Army)
His optimism initially seemed somewhat unfounded, as he landed three miles from the intended drop zone. To make things worse, McAuliffe’s direct superior, General Don F. Pratt, died on D-Day as he was coming in aboard a glider. The glider made contact with the ground, but landed on wet tall grass which caused it to skid out of the landing zone and into a hedgerow of poplar trees. Pratt, sitting in his jeep tethered inside the glider, died from a broken neck caused by whiplash; the copilot was impaled and killed by a branch, and the pilot suffered severe injuries with both legs broken. McAuliffe quickly assumed Pratt’s position and organized the capture and defense of two strategically important locations: a bridge over the Vire River, and the village of Pouppeville; in the following days, he also led a successful attack on Carentan.

McAuliffe next led his men into battle in September 1944, in the ill-fated Operation Market Garden, (Read our earlier article) where he landed alongside his troops in a glider. The operation was a failure (euphemistically dubbed “a 90% success” at the time), but the 101st, led by General Maxwell Taylor (Read our earlier article), managed to make it back to friendly lines.

McAuliffe giving last-minute instructions to his men before departing from England on D-Day+1 day during Operation Market Garden
(Photo: U.S. Air Force)
McAuliffe’s finest hour came in the winter of 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge. The 101st was posted to the Ardennes Forest to rest and recover after taking heavy losses in Market Garden. The area was believed to be quiet and safe, as the poor road network in the heavily forest region was believed unsuitable for armored advances, and thus safe form any German counterattacks.

Naturally, this belief turned out to be entirely wrong when Hitler launched Operation Wacht am Rhein (“Watch on the Rhine”), his last major counterattack on the Western Front, directly through the Ardennes. The road and railway hub town of Bastogne suddenly became a vital point in the war: if the Germans managed to capture it, they could use it to move their troops through the forests much more quickly.

Elements from the 101st Airborne, the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion and 755th Field Artillery Battalion were rushed to Bastogne to defend it. Maxwell Taylor, the commanding officer of the 101st, was in the United States on a conference, so McAuliffe, normally only in charge of the division’s artillery, had to step up to the plate and command the defense effort.
McAuliffe (center) and two other officers holding Bastogne’s town sign
(Photo: U.S. Army)
The details of the desperate battle for Bastogne, and its importance in the larger Battle of the Bulge unfolding around it, are beyond the scope of this article. It should suffice to say that McAuliffe achieved historic greatness in the besieged Belgian town, not only with his tenacious defense, but also with his spirited, now iconic reply to a German demand for surrender with a single word: NUTS! (A detailed description of the event can be read in one of our earlier articles here) One little-known detail of the event was that McAuliffe was checking on his wounded men earlier in the day, before the German messengers showed up. One man rose from his litter, saying “Don’t give up on account of us, General Mac!” McAuliffe quickly assured him that he wouldn’t – and kept his word a few hours later.
McAuliffe and his staff having Christmas dinner in Bastogne during the battle
(Photo: U.S. Army)
The famous reply was first uttered, then put in writing, on December 22, and it didn’t take long for the story to take wing. A news dispatch sent on the same day and appearing in American newspapers on the 26th reported: “When a German carrying a white flag came forward with the demand for surrender, he gave the American commander a false report that three towns far to the west were in German hands. The American commander sent him right back with “no” for an answer.”

The actual word used instead of “no” became publicly know two days later with another news item: “The heroic American garrison pointed artillery, machine guns and mortars in all directions after their commander sent a curt one-word reply — “Nuts!” — to the Germans’ surrender ultimatum.” McAuliffe’s identity as the commander who sent the message only became known another two days later.

Interestingly, the German messengers weren’t the only people confused by the meaning of the famous reply. The French press agency also had a problem interpreting the slang phrase, and eventually (and incorrectly) settled on it being short for “Vous n’etes que de vieilles noix” – “You are nothing but old nuts.”
A humorous postcard commemorating McAuliffe’s famous reply
(Image: contemporary postcard)
Once the defenders of Bastogne were relieved, McAuliffe was quickly awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Patton (Read our earlier article), and was promoted to major general and given command of the 103rd Infantry Division. The division and McAuliffe spent the rest of the war mopping up German resistance along the west shore of the Rhine, advancing into Germany and Austria, and capturing the Brenner Pass across the Alps, finally allowing Allied troops in Italy and the rest of Europe to link up.
Patton decorating McAuliffe with the Distinguished Service Cross
(Photo: U.S. Army)
McAuliffe held many positions in the decade after World War II, and was promoted to four-star general in 1955. In that decade, he was, among other things, the Chief Chemical Officer of the Army Chemical Corps, Head of Army Personnel, and Army Secretary of the Joint Research and Development Board.  In 1946, he was also the Army Ground Forces advisor to Operation Crossroads, the above-ground atomic bomb test at the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. From 1949 onward, he returned to field commands, first in occupied Japan, and later in Europe.
The Baker event during Operation Crossroads
(Photo: U.S. Army Photographic Signal Corps)
At the beginning of the 50s, McAuliffe returned to a cause he had already served once earlier in his career, and which would become the achievement he was the proudest of: the desegregation of the Army. Most African-American soldiers were in transport and service units during World War II; African-American combat units did exist, but were segregated from white units. This segregation remained into the Korean War. During a 1950 review of the policy, McAuliffe recommended that black soldiers remain in segregated units, not because of any lack of combat capability, but because of the racist attitudes in the rest of the Army. Instead, he proposed the creation of more black units, as the already existing ones were overstaffed.

By 1951, however, the changing situation in Korea already forced the racial integration of several combat units to solve manpower shortages. These units suffered no serious morale problems or loss of combat capability, so McAuliffe revised his previous opinion and recommended full integration throughout the Army.

By the end of 1951, he ordered all Far East commands to prepare and submit integration plans, and did the same to European commands the next year. The Army’s desegregation ended up taking some time, but it did manage to become one of the most integrated organization in 1970s American society.
A desegregated unit in Korea
(Photo: National Archives)
McAuliffe retired from the Army in 1956. He put his knowledge of chemical warfare to good use in civilian life and took a position on the board of directors of a chemicals company. He also acted as chairman of the New York State Civil Defense Commission from 1960 to 1963. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The central square of the town of Bastogne is now called Place Général McAuliffe and has a bust of McAuliffe and a Sherman tank pierced by a German 88mm shell standing in one of its corners.

The bust of McAuliffe and the damaged Sherman tank at McAuliffe Square in Bastogne (Photo: Author’s own)
Soldiers decorate a Christmas tree in Germany, December 1944
(Photo: U.S. Army)
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GUN REVIEW: COLT DETECTIVE SPECIAL REVOLVER IN .38 SPL by Francis Borek

This old pony is still going strong. (Photo: Francis Borek)

At SHOT Show 2016, Kimber USA stole the headlines with the introduction of their K6s revolver. Personally, when I heard the murmurs that Kimber was planning to release a revolver, I was hoping they would be releasing clones of the old Colt revolvers such as the Python and Trooper.

Not to be outdone however, only 12 months later, the firearms world was sent into a frenzy when a photo of an alleged magazine advertisement for a new Colt revolver was leaked to social media. Only a few days later, on January 1, did Colt confirm it was true. Colt was back in the double action revolver world.

The new revolver was the talk of the town during SHOT Show 2017 and they dug up the old ‘Cobra’ name, leading many to suspect that the other — more famous — snake guns were on the way.


Six shots might not be much, but it’s better than nothing. (Photo: Francis Borek)

The funny thing about the new Cobra is that it really isn’t a Cobra. The original Colt Cobra had an aluminum frame to make it an ultra lightweight carry piece. Though the new Cobra is a carry piece, it is made entirely of stainless steel. Colt instead took their inspiration for the new Cobra from one of the earliest modern snub nosed revolvers — the Detective Special.

BACKGROUND

When it was introduced in 1927, Colt’s standard service revolvers were the Army Special, Police Positive Special, and Official Police. Realizing there was a need for a more easily concealed revolver than these 4- and 6-inch revolvers, they began production of a snub nose model.

This was intended for detectives and plainclothes officers who required an easily concealed weapon and, to appeal to their target demographic, Colt named their new revolver the Detective Special.

Snub noses are a double edged sword. Easier to conceal, but a loss in velocity. (Photo: Francis Borek)

The Detective Special proved to be an instant success as it was one of the earliest factory snub nosed revolvers with a swing out cylinder.  It gave rise to the Banker’s Special — obviously named because stuffy old bankers couldn’t handle the monstrous recoil of the .38 Special in such a small package. These guns were chambered in the far more tamer .38 Colt New Police (.38 S&W), and .22 LR. The DS also gave rise to the Commando Special with a matte finish and rubber grips; this came along with the alloy framed Cobra. For those hoping for a special variant made for World War Two, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but DS production was suspended during the war.

The two preferred revolvers of the Royal Hong Kong Police. (Photo: Francis Borek)

Though popular in the United States, the DS served around the world with law enforcement agencies. The Japanese military bought many along with several international larger police agencies and those that couldn’t afford the Colt instead bought a clone produced by Miroku. These were eventually replaced by a licensed SIG P220 from Minebea, though I’m willing to bet there are still quite a few over there gathering dust in the corners of armories. The Royal Hong Kong Police also purchased several, and they served alongside their S&W Model 10s. Even the French gave their stamp of approval, and issued them to customs agents and border guards.

TO KNOW BEFORE BUYING

So with such a history, does the handling match up to the hype? Well, yes. If you can accept a few things.

First off, you only have six rounds. You can carry more with speedloaders or speedstrips, but stirctly speaking you only have six. You are giving up capacity for it’s small size, but realize not everyone is in the mood to carry a full size service handgun everyday. Many have jobs where it is quite imperative to carry something as unobtrusive as possible, so a small revolver works perfectly.

Original Colt grips can be quite expensive on auction sites. (Photo: Francis Borek)

Second, the short barrel length tends to work against velocity. This means pick your ammunition carefully. Colt discourages the use of +P ammunition in their older revolvers and remember that by the time you pick up an old DS you have no idea how much ammo has gone through it. Luckily, the large ammunition companies have developed snub nosed specific loadings, designed to minimize stress and muzzle flash. They also have a better chance to expand.

HANDLING

Shooting the Detective Special isn’t the most pleasant of experiences. Despite the eye-catching bluing and walnut grips (typical of old school Colts), the shooting doesn’t match up. Yes, the trigger is very nice and smooth in double action. Thumbing the hammer back is smoother than most slicked up S&Ws and Rugers. And the single action trigger is absolutely lovely.

Pull to release the cylinder. Some like it, some don’t. (Photo: Francis Borek)

The biggest limiting factor is also the primary reason for its existence. The short barrel intensifies recoil. If you’re not careful, your knuckles will smack the rear of the trigger guard. And just to make things more interesting, the sights were regulated for the heavier 158 gr slug instead of today’s more common 130 grain slug. That means you’ll have to adjust your aim if you’re using ammo lighter than 158 grain.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Detective Special is an old gun, yet it still manages to keep up in this world of wonder pocket pistols due to the demand for small and reliable pistols. I think Colt did make the right choice in resurrecting the DS for their re-entry into the double action revolver market. Yes, we all wanted them to bring back the Python. But the Python is expensive (these days) for a reason. Colt will be able to sell far more of these new revolvers if they’re meant more as a carry piece than a range toy.

Easy to conceal and carry, the Detective Special was the go to carry piece for decades. (Photo: Francis Borek)

The old Detective Special can still be found in used gun cases and prices vary wildly. This one was purchased for $500 before tax and transfer fees. Not a bad price for a reliable, old and collectible little gun.

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Smith & Wesson Lemon Squeezer Hammerless Top Break Grip Safety 38 S&W C&R Okay .38 S&W - Picture 2
Smith & Wesson Lemon Squeezer Hammerless Top Break Grip Safety 38 S&W C&R Okay .38 S&W - Picture 3
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