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December 22, 2006

On This Day in 1944

...they weren't talking about warnings on Christmas cookies.

...On December 21, Bastogne was isolated. The Germans' encirclement was complete. Panzer Lehr blocked Bastogne on the south, and the 2nd Panzer on north. Some elements of Panzer Lehr remained with the 26th VGD in order to take Bastogne. U.S. Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, in temporary command of Bastogne, placed the four regiments of the 101st Airborne on the perimeter.

He kept Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division in reserve in Bastogne. A force made up of elements
of the 9th and the 28th Divisions (Team Snafu) constituted a reserve of 600 men, from which the units on the line would be able to draw according to their needs.

At 11:30 a.m. December 22, four German soldiers - two officers and two enlisted men - under a white flag delivered a note to three American soldiers. The note demanded the "honorable surrender" of Bastogne. McAuliffe, reading the message, laughed and murmured, "Aw, nuts!" As the general wondered how to answer, his aide Lt. Colonel Harry W. O. Kinnard suggested: "That first remark of yours would be hard to beat." So McAuliffe sent the Germans a one-word reply in writing, and...

"Nuts"
...became legend.

German 1st Lieutenant Hellmuth Henke asked the Americans whether "Nuts" was a negative or affimative answer. "The reply is decidedly not affirmative," Colonel Joseph H. Harper of the 327th Infantry said, and he added a few minutes later, "If you don't understand what 'Nuts' means in plain English, it is the same as 'Go to Hell.' "


Earlier in the month, on December 8th, someone wrote a little prayer that General Patton took a real shine to. A weather prayer. But the Old Man was concerned that there wasn't enough human force driving it, so he issued Training Letter Five and prayer cards to the entire Third Army, with this admonition to his chaplains:
..."Urge all of your men to pray, not alone in church, but everywhere. Pray when driving. Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle. Pray for the defeat of our wicked enemy whose banner is injustice and whose good is oppression. Pray for victory. Pray for our Army, and Pray for Peace.

"We must march together, all out for God. The soldier who 'cracks up' does not need sympathy or comfort as much as he needs strength. We are not trying to make the best of these days. It is our job to make the most of them. Now is not the time to follow God from 'afar off.' This Army needs the assurance and the faith that God is with us. With prayer, we cannot fail.

"Be assured that this message on prayer has the approval, the encouragement, and the enthusiastic support of the Third United States Army Commander.

"With every good wish to each of you for a very Happy Christmas, and my personal congratulations for your splendid and courageous work since landing on the beach, I am," etc., etc., signed The Third Army Commander.


Things seem to change when they all got with the program.
...As General Patton rushed his divisions north from the Saar Valley to the relief of the beleaguered Bastogne, the prayer was answered. On December 20, to the consternation of the Germans and the delight of the American forecasters who were equally surprised at the turn-about-the rains and the fogs ceased. For the better part of a week came bright clear skies and perfect flying weather. Our planes came over by tens, hundreds, and thousands. They knocked out hundreds of tanks, killed thousands of enemy troops in the Bastogne salient, and harried the enemy as he valiantly tried to bring up reinforcements. The 101st Airborne, with the 4th, 9th, and 10th Armored Divisions, which saved Bastogne, and other divisions which assisted so valiantly in driving the Germans home, will testify to the great support rendered by our air forces. General Patton prayed for fair weather for Battle. He got it.

It was late in January of 1945 when I saw the Army Commander again. This was in the city of Luxembourg. He stood directly in front of me, smiled: "Well, Padre, our prayers worked. I knew they would." Then he cracked me on the side of my steel helmet with his riding crop. That was his way of saying, "Well done."


I love that story. LOVE it. And they relieved General McAuliffe and the brave men holding on to Bastogne by their fingernails.
...[Dec 26]General Maxwell Taylor arrived with the first vehicles of the 4th Armored Division. Taylor, who had been on leave in the United States, took a plane back to Europe when he learned of the German attack in the Ardennes.

McAuliffe transfered command of Bastogne to Taylor with a somewhat humorous certificate indicating the place was in good condition and disinfected of "Krauts." From December 27 to December 29, the German attacks were stopped.

I know you've all seen the movie and will have noticed the time line is a bit out of whack with actual events, but it really doesn't change the power of the words Msgr. O'Neill typed on his 3" by 5" card that evening 62 years ago.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.

Posted by tree hugging sister at December 22, 2006 09:52 AM

Comments

I don't know whether to weep at the beauty of it, or at the image of General George S Patton (the ol' sumbitz hisself) humbly beseeching his soldiers to humbly beseech God, or at the thought that today it all would be considered government establishment of religion and kiboshed before the card got out of the monsignor's mailbox.

I think that the whole panties in a wad thing about prayer and the decided lack of officers of Patton's caliber are symptoms of the same lack of huevos. We're afraid to love our country or our God or anything else larger or greater than ourselves. We're scolded for it. "How dare you put yourselves forward like that!" we're told. "That's insensitive." But what we're really doing is putting HIM forward, or Uncle Sam, or our principles. In fact, it's an act of humility and service.

Without it we are souls out of context, and having given away every better impulse that could inspire us, we find (not surprisingly) that there's no point in bothering about the condition of our lives or our country. We can't be troubled to take responsibility for ourselves because there's no-one we're responsible to; nothing is our fault, since we're slaves to our tendencies, syndromes, and disorders. We don't think our country is defensible (in word or deed) because we think ourselves too good for it (since nothing's our fault, remember). It never occurs to us that, if that were true, we ought therefore to improve the country - because we've lost both the standard that would motivate us and the work ethic that would accomplish the goal.

It's sickening that the grandchildren of those who saved the world could be so thoroughly routed from within in such a short time. About the only thing they have right is "the tyranny of society" being at fault - never realizing that they are themselves the tyrants at the head of that society, and that their gooey, muddled thinking has us all sinking like a mammoth in tar.

I am going to print General Patton's directive and follow it every day for the rest of this year, and as far into the next as I can - one day at a time. If it can work for the weather it can also work for the mental atmosphere - Lord, dispel the fogs, lift the thickening gloom, and cast your sun; grant us clear weather to see and to fight.

And Merry Christmas anyway.

Posted by: Nightfly at December 22, 2006 10:34 AM

I'm a die-hard atheist, and a staunch supporter of separating church and state, but I can't think of a single good reason to deprive warriors from worshipping or praying, even publicly, so long as no one is forced to agree with those worshipping.

We're asking young men to do very dangerous things, risking their lives and limbs. There are many motivations people have for doing this, and I have my own, but many of these young people do so in support of their religious ideologies. Their support of the military mission is based firmly on these beliefs and to deprive them of that worship, even by failing to subsidize priests and rabbis, would devastate our military effectiveness.

Some things are not strictly right nor just, but they work. Besides, who's it going to hurt? If Patton can use a prayer to keep his men focused on exploiting the weather as soon as it cleared, then more power to him. It's all about winning, something we seem to pay little attention to nowadays.

Posted by: Mike Rentner at December 22, 2006 12:56 PM

That was beautiful, Diptera. And you're right, Mike. Even those who have no 'God' in their lives know right and wrong and higher purpose. And I believe the General's words speak to that fight against the forces of darkness and evil. I wish someone could say those things now and not parrot them, but mean them. Follow through. Call it evil and destroy it. As much as I have always loved the 'Weather Prayer', there are two lines in Training Letter Five that make me cry.

We are not trying to make the best of these days. It is our job to make the most of them.

Posted by: tree hugging sister at December 22, 2006 01:03 PM

Very nice commemorative piece. We need more reflection on who we are as a nation and what we stand for. My blog is run by me the "wingnut" and a friend a Haight Ashbury liberal. It is a bit of Hannity and Colmes on the Web with an occasional touch of needed humor, give it a spin.

http://politicalcagematch.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Brez at December 22, 2006 02:34 PM