Firsthand account of Lt. Clair Hess during the Battle of the Bulge – 101st Airborne – 1945
Lieutenant Hess explains the division was responsible for the defense of Bastogne leading up to the Battle of the Bulge. As Lt. Hess recounts the action, we see snow-covered scenes of the battle and the frozen bodies of soldiers killed in action. Lt. Hess tells of one of the most famous events in WW2 history.
On December 22, 1944, German emissaries asked for the American surrender, to which General McAuliffe answered tersely, “Nuts!” (Lt. HessHess explains that it was “just GI American for ‘Go to hell!’”) A few days later the skies cleared, allowing Allied air forces to retaliate and to drop much-needed food, medicine, and weaponry to ground troops. On Christmas Eve, the Americans allowed the Germans to get as close as possible before opening fire. “You could hear them hollering, ‘Comrade!’ Begging for mercy. Asking for a break. Oh sure. We gave ‘em a break,” says Lt. Hess as the film shows the dead, frozen bodies of Nazi soldiers in the mud and muck. “The German supermen. They didn’t know what the hell had happened.”
Military History
Sep 12