Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Battle of the Ardennes, Bastogne, 1944, a uniface cast bronze medal, 142mm, unsigned [by R. Bastin], Nazi officer proferring a message to an American soldier, ‘NUTS’ on scroll above, symbolic view of a town below; together with a contemporary printed sheet giving a history of the medal, good very fine and rare £100-150

General Anthony MacAuliffe, commanding 101 Airborne Division, was defending Bastogne from a large German artillery force, which incorporated six heavy anti-aircraft battalions. On 22 December 1944 the German C.O. sent a message to MacAuliffe, inviting him to surrender. MacAuliffe’s terse reply, ‘Nuts’, has entered American military legend.