Talk:Anthony McAuliffe/2013/March

Question
The article states that he attained the rank of General on 1955.

Was he a General during world war 2?

The article keeps referring to him as General even during world war 2, so things are a bit confusing. 64.229.20.213 05:14, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Reply: General McAuliffe became a Brigadier General (one star) in 1942. He was promoted to Major General (two stars) in 1945. He was promoted to Lieutenant General (three stars) in 1951. His promotion to General (four stars) occured in 1955. Bastogne (talk) 14:55, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Question to response, and another question
OK, can the statement about 1955 say "he attained the rank of (full) General in 1955"? (or 4 star General, or some such)

And another question: The article says: - The 101st was able to hold off the German assault until the 4th Armored Division arrived to provide reinforcement but the town was regained the next day due to the reinforcements. - I don't understand. It sounds like the 4th Armored caused the 101st *not* to hold off any more (and I therefore assumed the 4th to be German), but that the 101st received Allied reinforcements and regained the town the next day. And I don't know who regained the town the next day--the Germans? But following the link about the 4th, it turns out this is a US force. So maybe what this is saying is that the 101st was able to hold off, *and* was reinforced by the US 4th Armored Division. But I'm still not sure who regained the town--doesn't seem like you *re*gain something unless you first lose it. Mcswell (talk) 04:45, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Reply: All of this misunderstanding resulted from an erroneous entry that implied that Bastogne was retaken by the Germans and had to be retaken again by the Americans. That erroneous entry has since been deleted. Bastogne remained in continuous control of the Americans from September 1944 when is was liberated by the 28th Infantry Division. None of the Germans attacks on the town during the Battle of the Bulge were successful in retaking the town. Bastogne (talk) 01:57, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 15:04, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

rising through the ranks...
"He rose through the ranks from Second Lieutenant in 1918 to General in 1955." Usually used to apply to other ranks, as officers would always be commissioned as 2nd lts or equivalent, and hopefully promoted. Midgley (talk) 10:33, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Education History
Am I the only one confused by the dates of his education in this article. It said he attended West Virginia University in 1916-1917, and graduated West Point in 1918. Its my understanding that West Point is a 4-year program, with notable exceptions of a few Civil War and WW2 classes who graduated early. Was his a similar case? Early graduation due to WW1? Sector001 (talk) 19:42, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Reply: His class graduated early because of WW1. Bastogne (talk) 14:50, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

"Nuts!" and idiom of era
Is it true that at the time "nuts!" was a tell-off on the order of "go fuck yourself"? 99.40.197.2 (talk) 07:41, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Reply: Nuts was a non-profane way of expressing disagreement with a statement or situation. General McAuliffe used it so frequently that in December 1944 when the newspapers first mentioned the NUTS! reply, without giving the name of the unit or the person saying it, his family immediately said it had to be Tony because he always used that word. Bastogne (talk) 13:55, 1 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, exactly. McAuliffe was noteworthy as the rare general who didn't use profanity, but he had no intention of surrendering Bastogne and wanted to make that abundantly clear to the Germans. The officer who delivered the message wasn't so restrained, telling the Germans that if they continued to attack Bastogne, the 101st would "kill every (expletive deleted) German who tries to break into this city!" 71.52.128.216 (talk) 04:53, 8 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I've persistently heard that the actual message was "Fuck you," and that it was changed to "Nuts" when it became publicly known (as a form of censorship). No source for this, but it makes you wonder. 2001:558:6020:177:4152:BF4F:7AC8:FF9 (talk) 11:45, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Reasons for undoing the latest changes of Rockgenre
General Pratt was never the Deputy Divisional Commander. He was the Assistant Division Commander. General Taylor created the position of Deputy Division Commander for General McAuliffe after they landed in Normandy and Taylor needed help handling the infantry regiments. General McAuliffe's assignment as Deputy Commander had nothing to do with General Pratt's death. Colonel Higgins was immediately assigned as acting Assistant Division Commander.

He was not in command of the 101st Airborne Division when they invaded the Netherlands in September 1944. He officially was still the Commander of the Division Artillery and unofficially the Deputy Division Commander.

He was not responsible for the capture of Vechtel (sic). It had already been captured when he went there looking for a more forward location for the Division Headquarters. When the Germans launched a counter-attack while he was there, he was given responsibility for defending the city.

The purpose of Market Garden was not to capture the bridges, that was only a means to the end. The intent of Market Garden was to make an end-run on the Siegfried Line and move into Germany. The U.S. Airborne forces, though they took heavy casualties, accomplished their assignments. It was only the British Airborne force in Arnhem that was overpowered and was unable to accomplish it's assignment. Bastogne (talk) 03:58, 23 November 2011 (UTC)