On Christmas night in 1776, George Washington led American patriots across the Delaware River to attack the Hessian mercenary garrison at Trenton, New Jersey; a force which was fighting for the British.

You’ve likely seen Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Leutze, painted in 1851, aspirational to be sure, but modern artist Mort Kunstler created a much more likely depiction of events in his 2011 painting entitled, Washington’s Crossing.

It was an audacious plan; take a force of 5400, including artillery, conduct a nighttime river crossing in a storm, and with the ultimate element of surprise, attack a sleeping enemy. 2400 made the crossing, but with 3,000 troops and the artillery so crucial to the plan stranded on the wrong side of the Delaware. Regardless, Washington pressed the attack, striking out toward his prey and at 8:00 AM met the enemy. Fortune favors the bold; the defenders were still groggy from their Weinachtsfest, with many slumbering soundly in bed.

Miraculously, only three Americans were killed, while over 1000 Hessians were captured with 22 killed and 98 wounded. Unfortunately, without his additional force, Washington was forced to withdraw. But the psychological victory fed faith in the revolution.

Consequently, George Washington crossing the Delaware in the middle of a stormy night in order to kill German mercenaries remains my second favorite Christmas story.

December 22 1944 – Encircled by German forces at the Battle of the Bulge, the 101st Airborne Division, under acting commander Brigadier General McAuliffe received a message from German General Heinrich Freiherr von Lüttwitz delivered under flag of truce.

To the U.S.A. Commander of the encircled town of Bastogne.

The fortune of war is changing. This time the U.S.A. forces in and near Bastogne have been encircled by strong German armored units. More German armored units have crossed the river Our near Ortheuville, have taken Marche and reached St. Hubert by passing through Hompre-Sibret-Tillet. Libramont is in German hands.

There is only one possibility to save the encircled U.S.A. troops from total annihilation: that is the honorable surrender of the encircled town. In order to think it over a term of two hours will be granted beginning with the presentation of this note.

If this proposal should be rejected one German Artillery Corps and six heavy A. A. Battalions are ready to annihilate the U.S.A. troops in and near Bastogne. The order for firing will be given immediately after this two hours term.

All the serious civilian losses caused by this artillery fire would not correspond with the well-known American humanity.

His response was perfect.

To the German Commander.
NUTS!
The American Commander

Believe it or not, the story gets even better. Upon hearing the reply, the German envoy was confused, not understanding the context.

An American Colonel quickly set the German straight, “If you don’t understand what ‘Nuts’ means, in plain English it is the same as ‘Go to hell.’ And I will tell you something else – if you continue to attack we will kill every goddam German that tries to break into this city.”

I served in the US Army’s 3rd Infantry Division from 1988-1990, in Würzburg, Federal Republic Of Germany. The Marne Division, as it is known, has a song, “Dog Faced Soldier” dating from WWII, as well as a mascot named Rocky, created in 1965 by none other than Walt Disney, for just $1.

Rocky’s name hails from WWI, where 3ID held like a rock during the second Battle of the Marne River. This distinguished service also earned the Division its motto, the French “Nous Resterons La” (English – We Shall Remain Here).

I find it rather unfortunate that the song “Dog Faced Soldier” written by two Infantrymen, was altered after the Division moved to Ft Stewart to make it gender neutral.

Here is the version we sang. If you attended PLDC at the 3ID NCO Academy in Kitzengen, you had to learn and sing it as well, regardless of which unit you served with. This often led to altered lyrics which weren’t so flattering for us ‘Dog Faced Soldiers.’

“I wouldn’t give a bean,
to be a fancy-pants Marine
I’d rather be a dog-faced soldier like I am.
I wouldn’t trade my old O.D.’s
for all the Navy’s dungarees
for I’m the marching pride of Uncle Sam.
All the posters you see say the Army builds men,
Well, they’re tearing me down to build me over again.
I’m just a dog-faced soldier
with a rifle on my shoulder
and I eat raw meat for breakfast every day.
So feed me ammunition, and keep me in the 3rd Division
For your dog-faced soldier boy’s O.K.”

Of course, the only constant is change. Take for example this version of the song from 1955’s “To Hell And Back” a movie which tells the story of the most famous Marne Soldier of all, Audie Murphy. The lyrics are different than the version I learned.