The Battle of the Bulge Made in America Shirt

Awesome Battle of the Bulge Shirt!
"I already have several shirts from The History List and all of them are great. The most recent one with the Battle of the Bulge theme did not disappoint! Every Military History enthusiast should get one."
— T.T.  ★★★★★

 "Best shirts ever….Great product, Great service, and Fast delivery…Keep up the GREAT work."
— FMD  ★★★★★ 

Your choice of these shirts: 

• Military green — Sizes S - 3XL: 100% Made in America. This 100% cotton shirt is knitted, dyed, and sewn in America and printed in New England. 4.4 oz.
• Military green — Sizes 4XL and 5XL: 100% heavyweight cotton shirt.  Imported. 6.1 oz. Printed in New England
• Vintage green — 100% heavyweight cotton shirt. Vintage look; no two are exactly alike. Printed in New England on an imported shirt. 5.3 oz. Available in sizes: S - 3XL.

A note on Made in America: We are working to use only Made in America shirts for our Battle of the Bulge design (as well as many other designs). We are also working to expand our size range up to 5X. Because the Made in America line of shirts we use for standard Military Green doesn't have sizes above 3XL, we have to use an imported shirt for 4XL and 5XL, and the Vintage Green is only available up to 3XL and only on an imported shirt. 

Other shirt styles: This design is also available in a women's v-neck shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, a hooded sweatshirt, 

and a long-sleeved shirt with UPF protection.

Our original design includes these historical references:

• What became known as the "Battle of the Bulge" was the Ardennes Offensive, and the response of the Allies, the Ardennes Counteroffensive.

• The battle lasted for five weeks, from December 16, 1944 to January 28, 1945, towards the end of the war in Europe.

• The 101st Airborne Division was surrounded at Bastogne and being shelled.

• "NUTS" was the (probably sanitized) reply from Brig. Gen. Anthony Mcauliffe to the letter from the attacking German Forces offering an opportunity to surrender. 

• An excerpt from Mcauliffe's Christmas Letter to his troops:

We are giving our country and our loved ones at home a worthy Christmas present and being privileged to take part in this gallant feat of arms are truly making for ourselves a Merry Christmas.

/s/ A. C. McAULIFFE
/t/ McAULIFFE
Commanding.

• The  Sherman Cobra King pictiured broke through to link up with the 101st Airborne Division on the outskirts of Bastogne on December 26.

• The line running down the center is a tracing from the map of enemy positions on December 25.

Included with every shirt: A 5" x 8" card with the entire Christmas letter that McAuliffe had distributed to his troops, the letter from the German Commander offering McAuliffe the opportunity to surrender his encircled troops, and the propaganda flier that the the Germans distributed to American troops encouraging them to desert.

See more historical background below.

Our WWII Collection

Browse through all our original designs in our WWII collection, including Pearl Harbor, Midway, "V" for Victory with all of the battles listed, History Nerd paratrooper / Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, She's a W.O.W., a print with more than 100 posters from the homefront, our Victory pin, and more.

Most of the ideas for our WWII collection have come from Larisa, including Pearl Harbor, Midway, D-Day, Battle of the Bukge, She’s a W.O.W., and our Victory pin. Larisa has been involved with The History List and History Camp from the early days and has been an important contributor to those in addition to several products. 

Historical accounts and background

The US Army's account of the "NUTS" reply.

Sherman Jumbo "Cobra King"

Company C, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division

As shown in the photo above, the M4A3E2 Sherman Cobra King is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Army outside of Washington, DC. 

This is the text on the panel beside the tank:

"M4A3E2 Sherman Cobra King links up with encircled defenders of the 101st
Airborne Division on the outskirts of the town of Bastogne on 26 December
1944. The breakthrough opened the way for Allied forces to begin the counteroffensive that ended the Battle of the Bulge. In March 1945, Cobra King was put out of action during the unsuccessful mission to liberate American prisoners of war at a POW camp near Hammelburg, Germany.

"CREW MEMBERS

• 1st Lt. Charles P. Boggess,
• Cpl. Milton Dickerman,
• Pvt. James G. Murphy,
• Pvt. Hubert S. Smith, and
• Pvt. Harold Hafner after the Bastogne linkup."

Here's the story of how the tank was tracked down and authenticated in 2008.

Thanks to Martin Quinn and Mike Manning for reviewing the historical details.