ϟϟ-Kampfgruppe Peiper: Malmedy Massacre at the Crossroads of Baugnez

Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords holder Joachim Peiper

Wounded SS-Panzergrenadier taken POW by the Americans

U.S. 526th Armored Inf. Bn. at Rue de la Gare in Malmedy

U.S. 3060th QM GR Company at the Baugnez field

During the Ardennes Offensive at least 71 American POWs were killed near Malmedy on December 17 1944. It appears that the shooting started when some of the POWs made an attempt to escape. According to the story that was pieced together by the survivors, the over 4,000-strong SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper were carrying some 30 captured Americans on their vehicles at the time they got to the crossroads of Baugnez near Malmedy. At the crossroads, they caught up with soldiers of the U.S. 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. A five-minute battle ensued in which at least 50 Americans were killed. SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper's men then quickly rounded up those who had surrendered and ordered them to wait in a field until German troops, who were following, could take charge of them. After leaving behind a few young men to guard them, Peiper and his vanguard pulled away and continued towards Ligneuville. Legend has it that Peiper, who had an excellent command of the English language, passed the scene and called out to the American POWs: It's a long way to Tipperary. What followed is subject to debate. At a certain point, some of the POWs in the rear part of the group gave the impression that they were about to flee. At the Malmedy massacre trial, U.S. Lieutenant Virgil Lary was able to identify Georg Fleps, a SS-Sturmmann from Romania, who allegedly fired the first two shots with his pistol. Several guards later testified that a few of the POWs had recovered their previously discarded weapons and that warning shots had been fired in the air when they tried to make a run for it, and there is evidence to support this theory. In October 1945, one of the survivors, in a sworn statement countersigned by one of the chief prosecuting officers, Lieutenant Raphael Schumacker, said that it started in response to a specific escape attempt; this in turn caused a commotion in the field. This movement, and the fact that at least one and probably two POWs had by then escaped from the field, only exacerbated the situation. Panic ensued and guards began firing upon the POWs with their machine guns. Some 50 Americans survived the incident, either by fleeing into the woods or pretending to be dead. According to the testimony of three survivors, all those fallen who showed signs of life were afterwards killed by close-range shots. The autopsies showed that 41 of the victims had been shot in the head. In summary, it can be said that there is no evidence to support the idea of a premeditated massacre–particularly in view of the fact that over half the Americans in the field survived the main shooting. Even if this theory is accepted, however, it does not excuse the administration of coup de grâce shots by the Germans who entered the field. The Malmedy incident led to considerable retaliation against German POWs. Few Waffen-SS men came to be taken prisoner by units such as the U.S. 3rd Armored Division. An example is the written Order 27 from the headquarters of the 328th U.S. Army Infantry Regiment, dated December 21 1944: No SS troops or paratroopers will be taken prisoner but will be shot on sight. A possible example of a related large massacre against Germans is the Chenogne massacre, where some 80 German soldiers and combat medics of the Führerbegleitbrigade and 3.Panzergrenadier-Division were shot and machine-gunned after having surrendered to soldiers of the U.S. 11th Armored Division. At the Saar river the U.S. 90th Infantry troops murdered Waffen-SS POWs in such a systematic manner that HQ had to issue express orders to take Waffen-SS men alive so as to be able to obtain information from them. The death toll in the Malmedy Massacre has never been established with certainty; various accounts put it somewhere between 70 and 100. Today there are 84 names on the memorial at the Baugnez crossroads. When the monument was rebuilt in 1962 there were 71 names to be read. Since then the list of victims has been extended to include some fallen soldiers found within a radius of 18 kilometers from the meadow up to four months after the incident. For further reading, see the Malmedy Massacre Trial. Sources, among others: Malmedy Massacre Investigation: Report of the Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, 81st Congress, European Theater Historical Interrogations [ETHINT] Series, Malmedy Massacre and Trial: Bachelor Thesis by Prokop Seifert and military historian Major General Michael Reynolds. Top image: a studio portrait of Jochen Peiper made in connection with the award of the Swords to his Knight's Cross on Jan. 11 1945. Seen in the picture is also the Close Combat Clasp in Silver and just visible on the right sleeve the Tank Destruction Badge. Credit: Julia Kotterias. c. Bundesarchiv. Second image: all seems lost for a wounded soldier left behind. This young SS soldier was photographed in the Ardennes on Dec. 16 1944 by U.S. photographer John Florea. LIFE photo archive. Third image: on Dec. 17 1944, part of the U.S. 526th Armored Infantry Battalion was ordered to Malmedy with a tank destroyer battalion attached to take up defensive positions to delay Peiper's Kampfgruppe. As they entered Malmedy, the G.I.'s heard the church bells playing Yankee Doodle Dandy to warn the Germans. Credit: Richard James Molloy. USASC. Bottom image: U.S. Quartermaster Corps personnel check for identification on the 71 bodies found at the Baugnez crossroads on Jan. 14 and 15 1945. Credit: Facundo Filipe. USASC.