SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper attacked Stoumont on December 19 1944, two days after the
Malmedy killings, and took the town amid heavy fighting. Without supplies, and with no contact with other German units behind them, this strike could advance no further. On December 21 1944, U.S. attacks on Stoumont forced the remnants of the SS battle group to retreat to La Gleize near Stavelot. About 80 wounded Waffen-SS men and all wounded American POWs were left behind under care of a German medical. On the very same day, SS-Obersturmbannführer
Joachim Peiper captured an American officer around La Gleize, Major Harold D. McCown of the U.S. 119th Infantry Regiment. Having heard about the Malmedy incident, McCown personally asked Peiper about his fate and that of his men. He later testified that Peiper told him neither he nor his men were at any risk and that he (Peiper) was not accustomed to killing his prisoners. McCown noted that none of his men were threatened in any manner. On December 22 1944, the last hope for relief for Peiper by units of the Leibstandarte SS was given up. Knittel's Schnellgruppe was pulled back from Stavelot and SS-Kampfgruppe Sandig was still stuck down and Hansen was unable to get any closer to La Gleize. On December 24 1944, Peiper decided to withdraw through the woods to escape capture, but the lead Panthers that had led them all the way were now forced to remain in La Gleize. All the U.S. POWs and German wounded were left behind. The remaining 800 men of the once over 4,000-strong battle group fell back in good order. Only a small rearguard stayed behind to hold of the Americans. 36 hours later Peiper reached the Leibstandarte's advance elements with 770 men, having covered the woods by foot in freezing temperatures. By Christmas morning, just as Peiper reached the Leibstandarte SS, the group of about 30 Waffen-SS men that had stayed behind lay dead; not one survived. Credit: Beginning of the end: Thesis by Major Han Bouwmeester, Royal Netherlands Army. Top clip: the photos and films taken by war correspondents following the Waffen-SS battle groups during the
Battle of the Bulge allow an intimate view of those events. The insightful and highly talented photographer SS-Unterscharführer Max Büschel is seen here walking past the camera without glancing at it once. His SS-Kriegsberichter Archive is very interesting because he was a photographer ahead of his time. The photos he left behind are beautiful and brutal. Büschel survived the war and managed to evade captivity when the 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS surrendered to U.S. forces in Austria in May 1945. He made his way back to his family in Berlin but was apparently shot to death when the Soviet occupational forces found out he was a former member of the Leibstandarte SS. Middle clips: SS-Kampfgruppe Hansen moving up on the road running north from the key crossroads at Poteau in support to Peiper on Dec. 18 1944. Hansen's advance soon stalled due to intense artillery fire and direct tank and antitank fire from U.S. forces. Bottom clips: GIs of the U.S. 119th Infantry Regiment surrendering to Peiper in Stoumont on Dec. 19 1944. U.S. National Archives.
The officer standing on the left side in the last clip is assumed to be Sturmbannfuhrer Jupp Diefenthal.
ReplyDeleteJosef Diefenthal's bravery and leadership was a solid example for the entire Kampfgruppe Peiper during the Bulge battles. He was awarded the Knight's Cross on February 5th, 1945 for his exploits during the offensive, while in command of the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment. After the war, Diefenthal was found guilty of war crimes allegedly committed during the Ardennes Offensive and sentenced to death by hanging but was released in 1956. He died in 2001 in North Rhine-Westphalia.
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