Allied Operation Market Garden (I)

Cromwell tanks of British Guards AD at Nijmegen road bridge

SS officer in conversation with Wehrmacht troops in the Nijmegen region

Allied Paratroopers raining on Dutch soil – Operation Market Garden

Wilhelm Bittrich's II.SS-Panzerkorps targeting Allied Paras and gliders

Waffen-SS machine gun fire raked the sky west of Arnhem

The British 1st Airborne Division, Polish 1st Parachute Brigade, U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division was dropped along a line marked by Eindhoven in the south and Arnhem in the north in mid-September 1944, both cities in the eastern part of the Netherlands. The Market portion of the operation was made up of the airborne attacks. The Garden portion of the operation consisted of the British 2nd Army roaring north along highway 69 (Hell's Highway). The two attacks were known collectively as Operation Market Garden, the largest airborne drop in military history involving three Allied divisions, employing more than 16,000 paratroops. The report that Arnhem was free of serious resistance was incorrect. Several days before the Operation, the 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen and its sister formation 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg (II.SS-Panzerkorps) were moved into the Arnhem area to rest and refit, however they had both been so severely mauled during the Normandy fighting that they now mustered a combined force of approximately 6,000 men. No longer worthy of the title “division”, the Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg were dubbed divisional SS-Kampfgruppen. Although numerically weaker to the British 1st Airborne Division, their men were all excellently trained and battle-hardened. SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich's II.SS-Panzerkorps played a decisive role in the defeat of the Allied offensive. Elements of the Frundsberg were sent south to respond to the American landings at Nijmegen, while the Hohenstaufen would defend Arnhem. Also present were the German Luftwaffe's Luftflotte 3 and some 600 Dutch SS trainees in the heterogeneous Kampfgruppe Tettau. Credit: The Pegasus Archive. Top image: on September 17 1944, U.S. 82nd Airborne Division were stopped in their tracks by hastily-organised German reinforcements at the all-important road bridge at Nijmegen. After a combined attack from the 82nd and British Guards Armoured Division was halted by reinforcements from the Frundsberg it became clear that the bridge could not be stormed. Credit: Tom Marshall. Welsh Guards Archives. FU. Second image: Waffen-SS, Heer and Luftwaffe troops in the Market Garden battle area in September 1944. Some sources says the photo was taken in the Betuwe region between Arnhem and Nijmegen, whereas others say it was taken in Nijmegen in front of the Hunnerpark at the foot of the south approach to the road bridge over the Waal. The Waffen-SS officer is believed to be the commanding officer in that area SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl-Heinz Euling of the Frundsberg. The Knights Cross holder Karl-Heinz Euling died aged 94 on April 14 2014 in München. Photo by SS-Kriegsberichter Pospesch. Credit: Jakob Lagerweij. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom clips: the sky was filled with Allied aircraft and parachuting British troops when this was filmed west of Arnhem on Sept. 17 1944. As British paratroopers landed on their drop zone around Oosterbeek, combat hardened SS-Panzergrenadiers from the Hohenstaufen were waiting and made sure they did not receive a warm welcome. Bittrich's II SS Corps were at this stage divided into several smaller SS-Kampfgruppen acting as a blocking force. The Allies encountered a tough and determined resistance - far more than expected. Footage from Die Deutsche Wochenschau. Fair use.

Allied Operation Market Garden (II)

Sturmgeschütz III of 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg in Maaseik

KB Wenzel with LW troops subordinated to Hohenstaufen in Arnhem

SS-Kampfgruppe Harder searching buildings for British Paras in Arnhem

SS-Kampfgruppe Harder evacuating British wounded POWs in Arnhem

SS-Kampfgruppe Möller with captured British Paratroopers in Arnhem

Parts of 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg successfully blocked the highway between Nijmegen and Arnhem, and thus effectively sealed the fate of the Allied paratroopers trapped in Arnhem. After the battle, food, medical supplies and personnel to look after the 2,000 British casualties were in short supply. Despite their status as Prisoners of War, German Commanders agreed to let the Airborne medics treat these casualties. German resources were also stretched dealing with their own casualties. What emerged was a British-administered Hospital established at Apeldoorn, near Arnhem which would later become known as the 'Airborne Hospital'. German forces soon established an evacuation chain by ambulance and truck from Arnhem to Apeldoorn. Whilst SS troops guarded the hospital initially, they were soon replaced by regular German soldiers - many of whom were rather old and were quickly nick-named the ‘Bismarck Youth’ by the British. The Germans also agreed more serious cases to be transferred by German ambulance into local Dutch hospitals with more acceptable surroundings. Colonel Graeme Warrack of the British 1st Airborne Division later reported the Germans provided a great deal of help after being impressed by the fighting spirit and gallantry of the British 1st Airborne. Credit: ParaData. Top image: a StuG III of the Frundsberg, with one road wheel missing, another partially destroyed, and with a good chunk of the left mudguard gone, pictured in Maaseik on its way up north towards the Arnhem area in Sept. 1944. FU. Second image: Kriegsberichter Leutnant Erich Wenzel is seen here standing in a Luftwaffe paratrooper splinter camouflage smock in the corner of Johan de Wittlaan and Boulevard Heuvelink in Arnhem. Luftwaffe correspondents Wenzel and Jacobsen of Luftflotte 3 arrived in Arnhem on Sept. 19 1944, and spent the next 48 hours in the area subordinated to the 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen. They shot several rolls of film of which six have survived more or less intact. Photo by KB Jacobsen. Credit: Jakob Lagerweij. c. Bundesarchiv. Third image: a StuG III of the Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 280 attached to the Hohenstaufen have stopped just before the junction of the Utrechtseweg and Onderlangs in a mop up operation with SS-Kampfgruppe Harder against British positions. The helmeted officer standing in the cupola is believed to be the highly decorated Austrian Oberwachtmeister Josef Mathes. The 36-year-old Mathes was killed in action later the same day in west Arnhem on Sept. 19 1944. Photo by KB Jacobsen. Credit: Jakob Lagerweij. c. Bundesarchiv. Fourth image: SS-Kampfgruppe Harder of the Hohenstaufen evacuating wounded Brits outside a British main dressing station in Arnhem on Sept. 20 1944. One of the POWs have been identified as Platoon Commander Robson Foster of the Glider Pilot Regiment. Foster died on Nov. 2 1994. Photo by KB Erich Wenzel. Credit: Julius Backman. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: British Major John Timothy of 'R' Company of 1st Parachute Battalion, with Lieutenant Vladimir Alexandrovich Britnev of Russian origin and Lieutenant Anthony Driver shortly after being caught by the SS hiding in a house in the Arnhem area. On the extreme right is the veteran SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Möller, the Kommandeur of Hohenstaufen's SS-Panzer-Pionier-Abteilung 9. As a former volunteer with the Austrian SS-Standarte Der Führer, Möller had been part of the Westervoort crossing east of Arnhem back in May 1940. When he returned with Hohenstaufen to the Arnhem area in early Sept. 1944, he stood on well known turf. He later wrote that his men fought from room to room, from garden to garden and from tree to tree in der Hexenkessel, the Witches Cauldron, as the Germans called the Arnhem perimeter. Möller died aged 93 on Nov. 16 1998. The pictured POWs also survived the war, Timothy died on Oct. 24 2011, Britnev died on April 28 1994 and Driver died on Jan. 7 2002. Photo by KB Jacobsen on Sept. 19 1944. Credit: Doug Banks. c. Bundesarchiv.

Allied Operation Market Garden: Casualties and losses

Waffen-SS pioneer lies where he fell on the Nijmegen road bridge

British Airborne Forces taken prisoner by the Waffen-SS in Arnhem

Unbekannter Englischer soldat

Allies forces suffered more casualties in Operation Market Garden than in the mammoth invasion of Normandy. In the nine days of Market Garden combined losses-airborne and ground forces-in killed, wounded and missing amounted to more than 17,000. British casualties were the highest: 13,226. The British paratroopers had the shock of finding unexpected resistance, particularly from SS-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Bittrich's II.SS-Panzerkorps, consisting of elements of 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen and its sister formation 10.SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg. American losses are put at 3.974. German casualties are harder to determine, as the records are incomplete. The official casualties estimated by Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt were 3,300 but most historians agree that the number is probably somewhere between 6,000 to 8,000 in total casualties in the entire Market Garden battle area. The Irish-American journalist and author Cornelius Ryan claims Dutch civilian casualties in the Arnhem area were less than 500, while several thousands were killed and wounded in the whole Market Garden operation area. British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery said 90 percent of his objectives were achieved, but Market Garden was a failure. Top image: the bridge at Nijmegen after it had been captured by the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division. A dead Waffen-SS pioneer lies where he fell during the attack. He was most likely a soldier of SS-Pionier-Abteilung 10 of the Frundsberg, or of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 19 of the Hohenstaufen. Delays caused by hastily-organised German reinforcements at Nijmegen ultimately led to the failure of Market Garden. The Allied crossing of the River Waal finally took place at 15:00 on Sept. 20 1944, about two kilometres downstream from the bridge, and too late to relieve Arnhem. U.S. official photog. PD. Middle image: freshly-captured British airborne forces of the South Staffordshire Regiment are taken away by the Hohenstaufen. The photo was taken by Luftwaffe KB Leutnant Erich Wenzel in front of the Musis Sacrum in Arnhem on Sept. 19 1944. Credit: Royston Leonard. c. Bundesarchiv. Bottom image: the Germans erected this silent tribute to an unknown British airborne soldier who had fallen during the Battle of Arnhem in Sept. 1944. The photo was taken by Allied forces on April 15 1945. On the cross is written in German, 'Unknown English soldier'. Credit: Paul Reynolds. Public domain.

ϟϟ-Obersturmbannführer der Waffen-SS Spindler (Kampfgruppe Spindler)

Ludwig Spindler as SS-Sturmbannführer

SS-Kampfgruppe Spindler in Oosterbeek

The München-born son of sculptor SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Spindler was a police officer until November 30 1934, when he joined the SS-Verfügungstruppe and was assigned to SS-Standarte Deutschland. Spindler participated in the annexation of Austria and Sudetenland in 1938 and in the invasion and partitioning of Poland in 1939 and the subsequent operations in the West. He remained with SS-Division Reich during Operation Barbarossa in 1941, commanding various units in Das Reich before being transferred to 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen on March 1 1943. For his exemplary leadership during the rescue of encircled German troops in the Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket, also known as Hube's Pocket, in Western Ukraine and above all for his heroic actions in Normandy, Spindler was decorated with the German Cross in Gold on September 17 1944. It was on this very same day that the Allies launched Operation Market Garden. Spindler was tasked with preventing the enemy from entering Arnhem. He formed a defensive perimeter around the city, and were instrumental in stopping the majority of the British 1st Airborne trying to get to Arnhem. The fighting was fierce as both sides realized what was at stake. On September 26 1944, Spindler launched an offensive with hastily assembled units while ruthlessly demanding the utmost of himself, forcing the reinforced British to withdraw. He received the Knight's Cross on September 27 1944. The prestigious award was recommended by SS-Obergruppenführer und General der Waffen-SS Wilhelm Bittrich. Kampfgruppe commander SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Spindler was killed aged 34 during the Battle of the Bulge when his staff car was strafed by Allied fighter-bomber on December 27 1944. He is buried at the Altenkirchen War Cemetery in Westerwald. Left image: a studio portrait of the Das Reich veteran Ludwig Spindler wearing the Knight's Cross. Private collection, used with permission. Right image: a fellow soldier of the Hohenstaufen photographed by KB Höppner at Dreijenseweg in Oosterbeek west of Arnhem on September 20 1944. Credit: Julia Kotterias. Commons: Bundesarchiv.

Operation Wacht am Rhein – the Ardennes Counteroffensive (I)

German fighter Messerschmitt Bf 109 of Jagdgeschwader 1 Oesau

Ardennes Offensive/Battle of the Bulge

Waffen-SS Jagdpanzer IV/70 during the Ardennes Offensive

Heavily damaged Panther of the Windhund in Hotton

The Battle of the Bulge fought from December 16 1944 – January 25 1945, was the German offensive launched toward the end of World War II through the Ardennes Mountains region of Wallonia in Belgium. At 05.30 on December 16 1944 three German armies struck the Allied troops on an 80 kilometers wide front. For the Americans the Battle of the Bulge was the largest and bloodiest battle that they fought in World War II. The Wehrmacht's code name for the offensive was Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein after the German hymn. In the northern sector SS-Oberstgruppenführer Josef Dietrich's 6.SS-Panzerarmee assaulted Losheim Gap and Elsenborn Ridge in an effort to break through to Liège. It was entrusted with the offensive's primary objective, capturing Antwerpen. SS-Gruppenführer Hermann Prieß I.SS-Panzerkorps consisted of 1.SS-Panzer-Divison Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, 12.SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend and schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501. The 9.SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen was involved in the fighting around Bastogne, taking heavy casualties and losing much equipment to the incessant attacks of Allied ground attack aircraft. Casualty estimates for the battle vary widely. According to the U.S. Department of Defense, American forces suffered 89,500 casualties including 19,000 killed and 23,000 missing. The German High Command estimated that they lost 81,834, of which 12,652 were killed and 30,582 were missing. The German casualty reports and the historian Hermann Jung estimates a much lower rate of German casualties than the German High Command. Top image: a Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 of Jagdgeschwader 1 with the III.Gruppe emblem pictured on an earlier occasion. The wing fought in the Battle of Bulge, despite the bad weather, the Luftwaffe attempted large-scale close air support missions to support the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS. On Dec. 18 1944 JG 1 was one of the few German wings to reach the battle area near Monschau and Malmedy. The decimated Luftwaffe provided very little assistance by late 1944 in Allied-dominated skies. Credit: Richard James Molloy. c. Bundesarchiv. Middle clip is believed to show a Jagdpanzer IV/70 from SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 12 of the Hitlerjugend. Its tank-destroyers were used with the support of SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 25 when the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division positions guarding the first line defense trenches at Krinkelt-Rocherath villages were overrun on Dec. 18 1944. There was heavy fighting that lasted the whole day, but the Hitlerjugend withdrew the next morning expecting reinforcements and supplies. Credit: Julius Backman Jääskeläinen. U.S. NARA. Bottom image: soldiers of the U.S. 3rd Armored Division inspecting knocked-out German Panzers of Kampfgruppe Bayer of the 116.Panzer-Division Windhund on Dec. 26 1944 after the fighting for Belgian Hotton. Credit: Ryan N81. U.S. NARA.

Operation Wacht am Rhein – the Ardennes Counteroffensive (II)

Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein - The Battle of the Bulge

Men of Co. H, 3rd BN, 504th Para. Inf. Reg. with a captured SS-Pz.Gren.

War crimes were committed on both sides during the campaign. British author Gordon Williamson writes: Like the elite of other formations, the soldiers of Waffen-SS fought ferociously, intent on killing the enemy before the enemy killed them. Undoubtedly some Waffen-SS soldiers went too far and overstepped the bounds of acceptable behavior, even in the heat of battle. That said, so did Allied soldiers. For many years after World War II atrocities committed by Allied troops were hushed up. Reports of brutalities, murder and rape by Soviet troops were well known, but among Western Allies any atrocities that had not already come to public 

SS-Ostubaf. Otto Skorzeny's commandos lined up for execution

attention tended to be omitted from the official histories or glossed over as mopping-up operations. In recent years, however, more and more accounts have come to light of looting and the murder of captured German soldiers by Allied troops, not just from the Red Army but also among the Western Allies. In one case American troops cold-bloodedly shot down German troops who were unarmed and surrendering under the cover of a white flag. Cameramen were on the scene to film the atrocity, and the film has subsequently been in television documentaries. Contrary to Allied claims, no written order has ever been found from a German commander to his troops that no prisoners be taken. On the other hand, such orders by Allied commanders to their troops were issued in writing and are a matter of record. Source: Loyalty Is My Honor. Top screenshot: soldiers of the Leibstandarte SS among the wreckage after SS-Kampfgruppe Hansen's attack against Task Force Mayes of the U.S. 14th Cavalry Group in Poteau on December 18 1944. Credit: Julius Backman. U.S. National Archives. Middle image: soldiers of the U.S. 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of U.S. 82nd Airborne Division bring an unidentified Waffen-SS soldier back to American lines following the German counter-offensive. He was captured on December 22 1944 while on reconnaissance patrol outside of Bra west of Stavelot were seven SS troopers were killed in the clash. Airborne member and interpreter the later Lieutenant Colonel George Douglas Heib told that shortly after this photo took place he drew his gun and put it against the head of the young man in order to get information out of him. There is no further information about his fate. Photo by Swedish-American photojournalist Emil David Edgren. Credit: Doug Banks. U.S. Army Signal Corps Collection. Bottom image: Manfred Pernass, Günther Billing, and Wilhelm Schmidt of the 150.SS-Panzer-Brigade are prepared for execution in Henri-Chapelle on December 23 1944. As part of the Ardennes offensive English-speaking demolition commandos were charged with infiltrating American lines in Operation Greif. 23 of the Austrian daredevil SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny's troops were captured behind American lines disguised in American uniforms. They were all aware that any of them captured while wearing U.S. uniforms would be executed. Photo by American photographer John Florea. Credit: Jakob Lagerweij. LIFE photo archive. Fair use.

Allied Air Dominance From Normandy to the Bulge Blunted the Germans

The Mighty Eighth of the U.S. Army Air Forces halted the Ardennes thrust

Panther of SS-KG Peiper passes a column of captured American soldiers

Tiger II or Königstiger n°222 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.501 passing through Tondorf

Tiger II or Königstiger n°008 of s.SS-Pz.Abt.501 passing through Tondorf

Facing the overwhelming military might and the complete air superiority of the Allies, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler once again relied on his trusted and powerful Waffen-SS divisions to defeat the Allied armies, first in the brutal fighting in Normandy, and then in the dense forests of the Ardennes. During these decisive battles, the soldiers of the Waffen-SS repeatedly demonstrated their elite esprit de corps and aggressive fighting spirit, but in the end were unable to win the victories the Third Reich desired. Clear skies on December 24 1944 prevented a catastrophic defeat for the Allies in the Battle of the Bulge. The subsequent aerial barrage wreaked havoc on the German advance when the U.S. 8th Air Force launched the largest air armada in the history of warfare. Top image: B-17 Flying Fortress of the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1944. Credit: Nathan Howland. USAFHRA. Top clip: a Panther tank commander of SS-Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper's Kampfgruppe signals to American POW’s to clear out of the road when fog and low cloud still negated the Allies' air supremacy in the Ardennes in mid-December 1944. Bottom clips: SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper was also boosted by the Riga-born SS-Obersturmbannführer Heinz von Westernhagen's King Tiger tanks of the schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501 for its drive westwards in the attempt to reach the Meuse River. In the early morning of December 16 1944, the legendary King Tigers of SS 501st heavy tank battalion were filmed passing through the village of Tondorf on their way to Peiper for the initial attack through the Ardennes. Königstiger n°222 was commanded by SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Sowa. It was knocked out on December 19 1944 at the southern end of the Amblève bridge at Stavelot. Colonel Tom Raney of the U.S. 823rd Tank Destroyer Battalion later wrote: We saw the long tube of Tiger 222's 88mm gun emerge from behind the last building. The M10 gunner must have been tracking the tank with his telescope sight, for as soon as the Tiger had cleared the building, the M-10 fired one round of armor piercing shot which penetrated the armor on the right side above the track, about 14 inches under the turret and some four to five feet to the rear of the front glacis plate. The tank stopped dead in its tracks. The round probably struck the gunner and the loader. Surprisingly the tank did not burn. Neither did we see any of the crewmembers bail out, but they must have exited through an escape hatch in the rear of the turret. To the best of my knowledge, that was the last enemy tank that attempted to cross the bridge at Stavelot. Tank commander SS-Oberscharführer Kurt Sowa is reported to have lost his right arm below the elbow in action near Sassy in Normandy on August 15 1944, but had nevertheless continued to command during the Bulge. Sowa survived the war and is said to have died in the Ruhrgebiet in the 1970s. Königstiger n°008 was commanded by the battalion adjutant, SS-Untersturmführer Eduard Kalinowsky. It would have the dubious accolade of being the last operational panzer still on the northern bank of the Amblève between Stavelot and Trois-Ponts. Although the tank carried on fighting, it had been immobilised and its crew set it on fire along Route N23 west of Stavelot on Christmas day 1944. Clips: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.

ϟϟ-Standartenführer der Waffen-SS Hansen (ϟϟ-Kampfgruppe Hansen)

Max Hansen as SS-Sturmbannführer

Panzergrenadiers of 1.SS-Panzerdivision Leibstandarte SS

SS-Kampfgruppe Hansen was one of four task forces of 1.SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS engaged in the Ardennes Offensive. The other three was SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper, Sandig and Schnelle Gruppe Knittel. Waffen-SS commander Max Hansen, who terminated the war with the rank of SS-Standartenführer, was regularly letting American and British prisoners escorted to their lines and released to their respective army's. This came out during his trial in 1946. Max Hansen was found not guilty on all charges except one. He was charged with being involved with a criminal organization of the Greater German Reich by commanding of a Waffen-SS division. Max Hansen was one of the 98 out of the millions who fought for Nazi Germany in World War II who received both the Knight's Cross and the Close-Combat Clasp in Gold. Left image: a formal portrait of the then SS-Sturmbannführer Max Hansen, probably made in connection with the award of the Knight's Cross on March 28 1943. Credit: Matthias Ruf. Commons: Bundesarchiv. Right image: this is a well-known photograph from a captured SS-PK film roll. It shows heavily armed unidentified SS-Panzergrenadiers pictured after the then SS-Obersturmbannführer Max Hansen's famous clash near Poteau on December 18 1944. The photograph is credited to the talented Waffen-SS war correspondent SS-Unterscharführer Max Büschel. Büschel's cameraman SS-Unterscharführer Schäfer's dispatch rider was captured near Waimes by the Americans the very day after the encounter along with their undeveloped films. The U.S. 3rd Armored Division reports about the capture of the courier carrying Schäfer's newsreel rolls. The report details what is on the film and when it was filmed. Credit: AHF i.a. Credit image: Facundo Filipe. U.S. NARA.

ϟϟ-Kampfgruppe Hansen: The Clash at Poteau between Hansen and Mayes

Leibstandarte SS Panzergrenadiers during the Ardennes Offensive

SS-Panzergrenadier-Regiment 1 on the road to Poteau

Leibstandarte SS Panzergrenadiers after the Clash at Poteau

The famous clash between SS-Kampfgruppe Hansen and U.S. Army Task Force Mayes at Poteau is often misleading described as the Ambush at Poteau, however, it was more of an encounter. Both units were heading in the opposite direction. Early in the morning on December 18 1944 an convoy of the U.S. 14th Cavalry Group run into the Hansen, who provided the southern flank protection to SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper. The lightly armed Task Force was no match. The Waffen-SS achieved complete surprise and forced the Americans to abandon their vehicles and pull back to the town of Poteau. A couple of SS war correspondents who arrived at the scene shortly after the encounter, took some staged and posed shots for the benefit of the Deutsche Wochenschau that have gone down in documentary history. The shots showing SS-Panzergrenadiers and men dressed in Luftwaffe gear, most likely transferred former Luftwaffe personnel still in their LW uniforms, loitering around the U.S. wreckage along the road to Poteau. They pass burning and wreckedout M3 half-tracks, M8 armoured cars, jeeps and M5 Stuart light tanks. The destroyed M8 Greyhound scout car belonged to the Mayes, composed of elements of the 14th Cavalry Group and 820th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Over the years many scholars and historians have attempted to identify the Waffen-SS soldiers who appears in this German news reel. The only point of agreement seems to be that they belonged to the attacking force of Hansen and or elements of Schnelle Gruppe Knittel, who showed up at the scene shortly after the encounter. The film is taken near Poteau on 6.Panzer-Armee's front on the northern shoulder of the Bulge on the Poteau and Recht road on December 18 1944. The clips come from a captured SS-Propagandakompanie film that is believed to have been shot by SS-Kriegsberichter Max Büschel's cameraman SS-Unterscharführer Schäfer. Schäfer's dispatch rider was captured by men of the U.S. 3rd Armored Division the following day carrying the undeveloped film. Credit: Frank Studenski, AHF inter alia. Credit images: Julius Backman. U.S. National Archives.

Advance at Ligneuville and Kaiserbaracke through thin American lines

Paras of 3.Fallschirmjäger-Division

Schnelle Gruppe Knittel

Left image: Oberjäger Sepp Reiner of the Fallschirm-Jäger-Regiment 9 offering a cigarette to an SS-Kradschütze outside the town of Ligneuville on December 17 1944 while elements under Schnelle Gruppe Knittel were making their way to Stavelot to link up with SS-Kampgruppe Peiper. The tank is Königstiger n°222 of s.SS-Panzerabteilung 501 commanded by SS-Oscharf. Kurt Sowa. The day before the FJR9 had lost 37 men at Lanzerath Ridge were they had captured 14 Americans of the U.S. 394th Regiment. They had been taken from their foxholes and brought down to Lanzerath to be treated by medics. Only one U.S. soldier was killed, Staff Sergeant Billy Queen was shot dead after he opened fire with a heavy machine gun on the Paras killing, among others, several medics with red cross insignias on them. The 14 POWs all survived the war. The American platoon was led by Lieutenant Lyle Bouck who reported that his platoon had killed several hundred German Paras at Lanzerath. In 1966, Bouck contacted his former division commander MG Walter E. Lauer to get proper recognition. He was then nominated for a Silver Star. Also seen in the picture is OGefr. Hof, Lt. Riedl, ObJg. Olten, Ogefr, Rosenkrantz and OGefr. Kirchhof. Credit: Mateusz Pietruszkiewicz. c. Bundesarchiv. Right image: SS-Ostuf. Heinz Goltz of Schnelle Gruppe Knittel at the Kaiserbaracke Crossroads between St. Vith and Malmedy on December 18 1944. Knittel operated near Stavelot behind KG Peiper. Peiper got closest to the Meuse/Maas but got encircled in La Gleize. SS-Kampfgruppe Hansen made an attempt to break the encirclement but failed. The other Kampfgruppen tried to free the supply route which had also been cut by Allied Forces. Goltz was accused after the war of having given the order to shoot Belgian civilians for sheltering U.S. troops in the vicinity of Stavelot on December 19-20 1944. A trial held in Liège in Belgium ended on July 31 1948 with the conviction of Goltz. He was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment but served less. Photo SS-KB Max Büschel. U.S. NARA.

ϟϟ-Sturmbannführer der Waffen-SS Knittel (Schnelle Gruppe Knittel)

1.SS-Panzerdivision Leibstandarte SS at the Kaiserbaracke road junction

Schnelle Gruppe Knittel

Schnelle Gruppe Knittel

SS-Obersturmführer Leidreiter and SS-Sturmbannführer Knittel

Shots at the Kaiserbaracke road junction between St. Vith and Malmedy showing a Steyr troop-carrier turning right towards Recht, a massive Panzerkampfwagen Königstiger from schwere SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501 rolling up at the crossroads carrying heavily-armed paratroopers from 3.Fallschirmjäger-Division relaxing and smoking cigarettes en route to Stavelot in the Ambleve valley, a Sd Kfz 251 halftrack APC turning right for Recht, two junior SS officers most likely from SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 1 strolling past several Sd Kfz 250 halftracks and conferring over a map on the bonnet of their Schwimmwagen Amphibious Scout Car, enjoying captured cigars with their driver. The men in these famous images are captioned as members of Schnelle Gruppe Knittel's reconnaissance unit on the southern route of the German counter-attack in the Ardennes. Bottom clip: SS-Sturmbannführer Gustav Knittel consult a map with his adjutant and company commander SS-Obersturmführer Hans-Martin Leidreiter at the small hamlet of La Vaulx-Richard, south east of Stavelot on December 18 1944. Leidreiter, a veteran since 1938, showed great bravery in the eastern front and was awarded both the German Cross in Gold and the Close Combat Clasp in Silver. After the war he became an assistant teacher and rose to the position of deputy leader of the Agricultural- and Silviculture School in Titisee-Neustadt. Gustav Knittel himself was one of only 98 German soldiers that received both the Knight's Cross and the Close-Combat Clasp in Gold. Document contains a false confession, saying he ordered the killing of American prisoners of war near Petit-Spai. Knittel claimed after his trial that the interrogations included psychological torture and that he was physically abused by his guards. He hoped that he could show during his trial that the killings he confessed to never happened. Knittel intended to use the war diaries of the American units which had opposed his Schnelle Gruppe Knittel during the offensive to prove that no Americans were killed at the date and location he gave in his confession. But during the Malmedy massacre trial his defence lawyers did not get permission to use these war diaries and following his self-incriminating confession he was sentenced to life imprisonment on July 16 1946. In May 1948 the War Crimes Review Board rejected the claim that irregularities had occurred during the trial against Knittel but his sentence was reduced to 12 years imprisonment. Knittel was released from Landsberg Prison in 1953. Credit: Timo R. Worst and AHF. The clips comes from a captured SS-Propagandakompanie film taken on December 18 1944. The images are credited to SS-Kriegsberichter Max Büschel and newsreel filmer SS-Unterscharführer Schäfer. Schäfer's dispatch rider was taken prisoner by the Americans the very next day along with their undeveloped films. U.S. National Archives. PD.

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

Knight's Cross with Oakleaves and Swords holder Joachim Peiper

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

Knocked-out Panther of SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper in La Gleize

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 km from the meadow up to four months after the incident. The town of Malmedy was bombed repeatedly by the U.S. Air Force on December 23, 24 and 25 1944 killing no less than 202 Belgian civilians despite the fact it was actually under control of U.S. troops. For further reading, see the Malmedy Massacre Trial. Sources: 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 i.a. Top image: studio portrait of Jochen Peiper made in connection with the award of the Swords to the Knight's Cross on January 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: on December 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. Third image: soldiers of the U.S. 3rd Armored Division inspecting an abandoned and damaged Panther in La Gleize in late December 1944. It was one of 15 Panthers left behind by SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper. Credit: Ryan N81. U.S. NARA. Bottom image: U.S. Quartermaster Corps personnel check for identification on the 71 bodies found at the Baugnez crossroads on January 14 and 15 1945. Credit: Facundo Filipe. USASC.

Have a further read about how KG Peiper rolled through the Ardennes like a slow-moving train until the Americans closed in on Peiper from the north, east, and west: Dec.19 to Christmas Day 1944 - Surrounded and Withdrawal to German Lines.