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| Bodies in field near crossroads |
Peiper's objective was the capture of bridges over the Meuse River. Directly in the path of his army were lead elements of Battery B of the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. Coming under intense fire from Tiger tanks, those elements of Battery B scattered while the rest of Battery B, about 140 American troops, were trapped near the crossroads town of Baugnez, Belgium. The outgunned American troops surrendered to German SS troopers under Peiper's command.
WWII army veteran Ted Paluch was with the soldiers of the 285th and he described what happened next.
"We left Schevenhutte early in the morning on the 17th of December and were heading in the direction of Malmedy. I remember that it was wet, foggy, and damn cold. It wasn't snowing yet, but I remember it being very cold. The lead vehicles of our convoy were fired on. The lead vehicles were way ahead of us and the Germans were still a good bit away from them, so when they fired on the lead vehicles they had a chance to run and get out of there, which they did.
"I saw them coming and our column stopped. I jumped out of the truck and into a ditch full of icy cold water. All I could hear was firing. I popped my head up to see and all I could see was tracers. I never saw so many tracers in my life. I pulled my head back down as a tank rolled around the corner and came toward us. I could see that the men in the tank and the troops with them were SS troopers. They had the lightning bolts on their collars. All we had was carbines and here was this tank coming down the road at us. As it got close to us it leveled its gun at the ditch and the tank commander told us to surrender. What were we going to do? I threw my carbine down and threw my hands up."
The American prisoners were marched into an open field near the crossroads. Ted Paluch continued his narration:
"I had socks, gloves, and cigarettes, anything of value they took. The guys who captured us were young, they seemed like OK guys. They didn't mishandle us or rough us up, they simply took us prisoner, searched us and then moved on. They were combat troops and didn't have time to mess with us POWs. The guys that captured us and the tanks that were with them stayed around for about ten minutes and then disappeared. We were standing there in the field with our hands up not knowing what was coming. I could hear guys praying, maybe I was too--you know--you could hear it, all you could think of was getting away."
The rear guard of German infantry came into view. Tanks and other motorized vehicles.
"One of the vehicles came around the corner and started firing into our group. I don't know who the hell it was, or why they started firing but they did. We were standing there with our hands up and I was in the front of the group nearest the crossroads. As the German tanks passed they fired into the middle of the group of us, everybody started to drop and I dropped too. I got hit in the hand as I went down. After that as each vehicle passed they fired into the group of us laying there dead or dying in the field. Anyone who was moaning they came around and finished them off. After that they went back and took off. After laying there for I guess an hour or more I heard a voice I recognized yell, 'Let's go!', so I got up and ran down a little road towards a hedgerow. The Germans came out of the house on the corner and took a shot at me and I dove into a hedgerow. I had some blood on me and I lay down in the hedgerow. I heard one of them come running towards where I was laying and look me over. I could feel that guy standing above me, he could have shot me in the back and gotten it over with, but he didn't. I knew he was waiting for me to move but I just laid there, dead still."
Ted Paluch escaped by leaving the hedgerow and crawling along a railroad track to Malmedy. His wound was treated and he was interrogated by army intelligence. Two weeks later he was sent back to the front lines to join remnants of the 285th, who were now on the offensive against the Germans in the Ardennes.
Eighty four American soldiers died on or near the open field at the crossroads.
Peiper was the subject of controversy prior to the Malmedy massacre. On September 8, 1943, in Boves, Italy, about 45 Italian civilians were killed and 350 houses were destroyed by artillery fire from Peiper's SS unit. The bombardment was ordered in retaliation for the capture of two German NCOs by Italian partisans, who freed the German soldiers before the bombardment began.
Shortly after the Malmedy massacre, Peiper's SS troops murdered several more American POWs and Belgium civilians in Ligneuville. At Stavelot, Peiper's SS troops murdered about 100 Belgium civilians.
On the same day of the Malmedy massacre, eleven black American soldiers were taken prisoner at Wereth, Belgium by the German 1st SS Division. They were tortured and killed.
After the war ended, a war crimes commission indicted 74 Germans in connection with the Malmedy massacre. Peiper was one of them. A trial by military tribunal was held at Dachau in 1946. During the trial, Peiper's lawyers told the court that evidence against their client was obtained by torture and mock executions of German prisoners by American military personnel. Peiper told the court that he accepted responsibility for the conduct of troops under his command. He admitted the murder of civilians in Belgium but claimed they were partisans. Peiper and 42 other German defendants were sentenced to death by hanging on July 16, 1946.
An appeal was made to the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of "illegal and fraudulently obtained confessions." A special judicial commission and the U.S. Senate investigated the trial and its findings. The death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment and Peiper was released on parole in 1956. He returned to civilian life and worked for Porche.
Peiper and his family moved to France in 1972. In 1976, the French Communist Party and former French resistance fighters discovered that he was living in Traves, France, still using his given name. After death threats were made against him, he sent his family back to Germany but he continued to reside in Traves.
On July 14, 1976, Peiper was shot several times in his house and the house was set on fire. His burned corpse was discovered later that day. No one claimed responsibility for his murder.
References:
1) Wikipedia--Malmedy Massacre.
2) National WWII Museum, Oral History Spotlight.
3) Wikipedia--Joachim Peiper.
4) Axis History.
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