Malmedy

[Josh Beckett]

What caused the SS to start killing US service members in Malmedy during the massacre?

[kristensen]

Hi.

That's very hard to say. I have seen a lot of books on the subject and none of them gives the answer.
I think your guess is as good as anyone's.

[Greg]

If any of us could answer that, I think we could quickly become famous authors!

Seriously (I know you're asking a serious question), there are a few surviving soldiers of Kampfgruppe Peiper who were there and know what happened, but as one would expect they don't discuss it publicly. Maybe they don't even know why ...

Greg

http://www.ss501panzer.com/Trail_KG_Peiper.htm

[Don D.]

How about they were advancing and didn't want to waste time with prisoners???

[theinglebaby23]

We gotta remember that the 6th SS Panzer (I think) had just come from the Eastern Front, where this stuff was pretty common. I think the important lesson that can be seen and applied on battlefields today that we can learn from this is how counter productive these actions were. Ie. word got back quick to US forces, and I believe it was only a couple days later that Bastogne dug in, and other forces got fed up with Hitler's offensive and shut him down. I think these massacres played a fairly significant role in the Germans loss of the battle.

[Theodor]

In my opinion it was irrelevant to the outcome of the battlesuch kind of motivation has very little to do with the proportion of forces and resources, which was decisive in the battles.

But it is relevant to massacres like the one from January 1st 1945, when at Ch... /forgot the name now, at Belgium/ 60 Wehrmacht servicemen, US POWs, were marched behind some hills and there machinegunned.

[Jürg]

Malmedy

Hi all

A lot of different stories as well as a lot of different opinions. One of the them is published in Patrick Agte's book "Jochen Peiper" in which is said that the US POW have been told to walk back and that they will be picked up by troops in the back. It is said something that the US POW picked up their guns agian and that some german soldier hurrled with his gun and that during this a shot have been fired. This incident released a chain reaction and the fire was opened.

When I visited the museum at Elesenborn Ridge two years ago, I have been told by a Belgium officer that there have been evidence picture that the some of the shot POW still had their hand on their weapons and that the story as told was not corerct. Means the germans did not shot the US POW just to get rid of them.

As said different stories, different opinions and the mysterious about the truth will most likely not be known forever, as the last german survivors will not tell what really happened.

Jürg

[Simon O.]

I think something similar to what Jürg mentions is the most likely. The killings were then used most effectively in order to bolster fighting spirit\resistance. Tragic all round but such is war.

[Josh Beckett]

I know that there is no excuse to kill unarmed enemy service men in a time of war. But I heard that a US POW grabbed a Germans rifle and tried to shoot him and then the Germans unleashed MG fire and killed a few prisoners and then the rest started running away and you dont want to let any prisoners escape. Any way didnt Peiper keep a few of the survivors as prisoners?

[Jürg]

I know that there is no excuse to kill unarmed enemy service men in a time of war. But I heard that a US POW grabbed a Germans rifle and tried to shoot him and then the Germans unleashed MG fire and killed a few prisoners and then the rest started running away and you dont want to let any prisoners escape. Any way didnt Peiper keep a few of the survivors as prisoners?

No Peiper was not even at the place when the shooting took place so is is written in the book. There is nothing mentioned that any survivors was taken in by Peiper.

Jürg

[Josh Beckett]

It said it in World War II magazine. The battle of the bulge edition

[JaimeH]

What caused the SS to start killing US service members in Malmedy during the massacre?

Maybe because the SS had a history of not taking prisoners, not only on the eastern front but in France in 1940 and just about anywhere they fought?
Allied pilots were told not to surrender to the following people in this order:
Local citizenary
The SS
The local police
The Heer
The luftwaffe.

There were instances where the Luftwaffe had to rescue allied crewmen from civilian and or SS soldiers.

[Josh Beckett]

Why not the locals? Thats why the Stalag Lufts were so humane

[theinglebaby23]

Max Hastings wrote a book called "Armegeddon" (spell check). It was the most unbiased and in depth book on WWII out there. He talks about Malmedy, and how the 'disposal' of prisoners was a commonplace on all sides, and esp. on the E. front. Piper was a hardened Eastern Front vet of many years, indoctriated by the SS, and was under a crunch in a battle for time. His main concern was getting to the next Allied fuel cache, or else his offensive was literally dead in it's tracks. For a point unit to have to stop and handle prisoners is a big setback, esp. when you've got guys like Adolf over you. I think, whoever was in charge of that group, 'disposed' of the new POW's, the probability of that is highest.

[BILL]

Nobody seems to know what caused the Malmedy crime. The only info that I could ever find referred to unordered fire from passing german units into the U.S. pow's. It sounds more like mindless brutality as opposed to organised execution. The Waffen SS for sure "organised" civilian murders in this campaign though. That is a fact.