On the Trail of Kampfgruppe Peiper - a Trip to the Ardennes

[Greg]

I wasn't sure whether to put this here, or in Achtung Panzer, but decided on here. I'd like to share some photos from a number of trips to the Ardennes battlefields, focusing on the routes taken by Kampfgruppe Peiper of the 1st SS-Panzer Division. The photos start in December 1994 during the 50th anniversary commemorations of the Battle of the Bulge. I was a staff officer in US Army Europe headquarters and helped set up the 50th anniversary commemorations.

Kampfgruppe Peiper was one of the spearhead units that was supposed to rapidly break through the American lines and drive to the Meuse River and beyond. It didn't work out that way, and a large part of that was due to the hilly terrain and secondary roads barely wide enough for the tanks. Peiper said in an interview after the war that his assigned route was fit only for bicycles.

Peiper ran into problems soon after he started on 16 December. Still in Germany just before the border with Belgium, his route crossed this bridge, which had been blown during the German retreat in September 1944 and hadn't yet been repaired by the engineers. Peiper simply bypassed the blown bridge through the area in the foreground of this photo. It was the first of many delays.

[Greg]

After passing through several small towns and meeting only light resistance, the Kampfgruppe continued on the morning of 17 December. The Panzerspitze (lead point elements of the column) neared the crossroads of Baugnez near Malmedy, and encountered a truck column of Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation battalion (US). Many of the artillerymen were taken prisoner after Peiper's tanks set their trucks on fire, and were herded into a nearby field. As the lead elements of the Kampfgruppe continued on, following units were put in charge of the POWs. What happened in that field that afternoon is still debated today, but will be forever known as the "Malmedy Massacre."

The photo is the modern monument at Baugnez. It is actually across the road from the "massacre field."

[Greg]

This photo is from the highway, looking out over the field where the American POWs were shot. It was taken at 2:30 PM on 17 December 1994, 50 years after the massacre. If ever there were ghosts on a battlefield, they must have been there, and I'll certainly say I had an eerie feeling looking out there!

[Greg]

The Cafe Bodarwé stood near the crossroads, at the edge of Massacre Field. Several of the soldiers of Battery B tried to hide there, but were rooted out by the Germans. The cafe was burned during the battle and rebuilt after the war.

[Greg]

Peiper's lead elements continued on secondary roads toward the city of Stavelot, where they planned to strike a better road going west. The route to Stavelot goes through hilly and wooded terrain, and the road probably hasn't changed much since 1944. The stretch shown in the photo is barely wide enough for two cars to pass, and it was dark by the time the Kampfgruppe reached this area on the evening of 17 December. It's hard to imagine the King Tigers of schwere SS-Panzer Abteilung 501 grinding their way through this terrain!

[Greg]

Peiper's lead elements were stalled on the hill leading down into Stavelot by the courageous actions of a small detachment of US combat engineers, and he decided to wait until the morning of 18 December to attack the town. By morning elements of an armored infantry battalion, some AA units, and other American outfits were in the town. Miraculously (for Peiper), the bridge across the Ambleve River wasn't blown, and the Germans poured across.

[Greg]

An American halftrack now guards the bridge at Stavelot.

[Greg]

Peiper's lead tanks passed through Stavelot and continued toward the next town of Trois Ponts, but his following elements encountered stiffer resistance from the American units still in the city. Later in the afternoon the 1. Kompanie of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 was trying to pass up the main street, but was forced by enemy fire to detour through this very narrow street called the Rue Haut Rivage. When Tiger number 105 of company commander SS-Obersturmführer Jürgen Wessel reached the top of the street just beyond the curve shown here, it was struck by antitank fire. The driver tried to reverse, lost control, and smashed the tank into the houses on the left side of the street.

[Greg]

Tiger 105 was immobilized and remained imbedded in the house until after the battle, when it was removed and sold for scrap.
(Photo provided by M. Courtejoie, Stavelot)

[Greg]

The Germans continued to fight to keep their supply line through Stavelot open. Tiger 222 of s. SS-Pz.Abt. 501 caught up to the front lines on the south side of the river at Stavelot. It was knocked out by an American tank destroyer on 20 December.
(Photo provided by M. Courtejoie, Stavelot)

[Greg]

The same house today.

[Greg]

Peiper was forced to bypass the city of Trois Ponts when US engineers blew the main bridge over the Ambleve River. He detoured north toward the small hill village of La Gleize.

The photos shows the Ambleve River between Trois Ponts and La Gleize. This is the obstacle Peiper was trying to cross. In the winter it can be deep and swift, and is indeed a major obstacle to tanks.

[Greg]

Kampfgruppe Peiper passed through the tiny village of La Gleize about noon on 18 December and continued westward, still hoping to strike the main highway to the Meuse.

[Greg]

The previously foggy weather cleared some on the afternoon of 18 December, and American air power could be brought to bear. US fighter-bombers attacked Peiper's column as it was moving from La Gleize to Cheneux. Peiper is said to have jumped out of his command halftrack and taken cover in this old bunker beside the road to Cheneux. One of his tank commanders reported that he emerged filthy and stinking from the muddy water in the bunker!

[Greg]

Once again turned aside on the evening of 18 December when American engineers blew another bridge right in front of his lead elements, Peiper tried to find a way through the town of Stoumont. On the west side of the town his lead Panthers encountered a hastily put-together force of Sherman tanks, and three Panthers were knocked out. One was said to have been destroyed by a shot striking the road in front of it and ricocheting up through the belly plate.

This monument marks the farthest advance of the Kampfgruppe on the road beyond Stoumont where the Panthers were knocked out. It is one of a series of monuments erected by the Belgian Touring Club to mark the farthest German advances during the Battle of the Bulge. It says, "Here the invader was stopped, winter 1944-45."