Dec 17th, 1944-72nd anniversary of the Malmedy Massacre.

[The sad anniversary is coming and its one ill never forgive the Germans for. Most of the murdered American PWs-were from the: B Battery, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion from Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Honor Roll of names-and causes of death.

Shot in the head: Pvt. Donald L. Bloom. Corporal Joseph A. Brozowski. Tech 5/ Samuel P. Burkett. Pvt. 1st class, L.M. Burney. Pfc. Homer S. Carson. Pfc. Robert Cohen. Tech 5/ John D. Collier. Pfc. Howard C. Desch. Pvt. William J. Dunbar. Corp. Carl B. Fitt. Pfc. Donald P. Flack. Pfc. Carl B. Frey. Staff Sergeant, Donald E. Geisler. 1st Lieutenant Carl R. Genthner. Corp. Sylvester V. Herchelroth. 2nd Lt. Lloyd A. Iames. Corp. Ralph J. Indelicato. Corp. Raymond E. Lester. Tech 4/ Selmer H. Leu. Sgt. Benjamin Lindt. Tech 5/ James E. Luers. Corp. Lawrence Martin. 1st Lt. Thomas E. McDermott. Corp. Halsey J. Miller. Captain Roger J. Mills. Pvt. Keston E. Mullen. 1st Lt. John S. Munzinger. Pfc. Thomas W. Oliver. Pfc. Paul L. Paden. Pvt. Peter R. Phillips. Pvt. Stanley F. Piasecki. Corp. Carl H. Rullman. Tech 5/ Max Schwitzgold. Pvt. Wayne L. Scott. Tech 4/ Irwin M. Sheetz. Pvt. John H. Shingler. Corp. Carl M. Stevens. Tech 5/ Luke S. Swartz. Pfc. Elmer W. Wald. Tech 5/ Dayton E. Wusterbarth.

Shrapnel. Pfc. Warren Davis. Pvt. Walter J. Perkowski. Tech 4/ John M. Rupp Jr.

Died from bleeding. Pvt. Carl H. Blough. Pvt. Paul R. Carr. Pfc. John Klukavy. Pfc. Richard B. Walker.

Died from blow to the head.

Tech 5/ Charles R. Breon. Tech 5/ Howard W. Laufer. Staff Sergeant John D. Osborne.

High explosion shells.

Pfc. John J. Clymire. Tech 5/ Charles F. Haynes. Tech 5/ George R. Rosenfeld.

Concussion.

Pfc. Frederick Clark.

Machine gun or small arms fire.

Pvt. James H. Coates. Pvt. John H./ Cobbler. Sgt. Walter A. Franz. 2nd Lt. Solomon S. Goffman. Pvt. Samuel F\A. Hallman. Tech 5/ William M. Jones Jr. Cpl. Oscar R. Jordan. Tech 5/ Alfred Lengyel Jr. Tech 3/ James G. McGee. Tech Sergeant William T. McGovern. Corp. David T. O'Grady. Pvt. Gilbert R. Pittman. 1st Lt. Perry L. Reardon. Pvt. Oscar Saylor. Sgt. Robert J. Snyder. Sgt. Alphonse J. Stabulis. Tech 4/ George B. Steffy. Tech 5/ Thomas F. Watt. Tech Vester H. Wiles.

Crushed.

Tech 4/ Allen M. Lucas. Tech 5/ Robert L. McKinney. Corp. William H. Moore.

Unknown.

Tech Sgt. Paul G. Davidson. Pfc. Charles E. Hall. Sgt. Alfred Kinsman. Pfc. David M. Murray.

Officially declared dead.

Pvt. Elwood E. Thomas.





Near where they were murdered:


Murder site:



A Cemetary:

A survivor:


Rest in Peace Gents!!!!!!

"Where Liberty Dwells, Is My Country"

John Toland wrote two books about The Battle of the Bulge and interestingly enough neither really mentioned Malmedy.

Smoke said:

John Toland wrote two books about The Battle of the Bulge and interestingly enough neither really mentioned Malmedy.

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I had his book-1st addition too. Read it till it fell apart too. The authoritative author on this massacre-is John M. Bauserman

the massacre is mentioned in "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson but really doesn't go into a lot of detail. I think they brought the SS guy in charge up for war crimes. I think they found him guilty but he never had to pay for the crimes.

steveno said:

the massacre is mentioned in "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson but really doesn't go into a lot of detail. I think they brought the SS guy in charge up for war crimes. I think they found him guilty but he never had to pay for the crimes.

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I think he was murdered in France in the Fifties

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2yFlN9IPY4[/ame]

about the massacre and memorial

steveno said:

....I think they brought the SS guy in charge up for war crimes. I think they found him guilty but he never had to pay for the crimes.

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Joachim Peiper did spend 12 years in prison for war crimes. Malmedy wasn't the only one he was associated with; there were others in Italy and Belgium involving the execution of prisoners and civilians. But he later went on to have a career in business. He died in an arson attack on his house in France in the 1970s, I believe. I don't think they ever figured out who did it, but late revenge from the war seemed the obvious motive. There were lots of people and groups who would have had a motive.

The late actor Charles Durning - The Sting/ The Final Countdown - was also a survivor
Regards, Ray

Ray said:

The late actor Charles Durning - The Sting/ The Final Countdown - was also a survivor
Regards, Ray

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I was unaware of this. This was an ugly incident in a war too full of such atrocities all across the globe.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

My father told me there were atrocities like this on all sides. He had nightmares, one of a British Mosquito fighter strafing civilians trying to get away from the front. Still a horrible event in a horrible war.

Ray said:

The late actor Charles Durning - The Sting/ The Final Countdown - was also a survivor
Regards, Ray

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kaaskop49 said:

I was unaware of this. This was an ugly incident in a war too full of such atrocities all across the globe.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

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I did some research and there's no concrete evidence that he was there and apparently he never made any such claim.

steveno said:

the massacre is mentioned in "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson but really doesn't go into a lot of detail. I think they brought the SS guy in charge up for war crimes. I think they found him guilty but he never had to pay for the crimes.

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Joe McCarthy was a big defender of Joachim Peiper and the other SS men who perpetrated not just the Malmedy Massacre, but the Ouradour su Glaine Massacre as well.

Peiper did eventually get what was coming to him in the end.

After the war, he moved to France(!) and took up farming. A group (unidentified to this day, I believe) attacked his farmhouse, burning it to the ground and killing him.

Were I to have the acting chops of a Sir Lawrence Olivier, a Paul Robeson and a Sonny Chiba combined, I could never convincingly pretend to have one iota of sympathy for him.

Absalom said:

Joachim Peiper did spend 12 years in prison for war crimes. Malmedy wasn't the only one he was associated with; there were others in Italy and Belgium involving the execution of prisoners and civilians. But he later went on to have a career in business. He died in an arson attack on his house in France in the 1970s, I believe. I don't think they ever figured out who did it, but late revenge from the war seemed the obvious motive. There were lots of people and groups who would have had a motive.

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The Ouradour sur Glaine Massacre was even more horrific than Malmedy, since it was committed against civilians.

It puts to the lie the "necessity" defense put forward by Peiper's apologists. The SS just liked to kill helpless people and sure did a lot of it, from Russia to France.

Smoke said:

I think he was murdered in France in the Fifties

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More like executed, and in '76. I remember hearing with satisfaction, the news of his death.

dad said the news about the Germans massacring prisoners spread up & down the American lines during the Battle of the Bulge... increasing their resolve to fight even harder. This was during the coldest winter recorded in European history. When our forces captured some of the Germans dressed as American GI's soon afterward, they were quickly tried & executed.

steveno said:

the massacre is mentioned in "The Guns at Last Light" by Rick Atkinson but really doesn't go into a lot of detail. I think they brought the SS guy in charge up for war crimes. I think they found him guilty but he never had to pay for the crimes.

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That would be Obersturmbannfuhrer (Lt.Col.) Peiper-who got off way too lightly. I dont think he actually made the decision to kill them-rather a subordinate who took Sep Dietrich's orders too seriously. There were Amis taken prisoner by Peiper's unit--about 116 of them, and they were sent to the rear.

Smoke said:

I think he was murdered in France in the Fifties

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He was shot and killed in France--but I think it was in the 70s?? The French authorities thought the killers were former members of the French Resistance--or the: Maquis." The authorities didnt press their investigation very much. Peiper defended himself with a .22 cal rifle.

da gimp said:

dad said the news about the Germans massacring prisoners spread up & down the American lines during the Battle of the Bulge... increasing their resolve to fight even harder. This was during the coldest winter recorded in European history. When our forces captured some of the Germans dressed as American GI's soon afterward, they were quickly tried & executed.

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That's EXACTLY what the German high command wanted to happen--to spread terror to their enemy. Its also said that some of the Germans were shooting PWs as a kinda "payback" for us bombing their cities.

I don't think anybody except maybe the guy who fired the first shot knows who fired the first shot.

From everything I've read the actual Malmedy Massacre sounds like it started more from confusion than anything else. Some reports say that some of the prisoners took off running some say that some of the prisoners picked up discarded weapons and fired at the Germans.

What I don't think happened is what they showed in the movie (Which was about as historically accurate as 1941) where the Germans lined everyone up in a field, deliberately set up machine guns and opened fire.

Smoke said:

I don't think anybody except maybe the guy who fired the first shot knows who fired the first shot.

From everything I've read the actual Malmedy Massacre sounds like it started more from confusion than anything else. Some reports say that some of the prisoners took off running some say that some of the prisoners picked up discarded weapons and fired at the Germans.

What I don't think happened is what they showed in the movie (Which was about as historically accurate as 1941) where the Germans lined everyone up in a field, deliberately set up machine guns and opened fire.

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There's no doubt about what they did at Ouradour sur Glaine. Between that and Malmedy, the SS showed who they really were.