The Malmédy Massacre: A Lesson In Pictures for Bill O'Reilly (photos)

keopeli

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Fri Jun-02-06 03:07 AM
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The Malmédy Massacre: A Lesson In Pictures for Bill O'Reilly (photos)

I thought perhaps a lesson in photos might help Bill O'Reilly remember the truth about The Malmédy Massacre. Maybe this will prevent future abuse of our Soldiers and War Heroes by slandering their memory.

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On December 17, 1944, the European War of the fascist aggressor, Adolph Hitler was about the experience it's defining moment.

The German Army had taken devastating losses in Russia and was losing ground in the west as well. Though his advisers disagreed, Hitler wanted to launch an assault into Belgium and reach the sea, dividing the enemy. His advisers knew the troop strength had waned. They knew their premier forces were teenagers, recently recruited to replace catastrophic losses. They knew the enemy had heavy advantages. But, Hitler always believed the same thing on Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened on Tuesday.

There was a lot of activity in the region around Bastogne in December of 1944. The Germans were given the order to charge, and they ran a large force of their best troops across the region.

The elite Panzer troops were fresh from their homes where many had learned their families had been killed in intense bombing raids. They were young men, teenagers, and they were rabid for blood.

Current photo of The Malmédy Massacre site.

When the first two tanks on the road that day entered a clearing at a crossroads called 5-Points, they saw the tail end of an American convoy headed south. The blood thirsty troops fired on the convoy, killing a number of soldiers and taking over 100 prisoners.

But, the German Leader, Jochen Peiper, was furious about the delay. The troops were already 12 hours late and they were supposed to take out an American command post just a few miles ahead.

It was 2 o'clock and the temperature was zero degrees, though no snow was on the ground. They'd been delayed for two hours now.

Suddenly, three American soldiers decide to make a run for the trees, just a few dozen yards away. Pistol shots were fired. One escapee was killed.

Kenneth Ahrens demonstrates how he surrendered

An American soldier was executed which terrified the American POWs, and they started pushing to get behind each other. An American Officer yelled, "Stand fast!" but within moments, machine gun fire began plowing down the Americans who fell to their deaths in a group.

Though two soldiers escaped, one was killed by gunfire and found nearby. The other returned to Malmédy around 4 PM and told the story of what had happened. The Americans decided they would not investigate the crime alleged just 13 km south.

Distribution of the remains at the scene.

73 soldiers were executed that day. Amazingly, about 40 American soldiers SURVIVED the massacre by playing dead. They waited about an hour for the Germans to leave before extricating themselves from the pile of dead friends that had saved their lives. They made a run for the woods, but some German soldiers had remained in the area and many more soldiers were killed before they could get away. Still, there were about 30 survivors of the event.

The frozen corpses of the bodies were discovered on January 14, 1945. They were all sent to be autopsied and identified by the Americans. Several were frozen with their arms over their head in surrender.

The perpetrators of this war crime were tried at Dachau on May 1945 and found guilty. Though many were sentenced to death, all of their sentences were commuted because the prosecution had assembled their case so hastily. Appeals lasted more than 10 years and involved both the US Supreme Court and the Hague Court. The last prisoner, Peiper himself, was released in 1956.

In his defense, Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper said that he had instructed his men to fight as they had fought against the Russians, disregarding international law about the treatment of prisoners of war. The defendants testified that they had been instructed to take no prisoners, but they understood this to mean that because they were fighting in a tank unit, they were supposed to send POWs to the rear to picked up by infantry units.

Each of the accused was assigned a number because it was hard to keep the names of the 73 men straight. Gen. Sepp Dietrich (11) and Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper (42) were sentenced to death by hanging; General Fritz Krämer (33) was sentenced to 10 years in prison; General Hermann Priess (45) was sentenced to life in prison, but his sentence was commuted to 20 years.

In all, the accused were charged with murdering between 538 to 749 nameless Prisoners of War and more than 90 unidentified Belgian civilians in the locations mentioned on the charge sheet, which is quoted above. The accused SS men claimed that the civilians, who were killed, had been actively aiding the Americans during the fighting.

"The Malmédy Massacre! Who knows and cares anymore? No one – no one – will ever sort out the mess now! Too many lies have been told these last twenty-five-years."

"It's so long ago now. Even I don't know the truth. If I had ever known it, I have long forgotten it. All I knew is that I took the blame as a good CO should and was punished accordingly."

— Jochen Peiper, quoted in A Traveler's Guide to the Battle for the German Frontier by Charles Whiting, 1970

Lt. Col. Joachim Peiper on the witness stand, June 17, 1946.

Waiting for the Malmedy Massacre verdict outside the courtroom

Peiper poses for his mug shot at Schwabish Hall prison

Memorial to the victims of the Malmedy Massacre in Malmedy, Belgium.

The names of the victims are set on plaques within the stone.

more photos