WW2 Battle Of The Bulge: MALMEDY MASSACRE 1944 

My father was on the front lines of the Batlle of the Bulge on the morning of December 16, 1944 positioned on the hill outside of Murringen. By midnight, the 134th AAA Gn Bn was given orders to withdraw and almost certainly passed thru this intersection. My dad said that word of this massacre of prisoners spread thru the American troops like wildfire. The GI's realized that if they surrendered, the SS troops would certainly murder them in cold blood. This reality quickly turned the battle into a knock down, battle to the death. Surrender was not an option. I toured the Ardennes during June 2007. Visiting this memorial was an important stop on the tour.

Well done. Thank you for respectfully memorializing these men.

Such a sad story. Thank you for honouring those brave men.

Thank you for honoring, these fallen men. War is ugly, and not righteous much of the time- it’s good that things like this are exposed.

As a kid I remember visiting the Bataan Death March- As an adult, and a soldier… I keep thinking- if only they knew what was in stored for them, they would have fought to the last man.

Thanks for your interesting presentation on your perspective of this dreadful massacre.

While I was there a few years ago all I could think of was the horrific images and videos of the frozen bodies being dug up. Even though it was a sunny day in June.

Another great video! Thankyou!

I was watching this interview of a survivor that played dead- he remembers the SS soldiers mocking the dying men calling out to their mothers. So horrible, despicable…

Brought me to tears......those young boys taken like that.

Spent this weekend in Stavelot and did the round robin of your videos so Thanks. Concur that the Dec 44 museum is great.

Fascinating but horrific story, can't even imagine what the ones who survived the initial firing went through. Thanks for the video. It's easy to forget that war is usually utter hell for the soldiers involved, on all sides. Many still believe that only the Germans were capable of such acts. My Grandfather fought in North Africa with the British Tank Corps. His cousin told me about a time years after the war. My Grandad had issue with some young lads in a pub in Newcastle . They were mouthing off about how evil the Germans were. He tried to tell them not to talk about things they knew nothing about but they mouthed off at him and carried on. Angered my Grandad pinned one of them against the wall and told them about the time his unit killed a company of German soldiers who had surrendered. His unit had orders not to halt the their advance for any reason and not to take any prisoners. They captured a company of Germans who surrendered. The Germans were all lined up in ranks and killed by three machine guns. His unit left them where they fell and continued advancing I've no idea if it was a full company of men or whether that got lost in translation over the years but it was significant enough for it to have quite an impact on my Grandad years later

My grandmother told me that my grandfather Samuel Albert H was also killed in the massacre in Malmedy, I have never gone on a pilgrimage there. If God allows me, someday when I have enough savings I will visit the place where my grandfather was killed.

Another Fantastic video .. Well Done 👏🏻 Such a shame that the wonderful museum closed ,it was Excellent !!

We had a fair near Fredericksburg VA several years ago. We had reenactors from different eras: Romans, French and Indian War, Civil War, Revolution and FIRST SS PANZER. When I complained (my father was a combat infantry officer, Omaha Beach, 29th Division,) The organizers did not understand what was wrong with this.

I was lucky enough to see that memorial and the location of the massacre in 2019, and it's quite a powerful place to be and uh it makes you think of when you see those names on the wall 😞 ° the tour guider told us that one person from that massacre survived it, Will More, who actually came back several years later and was disgusted and angry that his name was on the memorial...so they got rid of it

Not sure if you have covered the retreat of at Dunkirk but I think its worth mentioning it it was either British or Canadian troops put in to a barn and hand grenades thrown in to the the barn by the SS The barn still stands today in their memory, some played dead and manage to escape.

First time I’ve heard of uncertainty re the circumstances. Don’t be afraid to call out nazis mate. Love your videos.

Like many other war crimes, this event sealed the fates of EVERY identified SS soldier, very few were taken prisoner anywhere in the campaign, and not through choice!

I’m thinking that house built on that field after the war has got to be haunted big time.

brilliant war stories love everything about battle of the bulge not long ago bought a book called battle of the bulge now and then by jean Paul pallud

Yes I was there this summer. Studs Turkel wrote an acclaimed book of interviews one of which was with a cameraman who witnessed a shootout in a square in or outside of Munich. The SS gave up and he ran down the stairs of a house and followed the Americans marching the surrendered Germans into a courtyard where they got mowed down. Naturally this was well after Malmedy. His superiors said they could not develop the film….right….🙄

Please bless and keep them dear Lord

Pieper got a dose of karma. Great job on your videos. I learned some things I didn't know.

I remember watching America’s Most Wanted, a long time ago- turned out that one of the people of interest was a survivor of the massacre. I kept thinking, “maybe- give this guy a pass🤷🏻.” I don’t know what he did, or his name- I should look it up.

My father told me that when this happened that most U.S. troops including himself had a even harder heart from then on towards the "care" of german prisoners especially those of the SS.

Once again a very good interesting video .......just out of interest, in the courtroom photo with Pieper , the guy to the left of 34 looking straight at you is this not Gustav Knittel.

Lest we Forget

Rip to all those men

For anyone interested in this subject the documentary (malmedy and the American attitude to justice) is well worth a watch!

I think you are one of the few to point out this might not of been the clear-cut massacre it has always been made out to be.

According to reports the unit was told to avoid the route But the officer decided otherwise!

Peiper wasn't even present when this event happened. He was a scapegoat. PoWs that were with his kampgruppe stated they were treated properly and when the gruppe retreated they were released unharmed with food and water provided. No evidence was ever presented during the trial that he had ordered prisoners murdered. Like General Yamashita in the Philippines, he was blamed for events when he was miles away at the time.

please activate automatic subtitles (French-speaking Belgium)

A fitting end to a monster who defiled the reputation of fighting men of every nation. I hope and pray he went slowly, screaming to the end.

We should never forget them

There should be a memorial placed in that field

Kind of hypocritical they were put on trial when the Americans did the exact same thing to the Germans and Italians 🙄👍🏻👏🏻

Peiper was at the head of the KG. No such order to shoot prisoners was given. There would have been many more such incidents if there was such an order. That trial was such a sham that an investigation had to take place. The Ardennes offensive is still misunderstood in many aspects, and it's ridiculous. The G.I.'s shot thousands of German prisoners by the end of the war. I can tally up about 500 from what I've read and listened to. 200 men of the 17th SS were killed outside of Nuremburg just for the evil fun of it. The circumstances of the incident are seldom looked at. KG Peiper was strung out for about 15 miles along one or two roads. Vehicles were passing along that cross roads while the prisoners were there. Whatever happened was local.

Unfortunately it was not the only case. The journalist Rick Atkinson in the book "The Day of Battle" the war in Sicily and Italy 1943-1944 cites the following fact: Here Atkinson tells a story I had never heard. A story that presents American soldiers not as “liberators” or “captors” of the Italians, but as their murderers. A story that contradicts Winston Churchill's statement - made at a press conference in Washington after the meetings that planned the invasions of Sicily and Italy - that “We will not stain our name with an inhuman act.” No less than two months after Churchill's statement, on Wednesday, July 14, 1943, Oklahoma National Guard members of the 180th Infantry executed dozens of Axis prisoners near Biscari, Sicily. Outside a group of olive trees along the Ficuzza River, Sgt. Horace West pointed a submachine gun at a group of 46 men (all but three Italians), killing thirty-seven. Later that afternoon, Captain John Travers Compton organized a firing squad (“several men volunteered”) that executed his 36 Italian prisoners (five in civilian clothes).

Kampfgruppe Peiper's war crimes are well-documented and included the 1943 Boves massacre. Peiper's and his troops' death sentences were commuted and he lived until 1976.

This wasn't an isolated case in the campaign. The 1st Waffen SS murdered prisoners all through the advance until they were crushed at La Gleize and fled on foot back to their own lines. They also murdered at least 117 Belgian civilians in and around Stavelot. It is true that they treated the POWs held at La Gleize correctly, but by then they were trapped by American units on all sides. You don't murder prisoners when you may have to surrender.

We will probably never know the exact truth. Nevertheless, people have died. R.I.P.

Quid de la destruction des villes de malmedy et saint Vith entièrement rasées par l ' aviation américaine, causant de très nombreuses victimes civiles ???

No comment.

was Christ wearing Camo trousers in court ?

Part of this scene was portrayed in the movie "Battle of The Bulge". R.I.L. to all those servicemen who lost their lives in this undisciplined mass killing by German SS Soldiers at that time. ❤❤

It's interesting to see all the people commenting on how horrible the Germans were in this instance, yet totally ignore the fact the Allies did the exact same thing all throughout WW2. It happened in North Africa, DDay and onwards, etc. No army was immune from killing prisoners of war, especially when advancing to achieve objectives at speed. There is plenty of documentation about these instances available these days. The massacre was also used as a huge propaganda tool to stiffen the resolve of the troops which worked as stated. Also alot of the confessions were obtained in a less than humane manner. This is also well documented and was one of the many reasons why Pieper was released from prison.

Roosevelt brought them to that hell

Glad they got him in the end

I remember seeing the Battle Of The Bulge when it came out, and it was portrayed as a deliberate act of mass murder where a truck pulled up and a machine gun SG 42 on the back and the curtain was rolled up and the machine gun opened fire and 2 escaped.

Peiper should have faced a firing squad.

My readings show why german soldiers did what they did. 1. The battle of the bulge was a fast moving attack. 2. German had no time to take prisoners. 3. There was no place to put them.

I don't think any of them should be on trial. All is fair in love and war. No one was ever charged with the massacre of natives in America.

Our guide that took us there said that civilians and American soldiers alike heard of this massacre. Whomever was responsible for this crime didn’t do the Germans a favor. The Americans made sure that they didn’t surrender. The guide told a story about a young German soldier that took refuge in a farm with an old lady. He didn’t want to fight. This was in the German speaking part of Belgium. When the offensive had failed and the Americans came, he wanted to surrender to them. He was shot at point blank range in front of the old lady. These things happened. Some Americans weren’t taking prisoners either.

Ironically the u.s was executing their prisoners too at chenogne

Even today I could never forgive, or get close to a German...!

Chenogne?any news?