Battle Study # 11       

File No.: Battle Study # 11

Title: 84 enlisted men and NCO' s of "B" Battery,  285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion;

1 Military Police man;

1 enlisted man from the 86th Engineer Battalion;

10 enlisted men from the 575th and 546th Ambulance Companies;

8 enlisted men from the 32nd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion;

2 enlisted men from the 200th Field Artillery Battalion and

1 NCO from the 23rd Infantry Regiment
Investigation made at: Baugnez, Belgium & Dachau, Germany

Period Covered: December 17, 1944
Date: February, 2008
Case Classification: US soldiers killed by SS troops after being taken POW and disarmed
Status of Case: Closed

REASON FOR INVESTIGATION
This investigation was initiated after it was understood that the location where the infamous "Malmedy Massacre" took place on the 17^th of December 1944, is marked incorrectly as "on this spot" on the monument in honor of the killed US Servicemen.

(click on the image to enlarge)

Malmedy Massacre Memorial

SYNOPSIS:
A classic example of a war crime investigation is the Malmedy Massacre case. Much has been written about the incident and the ensuing investigation and subsequent trial. The incident is reenacted in Hollywood productions as "Battle of the Bulge" and "Saints and Soldiers". In this study we show the exact location where the incident took place.

DETAILS:
There are several accounts of what happened. We publish the three general scenario’s.
(Taken from Jean Paul Pallud's 1984 "Battle of the Bulge Then and Now".)

Scenario 1 "The Official Account"
This is the explanation of the sequence of events that was given by the prosecution at the post-war trial held at Dachau, Germany, of those alleged to have been responsible. There it was explained that after having surrendered, the American prisoners were gathered in a field beside the road and guarded by armoured vehicles and grenadiers. A German officer (sometimes identified as SS-Sturmbahnfuehrer (Major) Werner Poetschke) arrived with the bulk of the armoured column. This officer then ordered that the prisoners be killed, the actual command being initiated by the gunner of Panzer IV No. 731, SS-Sturmmann Georg Fleps, who reputedly fired the first shot with a pistol.

Scenario 2 "POW's mistaken for US combat troops"
This account leads one to believe that, as the prisoners had been left in the field under only light guard, they were on the point of taking up arms again when the main body of Kampfgruppe Peiper came on the scene. Mistaking the men for combatants, the German troops opened fire as they approached.

Scenario 3 "The Escape Theory"
While the Germans were otherwise engaged with their vehicles, possibly carrying out running repairs preparatory to pushing on through enemy territory, the American prisoners took the opportunity to make a break. A German fired a warning shot with his handgun whereupon panic broke out on both sides, the grenadiers opening up with machine guns.

While the first explanation - the 'official'version - may appear fairly plausible, the detailed statements given at the trial are somewhat unconvincing. Lieutenant Lary was photographed pointing out the culprit who fired the first shot as Georg Fleps who is seen, scrubbed and clean-shaven, sitting in the dock. At the time, Lary only had a few moments to see who had fired first in the meadow - a man who was then most probably muffled up in heavy winter clothing, unshaven and dirty. Could he safely identify such a man two years later in completely different surroundings? And why should a tank gunner open fire with a pistol when he had a much more effective weapon - the tank machine gun - at his disposal? And why, if a premeditated massacre, would half the prisoners standing in that field have survived?

Further reading
A very comprehensive article about the event and the ensuing trial was written by Michael Reynolds and appeared in the February 2003 issue of World War II magazine. For the online article click here.
 

CONCLUSIONS:
We have studied the official report of the Malmedy Massacre Investigation, numerous photographs, film footage and other literature on the subject. We also visited the location of the incident in Belgium. It is our opinion that what has actually happened will never be absolutely certain. What we can reconstruct from all available evidence is that a short skirmish took place between the lead elements of Kampfgruppe Peiper and the American soldiers before the latter surrendered. The Americans were all members of support and medical units and therefore lightly armed. Side arms would have been .30 caliber M1 carbines and .45 caliber automatic pistols and perhaps some .50 caliber heavy machine gun mounted on the trucks. The German soldiers in the Kampfgruppe formed the spearhead of the Ardennes Offensive and were by nature heavily armed. The Americans understood their options and choose wisely to surrender.

There are German accounts describing the short firefight and they describe machine gunners firing into the ditches alongside the road. It is known that G.I.'s took cover in these ditches. Undoubtedly, there must been Americans killed in action in that firefight. There are no doubts about the survivors and the wounded being herded into the pasture South of the Cafe Bodarwe. It is a known fact that the American soldiers were scared after what had happened to them. The fact that someone fired to shots, is confirmed by both American and German sources. It is also acknowledged that these shots had the effect of a starting signal to open fire with machineguns, mounted on the German vehicles at a very close range.
Much to their frustration, dismounted members of the German guard detail must have watched other German elements advance toward their objective.

They were under orders to wait for the infantry to collect the American POW's. Although there is no hard evidence of it, it is generally assumed that Peiper had instructed Major Werner Pőtschke: "You know what to do with prisoners!"
This command could either mean sending POW's to the rear or to shoot them. Group dynamics may have caused the German soldiers to reason that, after the first few prisoners were shot, it would be appropriate to kill them all as to not leave any witnesses to the incident.
If that was their intention, they did a sloppy job. There were survivors and their accounts of the incident grew to mythical proportions. Within twenty four hours, the death toll under US POW's would be well in the hundreds.

During the Malmedy Massacre investigation, confessions were obtained through the use of force by the American interrogators. This caused the court's verdicts to be reviewed. But it nevertheless leaves the main accusation untouched. A group of American soldiers was shot and killed after they had surrendered and were disarmed.

On February 23rd 2008, Battledetective.com visited the exact location of the field in which most of the massacre victims fell. After the first volley of fire, the G.I.'s made an escape attempt in the direction of a tree line on a slope in South Western direction. Several escapees were then shot in the fields leading to that tree line.

This is the field:

(click on image to enlarge)

EXHIBITS:
Although the monument marker says: "on this spot", the actual location on the massacre is across the road.
This is an impression of the location in Then and Now comparison photographs:

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The massacre field as it was found in January 1945 just prior to uncovering the bodies.

The cafe Bodarwe was set ablaze by the Germans shortly after the massacre.

After the war a memorial was erected across the road.

A museum was opened in December 2007 just a few hundred yards from the location of the massacre.

American soldiers march German POW's to the rear and pass by the location of the massacre. Note investigators stop their work to watch the German prisoners.

Approximately 100 yards south of the location is a new museum named Baugnez44. It was officially opened in December 2007 and features weapons, uniforms, vehicles, photographs, film footage and other items which all tell the story of the Battle of the Bulge. The museum puts a certain emphasis on the Malmedy Massacre in various displays. There are scaled dioramas and a life size impression of what the field must have looked like before investigators started to recover the bodies of the killed GI's in January 1945.

This is an impression of what the museum shows about this subject:
 

 

Bouquet in the middle of the massacre field

The article has these paragraphs that are interesting for this Battle Study:

"The 3060th Quartermaster Graves Registration Service Company's 4th Platoon [...] arrived in the MALMEDY area and entered the massacre site on January 13, 1945,
immediately after US units had recaptured the crossroads area.
[...]
Operations began at the massacre field on January 14, 1945, and ended late the next day.
Throughout the operation, the recovery field remained a frontline combat area. The US Infantry had dug foxholes across a corner of the field, and German artillery
observers could see the activity around the crossroads area. On several occasions, incoming German artillery fire forced temporary suspension of work. In some cases,
the shelling mangled some of the remains, complicating recovery and identification.
[...]
Litter teams from the 3200th Quartermaster Service Company and the 291st Engineer
Battalion carried the remains several hundred meters on a road leading to MALMEDY to a point secure from German observation. There the teams loaded the remains onto trucks
for the short trip to the processing site.
[...]
The 3060th set up processing operations in an abandoned railway building in MALMEDY The building had bombing and artillery
damage to its roof and walls and had no running water and no electricity to permit night operations. However, it was the best available facility which combined space, proximity
to the recovery site, security and access to operation support. Processing operations ceased at nightfall. Other advantages of the railway building included a tile floor for
laying out the remains and the building's relative obscurity, which sheltered it from public view. The temperature inside stayed little above freezing, and workers had to set up
several coal-burning drums to provide some heat. Upon entering the railway station, 3060th Quartermaster Company workers placed the remains on the tile floor and then moved them
to tables for processing.
[...]
A survey of the 72 autopsies and photographs of remains on file indicate at least 20 had potentially fatal gunshot wounds to the head inflicted at
very close range in addition to wounds from automatic weapons. Most head wounds showed powder burns on the remains' skin. An additional 20 showed evidence of small caliber gunshot
wounds to the head without powder burn residue. Another 10 had fatal crushing or blunt trauma injuries, most likely from a German rifle butt. This easily confirmed US suspicions that
a serious atrocity actually did occur.
[...]
Lessons Learned
---------------
The Malmedy Massacre happened 52 years ago. Although Quartermaster mortuary affairs doctrine has undergone many changes since then, lessons learned from the operation still apply to
operations today.
[...]
Work Site Selection.
Several factors prevented using large buildings near the recovery site as a primary workplace. First, the site remained under German aircraft overflights, observation and intermittent
artillery fire. Second, a smaller railway building with some heat source would greatly ease the cold conditions for soldiers performing the processing operations. Third, the railway building
in MALMEDY was much closer to the barracks and mess facility supporting the workers. Fourth, the smaller building's location was easily protected from public view. Fifth, the road network of Malmedy
could be easily accessed from the railway building. Although not a perfect site, the railway building offered the best combination of advantages and the fewest disadvantages.
Using Joint Publication 4-06 checklists as a yardstick, the MACP building satisfied most of today's requirements."

In december 2009, Battledetective.com visited the railway station building of Malmedy. We found the rail road tracks abandoned and the steel rails removed. The building still looks like the one in 1945 as seen on a period photo:

The building is on a bus terminal serving the area around Malmedy.
An impression of the building and surrounding area:

(click on the images to enlarge)

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