World War II: Malmedy Massacre ‐ Murder of American POWs Trial Films 53 minutes of film of the Malmedy Massacre trial at Dachau. The Malmedy Massacre was a war crime committed by members of Kampfgruppe Peiper (part of the 1st SS Panzer Division), a German combat unit led by Joachim Peiper, at Baugnez crossroads near Malmedy, Belgium, on December 17, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge.
The film segments include testimony of U.S. soldiers who survived the Massacre. Lt. Col. Barton J. Ellis, Chief Prosecutor, tells of the killing of American and Allied prisoners by men of the SS Panzer Regiment. Harry Tome of the prosecution being cross-examined concerning the beating of German prisoners during their interrogation at Schwabisch Hall. Sentencing of the convicted.
On December 16, 1944, the German Army began the Ardennes offensive known as the Battle of the Bulge. On December 17, 113 American soldiers surrendered to a German armored column under the command of SS Colonel Joachim Peiper [variant: Piper]. After the American prisoners were disarmed, they were assembled in a field near Malmedy, Belgium, and shot. Several weeks after the “Malmedy Massacre,” even more American POWs and a smaller number of
Belgian civilians were also shot and killed by German troops during the Ardennes Offensive, commonly known as the “Battle of the Bulge.”
Seventy‐four Germans were later tried by a U.S. military government court for the murders committed at Malmedy and other locations between 16 December 1944 and 13 January 1945. Seventy‐three were eventually found guilty following the trial, which began on 16 May 1946, at Dachau, Germany. Forty‐three were sentenced to be hanged; twenty‐two received life imprisonment; and the remainder were sentenced to jail terms between ten and twenty years. However, no one was put to death, and by Christmas 1956, all the convicted men had been released from prison.
In March 1949, in response to charges alleging unfair conduct by the prosecution in the Malmedy cases, the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services appointed a subcommittee to review the Army’s investigative and trial procedures. The Hon. Raymond E. Baldwin, chairman, presided over the subcommittee hearings, which were held in April, May, June, and September 1949. The subcommittee report was released by the full committee on October 13, 1949.
In 1976 while living in France, Joachim Peiper was killed. It is believed that he was killed by either former World War II era Communist resistance members or former French Resistance Members.
For the Malmedy Massacre Record of Trial and the Congressional Hearings, and more information about the Malmedy Massacre go to:
https://downloads.paperlessarchives.com/p/dmo0ma/
