Stavelot Express

On December 17th, Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper of the 1st SS Panzer Division broke through the American lines and started his race to the Meuse River. By 1600 hours his advance units reached the outskirts of Stavelot. The town was …

1944-10-17

8

On December 17th, Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper of the 1st SS Panzer Division broke through the American lines and started his race to the Meuse River. By 1600 hours his advance units reached the outskirts of Stavelot. The town was jammed with supply trucks trying desperately to flee when Peiper’s tanks started shelling the town. At dawn on the 18th, after penetrating the U.S. anti-tank defenses, Peiper’s armored units move through the town and seize the bridge. The Americans withdraw, but not before the 526th Armored Infantry Battalion is able to blow up the fuel dump that is vital to Peiper’s advance.

Stavelot, Belgium

The Malmedy massacre was a war crime committed by members of Kampfgruppe Peiper, a German Waffen-SS unit led by Joachim Peiper and part of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, at Baugnez crossroads near Malmedy, Belgium, on December 17, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge. Eighty-four American prisoners of war were massacred by their German captors. The prisoners were assembled in a field and shot with machine guns; those still alive were killed by close-range shots to the head.

Wikipedia: Malmedy massacre

German

American