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The corpse of an American soldier killed by the SS in the Malmedy atrocity.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 24652

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    The corpse of an American soldier killed by the SS in the Malmedy atrocity.
    The corpse of an American soldier killed by the SS in the Malmedy atrocity. The original caption reads "American soldiers were shot by German troops after they had surrendered were left where they had fallen in the snow. Barbed wire is conspicuous where this soldier had fallen. These German atrocities were committed on or about the 17th of December 1944 in the vicinity of Five Ponts near Malmedy, Belgium."

    Overview

    Caption
    The corpse of an American soldier killed by the SS in the Malmedy atrocity.

    The original caption reads "American soldiers were shot by German troops after they had surrendered were left where they had fallen in the snow. Barbed wire is conspicuous where this soldier had fallen. These German atrocities were committed on or about the 17th of December 1944 in the vicinity of Five Ponts near Malmedy, Belgium."
    Date
    1944 December 17
    Locale
    Malmedy, [Liege] Belgium
    Photo Credit
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
    Event History
    On December 17, 1944, the 1st SS Panzer Division of the Sixth Panzer Army, commanded by Colonel Jochen Peiper, was heading west from Buellingen as part of the general German advance during the Battle of the Bulge. At the same time, an American convoy of thirty vehicles and nearly 140 men of Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion was heading south from Huertingen Forest toward Ligneuville. The two forces converged just before noon at the crossroads hamlet of Baugnez, two and a half miles south of Malmedy. Kampfgruppe Peiper immediately began firing upon Battery B, sending the Americans into a panic. Those who did not escape, including medical personnel, quickly surrendered to the SS troopers and after being searched and relieved of their personal possessions, the 126 men were lined up in eight rows in a field at the crossroads. Following general instructions from Hitler to show "no human inhibitions" and take no prisoners of war, the men of Kampfgruppe Peiper then shot all the GIs. The SS troopers followed the shooting by kicking each body to ensure that there were none still living. Survivors of the atrocity recalled being fired upon several times, and even hearing laughter as the SS killed the Americans. Finally the Germans left the site, leaving 86 American soldiers dead. Surprisingly, just over 40 Americans survived the incident, now known as the Malmedy massacre, either by fleeing into the woods or feigning death.

    https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006178

    Rights & Restrictions

    Photo Source
    National Archives and Records Administration, College Park
    Copyright: Public Domain
    Source Record ID: 111-SC-226763

    Keywords & Subjects

    Record last modified:
    2007-04-06 00:00:00
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/pa1085474

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