Figure 1.--Here are some of the Belgian civilians shot by the SS in Stavelot. Belgian civilians told the GIs that the SS troopers shot the children because their crying annoyed them. U.S. Army |
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German soldiers, especially SS units commited a serious of attrocities during the fighting in the Builge. The best known is the Malmedy massacre. SS units massacred 86 unarmed American soldiers that had surrendered. A SS unit commanded by Colonel Peiper shot Americans captured at Baugnez. (Peipher was a commander in Sepp Dtrich's 6th SS Panzer Army. Detrich was noytorious on the Eastern Front for executing 6,000 Russian POWs in repriasl for killing 6 SS soldiers.) The Americans were shot on a road near Malmeddy. The SS had captured 140 men. They succeeded in shooting 86 men, but 43 men escaped. While small compared to what went on in the East, the Malmedy Massacre was the worst atrocity committed against American troops by the Germans. The SS killed other American soldiers who has surendered as well as Belgian civilians, but the Malmedy massacre is the best known incident. After the War, the Americans made a major effoty to track down and bring those responsible to judstice. Rumors of the massacre spread rapidly throughout the American army. This affected how the Americans viewed surrender. It also affected the treatment of German soldiers trying to surrender once the tide of battle turned. American soldiers were noit the only target of the SS. The Germans were under no illusions about the sympathies of Belgian civilians. There were numerous incidents of SS soldiers shooting civilians, including women and children. A SS unit commanded by Joachim Peiper murdered 93 civilians in Stavelot. (A huge American fuel depot was located only about 1 mile from Stavelt. The Americans set in afire before Peiper's panzers could reach it.) Civilians told the American soldiers that retook the town that the Germans shot the children, because their crying was annoying. There were numerous other such incidents.
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