Why were American prisoners of war shot at ?

Indeed, it has never been doubted that, at the time of Peiper’ s combat group’s arrival at Baugnez, it had already captured hundreds of American soldiers, moving them to POWs camps and even carrying them on their vehicles, without causing them any harm whatsoever. This is evidenced in plenty by pictures, depositions and testimonies of the prisoners in question.

Why then this sudden & U-turn change in the German soldiers’ behavior ?

On 30 January 1988, Gust Cuppens traveled to Germany ; he filed this report. At the time some ‘Panzers’ of Peiper’s 7th Company and a few halftracks (SPW) came to a standstill on the narrow Baugnez ‘Five Points’ to Ligneuville road, halfway between Café ‘Bodarwe’ and a spot at a distance of some 250 meters past the ill- fated pastureland, dozens of bodies of American KIAs (‘Killed in Action’), littered the area ; some 80 American prisoners were awaiting their (mis)fortune in the middle of the doomed makeshift coral. Hans Siptrott, the ‘Panzer’ IV 731 commandant, has never denied having been there and then (his deposition refers). His mount was the leading armor of a detail of ‘Panzers’, with their 7,5cm (75mm)- barrels pointing in the direction of Ligneuville, at about 250 meters past the prison camp meadow. The second German vehicle, the ‘Panzer’ IV 732, stood some 5 to 10 meters behind the ‘Panzer’ IV 731. Then came a few half- tracks. The tankers manning the ‘Panzers’ and the soldiers riding the half-tracks, were strangers to each other. A few more ‘Panzers’ and halftracks stood there, with their engines idling at half throttle, not far from Siptrott’ s vehicle and close to Cafe ‘Bodarwe’ and the crossroads and opposite the pastureland. In the meantime German ‘Panzers’ continued to move from Thirimont to Baugnez. There was quite some traffic and activity at and about the crossroads. According to testimonies of American survivors, there was quite some hustle and bustle among the coraled prisoners (inter alia H. R. Zach’ s testimony refers.)

German ‘Panzers’ and halftracks were parked at the Baugnez crossroads. Crewmen of a half- track were mending a minor break down. The ‘Panzer’ that was finding itself, then and there, at the greatest distance of the crossroads was Hans Siptrott’s 731. The commandant stood upright in the turret, with the upper part of his body clearly visible for everyone. Inside the tank, at the front left, were seated the driver, Gerhard Schaefer, with Otto Arnold, the wireless operator next to him. Behind these two, to the left, was seated the gunner, Wetengel. Next to Wetengel, to his right and consequently well inside the tank, the loader, Georg Fleps. A ‘Panzer’ IV‘ s side- hatches or panels can be opened. However, whilst stationed at Baugnez, the hatches have not been opened at any moment in time. Nevertheless, Fleps could very well, through openings in the right panel, keep an eye on the coraled prisoners, opposite of the road and, should there be a need for, draw his pistol and eventually use it.

At a certain point, some of the prisoners in the rear part of the group gave the impression that they were about to show a clean pair of heels. The majority of the Americans could not see what was going on behind their backs and the survivors, at the occasion of the oncoming investigations and hearings, have never testified otherwise. As an indirect result of the stir, an American officer (Larry ?) or a soldier in the distant ranks shouted,- ‘Stand fast!’ Yet, there is no single reason to shout,- ‘Stand fast’, when there is nobody about to move from where he is to where he thinks he is going. This was (is) clear to prisoners and Germans alike

Dozens of American witnesses confirm having heard the order, ‘Stand fast’.

A German, standing upright in his halftrack and clearly visible for everyone, had made a threatening gesture with his pistol. In the course of the Dachau- trial, G. I. Ahrens testified,- ‘he waved with his pistol.’ Then he was asked to confirm,- ‘So he aimed ?’ The answer was,- ‘Yes, that’s what he did.’ Attention however should be paid to the similarity of sound when pronouncing ‘waved’ and ‘aimed’. Yet, when neither the German’ s threatening gesture, nor the American officer’ s or soldier’ s ‘Stand fast’ order obviously did not produce any visible effect, the German soldier standing in his halftrack and clearly visible for everybody, including the American prisoners, fired one or two rounds. Who is he ? Then, of course, panic broke out and several prisoners of the distant ranks managed to get away. Immediately thereafter Fleps, in turn, fired through the opening in the right panel of his ‘Mark IV’. At a Dachau trial cross- examination, Private Samuel Dobijns, Pvt 2923940, 575th Ambulance Company, stated,- -“The threatening gesture of the German with the pistol was the reason why an American shouted,- ‘Stand fast’. Immediately thereafter the German opened fire. I ran off and could hear the rattling of a machinegun at the time when I had already covered some distance of my escape route. It was the German, firing a round with his pistol, causing some American fellow prisoners, to run for their lives, that triggered off the machine gunning shoot out.” Commandant Siptrott reacted with utter surprise to Fleps’ pistol shot, since no order whatsoever had been issued to the loader. Given the distance separating the ‘Panzer’ Mark IV from the prisoners, a pistol shot was indeed nonsensical. Therefore Siptrott kicked violently Fleps’ bottom, hereby injuring painfully his own shin-bone, gave Fleps a first class dressing- down and shouted the order to instantly take off ; at his arrival in Ligneuville he reported the incident to his Company Commandant Klingelhoeffer. Following Siptrot’s departure, the ‘Mark’ IV 732 had immediately joined its Platoon Commandant’s vehicle. Almost at the very moment he left Baugnez for Ligneuveille, Siptrott could hear the rattling sound of a machinegun.

Before and right through the moment that two or three pistol shots were fired at Baugnez, the Germans had been WITNESSES. Following the shooting some of them instantly became ACTORS, who gave the impression having been waiting for one or another occasion that would give them the opportunity to take action. Indeed, the pistol shots gave life to a new situation as far as the Americans were concerned, notably a reaction of fear and a natural urge to cheat the threatening fate. To the Germans it was a customary scene that sometimes preceded a sudden happening that could be the occasion to start some sort of action. Indeed, there was an impression of excitement on the other side. In that kind of situation one second suffices to trigger off a disaster. It suffices that one idiot does not control his nerfs anymore, swears a curse and pulls the trigger of his machinegun. Cuppens heard this honest testimony on the 1st of August 1988, when meeting a former officer of Peiper’ s combat group ; he had witnessed the Baugnez massacre and referred to it with utter abhorrence. Even the soldier’ s name was mentioned, - the one that triggered off the tragedy. Three days later the officer’ s testimony was confirmed by another witness, - a one- time crew member of another armored company.

As soon as the machinegun started its lethal exercise, all American prisoners in the pastureland, either dropped dead, were wounded or went down unharmed. Survivors staged death, a few severely wounded were moaning.

The impossibility to establish how long the shooting affray lasted is agreed by all witnesses. At the most, one minute and a half, but to survivors and other witnesses it seemed hours.

(Above is a copy of one of the original WW-II posters created to help sell war bonds to fund the war effort to free the world from tyranny.)

Of course, the majority of victims were identified in the first ranks of the group of enlisted men, - sadly those who had no idea of what was going on, neither behind their backs, nor in the brains of their executioners. As soon as the murderous shooting affair was over, the German tankers started slinking away in the direction of Ligneuville. For a while it was quiet on and about the Baugnez killing field. A few minutes later, the thunder of a column of armored vehicles driving past filled the air.

What happened when the machine gunning exercise was over, has never been clearly established. Since speculation is no valid instrument agreed by scientific history writing, only facts beyond dispute are hereby put on the record. Immediately after the above mentioned German armor had left the killing ground’s neighborhood, some German soldiers walked to the blood soaked pasture to inflict to the still alive the so- called coup de grace.

Was it an order ? Fact is that the executioners did not proceed in a thoroughly manner. Official documents are here to witness that 43 American soldiers survived the Baugnez massacre. Also beyond dispute is the fact that for the Germans it was not unusual to administer the coup de grace to severely wounded opponents and even to their own desperately wounded, - those beyond survival expectancy.

That we rather leave it to the psychologists to explain what might have been going on in the brains of the executioners, is evidenced by American witnesses, in the first instance through the following tall story, that was revealed to Gust Cuppens, on 31 October 1981 in Strasburg (Pennsylvania) by Kenneth Kingston. “I was lying on the ground, waiting for what might happen. I failed to die of fear when seconds later I could hear a German moving in my direction. He stood still next to me and stared down on me. I must have made an imploring gesture not to shoot. The German drew his pistol, shot twice in the frozen grass next to me and then with a precisely aimed shot he inflicted me a scar just above my left ear. Three times the bullet whirled round in my helmet. Then the German gunman walked away to where he came from, as if nothing had happened.

It has been established that the Baugnez slaughter was triggered off by a German, who wanted to put an end to the stir created by some rear ranks prisoners, coraled in the doomed pastureland, by threatening with his pistol and even firing a few rounds. Presumably he had in mind to underscore the effectiveness of the initiative of the alert American, shouting the ‘Stand fast’- order. If, in doing so, he killed or wounded somebody, has neither been revealed, nor established. Was Fleps this ‘pistolero’? ‘No he was not’, is the answer.

Right from the start of the “Schwaebisch Hall” (prison) interrogation of Georg Fleps, he was promised freedom at the condition that he would tell the investigators what had really happened at Baugnez and at the same occasion accuse his commandant. On 5 January 1946, Fleps confessed what he had done, without mentioning the name of the soldier who had fired the first pistol shot. However, starting that 5 January 1946, the whole world has been made to believe that Fleps was that mysterious ‘pistolero’ who, sitting on top of his ‘Panzer’ had first threatened the Americans and immediately thereafter fired his rounds. Fleps became the victim of his credulity and has remained in that condition for many years, as witnessed by the letter he wrote on 14 September 1986.

It is beyond reasonable doubt that not a single American soldier has seen Georg Fleps in Baugnez, on 17 December 1944 since, as a loader, he has never left his seat in the rear (on the right) of ‘Panzer IV’ 731. Not at any moment in time has he exited the vehicle.

The reason why Virgil Larry in the course of the Dachau proceedings was brought to designate Georg Fleps as the Baugnez ‘pistolero’ has eventually been disclosed.

Whether at Baugnez- lez- Malmedy, one hundred, fifty, twenty, or just two prisoners of war were shot, the fact remains that first degree murder is established. Just one civilian, hostage or prisoner of war, executed without a valid reason and a fair trial, constitutes a crime of war and one too many.

And whether this happened in Belgium, Afghanistan, Algeria, Bosnia, Korea or Somalia has nothing to do with the fact of the matter.

A 1944 group photograph of Battery “B” men, identifies 133 officers and men. At the time of the picture, two soldiers were absent, bringing the strength to a total of 135. According to testimonies, Battery “B” indeed totalled between 130 and 140 men. Therefore, an average staff complement of 135 men is acceptable. On 16 December Captain Leon T. Scarborough had left Schevenhuette, accompanied by at least four of his men to reconnoiter the road and prepare the journey for the following day (135 - 5 = 130).

In his written testimony E. Bechtel states that some 30 men never got to Baugnez, since they returned to Battalion’ s Headquarters (130 - 30 = 100).

Present at Baugnez at the time of the first attack, were 100 Battery “B” men plus two (2) paramedics belonging to 26th Regiment (100 + 2 =102).

Ralph Logan testifies that at least 10 men were forced by the Germans to chauffeur the undamaged trucks to Ligneuville (102 - 10 = 92).

More than 30, let’ s make it up to 36 American soldiers were transported in or on Peiper’ s vanguard’ s vehicles, as established by the SHAEF- Enquiry Commission’ s report. According to German testimonies, the prisoners numbered 36 (92 + 36 = 128).

A comparatively large number of American soldiers were killed in the course of the first three German attacks. Nobody can tell how many they were ; according to witnesses more than half of the force.

At the end of December 1944 and at the beginning of January 1945, a unit of the 82nd Airborne Division ‘All American’ was quartered in the vicinity of Liege. Soldiers belonging to that unit confidentially stated that in Baugnez, on 17 December 1944, no less than 55 G.I.’s had been killed in the course of the shelling by Peiper’ s armor, without taking into account those who had been killed following their capture. German sources reveal that about 60 American soldiers died as a result of the three successive shelling volleys. Finally, Battery “B” survivors, in their written testimonies, confirm that there were bodies of American soldiers lying in ditches and on and alongside the roads leading to the ‘Five Points’ Baugnez crossroads and in the vicinity (Madeleine Lejoly’ s testimonies and the pictures refer). It has finally been agreed by a majority of all creed and sort that 55 American soldiers died in combat in the course of the German attacks (128 - 55 = 73).

In his extremely detailed report Bill Merriken mentions that Charles Reding told him that 5 soldiers had found refuge in the Cafe ‘Bodarwe’ s back premises. The remaining 3 probably died in the house, that eventually burned to the ground (73 - 3 = 70).

Official documents confirm that 43 men survived the massacre (SHAEF reports refer). And last but not least the official Dachau trial procedures’ list mentions the names of the 84 American soldiers that are immortalized on the Baugnez Crossroads Monument and who, reportedly, must have died at Baugnez, on 17 December 1944. Out of these 84, there are 6 of them who were not members of Battery “B”, who died in the neighborhood, not in Baugnez and not on 17 December 1944.

• They are... 
• L.M. Burney (KIA on 20 Decmeber 1944), 
• Cecil J. Cash (KIA on 19 December 1944), 
• Raymond A. Heitmann (KIA on 19 December 1944), 
• Delbert J. Johnson (KIA on 3 January 1945), 
• Benjamin Lindt (KIA on 16 December 1944), 
• Elmer W. Wald (KIA on 16 December 1944. (70 - 6= 64). 

Consequently, it is fair and square to accept that 64 - 43 = 21 American soldiers were shot in the doomed and disaster Baugnez pastureland. 84 names honor the monument. 55 + 21 = 76 + 6 (those not KIA in Baugnez and not on 17 December 1944) + 2 (MIA) = 84.

More than probably the missing ones are Louis A. Vario (the Dachau trial’ s list mentions Vario as a ‘possible victim’) and Elwood E. Thomas (according to the Dachau trial’ s list Thomas was KIA on 17 December 1944 ; according to his graves registration he is MIA).

Summary

21 disarmed American prisoners of war were slain in cold blood (war crimes) ; 2 soldiers were (are) missing in action,- Louis A. Vario and Elwood E. Thomas ; 6 soldiers were added to the list, although they were not killed in Baugnez and did not die on 17 December 1944,-

• L. M. Burney,
• Cecil J. Cash,
• Raymond A. Heitmann,
• Delbert J. Johnson,
• Benjamin Lindt
• Elmer W. Wald

55 soldiers were killed in combat, in the course of the three successive shellings ; in this total of 55 are included 3 soldiers who reportedly burned alive, when the original ‘Bodarwe’ Cafe was put to the torch and burned to the ground ; What is going to happen with the numbers 71, 73 (72 is O. K. and should have been 71), 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84 ? - they have been added and do not originate with the original Dachau criminal prosecution list ; reportedly, these 13 names are not directly connected to the Baugnez Massacre and to 17 December 1944; One John Cobbler’ s name and co- ordinates are missing ; indeed the Dachau list totals 72 victims, i. e. the above 71 (seventy- one) plus Cobler = 72. Pvt. John Cobbler died of his wounds (DOW) in Malmedy on 18 December 1944.

The Baugnez Memorial

The Memorial is standing opposite the ‘Bodarwe’ Cafe, overlooking ‘Five Points’ crossroads. When coming from Sankt- Vith, this is on the right side of the road. At the dawning of the 21st Century, the location remains virtually unchanged, - the Monument is the newcomer. The left wing is made up by a small stone chapel, featuring the statue of the crucified Christ and the captioned quotation,- In memory of the American soldiers who, whereas they were prisoners of war, on this location were murdered by Nazi troops on 17 December 1944. We swear that these men did not die in vain. A. Lincoln. The left wing of the memorial being the chapel, the right wing is a long stone wall, bearing the names of the 84 American soldiers (with # 85, Pvt. John Cobbler missing), who died in and about Baugnez ‘Five Points’ and on or about 17 December 1944.