The Horrible Execution of the the US soldier during WWII occurred at the crossroads,near Malmedy Bbelgium: In 1944.

The Horrible Execution of the the US soldier during WWII occurred at the crossroads,near Malmedy Bbelgium: In 1944.

The US Army's Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion was traveling from Schevenhutte to St. Vith Belgium.

 Around 1 pm, the leading elements of Kampfgruppe Peiper, observed the American convoy moving south at the Baugnez crossroads.

The jeeps, weapons carriers, and 2 1/2 ton trucks of the American convoy were an inviting target and came under fire from the lead Panzerkampfwagen (PzKw.) Mk. IV tanks.

 The lightly armed Americans quickly surrendered to the German tank force.

As Kampfgruppe Peiper, commanded by Joachim Peiper, continued to move west, 120 American prisoners were gathered in a field near the crossroad.

 Unexpectedly, the soldiers of Kampfgruppe Peiper opened fire on the American prisoners killing them where they stood.

 The SS troops even walked among the bodies shooting anyone who appeared alive.Despite the efforts of the Germans, 43 POWs survived and escaped to Malmedy, which was still in American hands. 

The bodies of those who died at the Baugnez crossroads lay in what was to become a no man's land until January 14, 1945.

Peiper's unit stood accused of killing other Allied prisoners and Belgian civilians during the course of the Ardennes offensive.

In May 1946, Peiper and 72 members of his Kampfgruppe stood trial for war crimes before a US Military court at the former concentration camp Dachau.

 Forty-three of the defendants, including Peiper, were sentenced to death by hanging, 22 to life imprisonment, and the rest to between 10 and 20 years imprisonment.

None of the death sentences were ever carried out and all of the prisoners were released by December 1956. Sadly, the last casualty of the Malmédy Massacre was justice.