The memorial in Malmedy, Belgium, reads: To the memory of the Soldiers of the United States Army who, while prisoners of war, were massacred by Nazi troops on the spot on Dec. 17, 1944. (U.S. Army photo by Marie-Lise Baneton)
On the second day of the Battle of the Bulge in Malmedy and Wereth
CHIEVRES, Belgium -- On the second day of the ‘Battle of the Bulge,’ Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion truck convoy was sighted southeast of Malmedy by a regiment of the 1st SS Panzer Division, commanded by 29 year old SS Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper.
The Panzer tanks opened fire destroying the lead vehicles. The convoy came to a halt, yet Panzer fire continued. The Americans were outgunned so they abandoned the vehicles and surrendered.
The U.S. Soldiers were gathered into a nearby field where the SS opened up with machine guns and pistols on the unarmed prisoners.
Anyone who was still alive after the initial shooting was killed by a pistol shot to the head.
Eighty-one U.S. Soldiers were massacred that day.
Sixteen miles away, another massacre would be carried out in the town of Wereth.
The 333rd Field Artillery Battalion, an all-black unit, was decimated. Nearly to a man they were killed or captured.
However, 11 of the men managed to escape. They trudged through waist-deep snow for hours, avoiding roads and trying to avoid German patrols. They carried only two weapons.
The men came upon the tiny Belgian farming village of Wereth shortly before dusk. They were exhausted and hungry when they reached the farm of Mathias Langer. Langer brought the men into his kitchen, giving them hot coffee and bread.
Wereth was a place of divided loyalties, so harboring the Americans was extremely risky.
Before the men had finished eating a military vehicle pulled up to the house. The Americans knew there was nowhere to go, so they walked out of the house with their hands up. The Germans forced them to march to a cow pasture where they were tortured and bayoneted to death.
For weeks fighting raged through the region. Villagers remained in their homes only venturing out when absolutely necessary.
The fighting had subsided enough for people to venture out by early February and Mathias and his wife, Maria, walked to church. The snow had receded and they saw hands emerging not far from their home. The bodies were visible where they had been slaughtered.
The U.S. Army Garrison Benelux provided a color guard Dec. 14, 2014 for a ceremony to honor the massacred at Malmedy, while the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, provided a color guard May 17, 2014 to honor the men massacred in Wereth.
Special to the Gazette