The prisoners who survived the Malmedy Massacre said said that a group of about 120 U.S. POWs stood in the farmer's field when the Waffen-SS began firing machine guns at them. Panicked by this, sone of the POWs fled the field, but the Germans shot and killed most of the Americans in the field.
Some of the GIs dropped to the ground and pretended to be dead.
After the initial fire on the POWs, the Waffen-SS soldiers walked amongst the corpses searching for survivors to kill with a shot to the head.
Some of the Americans who had escaped from the field had hidden in a cafe at the Baugnez crossroads. The Germans set it afire and killed them as they came running out.
RESPONSIBILITY
There is some dispute over which Waffen-SS officer ordered the summary killing of the American POWs at Malmedy. Both Peiper, who had already left the crossroads when the massacre occurred and the commander of the 1st Panzer Battalion, Werner Poetschke, are each considered most likely responsible.
--GreGen
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