Ter info: Raymond A. Heitman(Tech-5) en Cecil J. Cash (Tech-4) waren van het 197ste AAA Bataillion. Ze staan geregistreerd als gesneuveld op 19 december. Dat klopt niet. Zij zijn vermoord op 17 december.
Hier nog wat meer info over de tijd voor dat het Massacre plaatsvond:
SS-Obersturmführer Werner Sternebeck: “During an observation halt on the road from Thirimont to the northwest, about 800 to 1200 meters east of the Baugnez intersection, I saw an enemy truck column negotiating the intersection moving to the south. (N23). The lead panzer element opened fire (high-explosive shells) against the traveling column, which was located about 200 to 300 meters south of the intersection. Several vehicles immediately caught fire, the column became confused and vehicles began running off the road and into each other. The crews dismounted and sought cover. That was the moment to attack across the Waimes – Baugnez road to the intersection. Before reaching the intersection we were hit by machinegun and rifle fire from the dismounted crews. We returned the fire with our on-board machine guns and hastened our attack into the standing column. When my lead panzer had approached to within 60 to 70 meters of the column, the Americans stood up from the roadside ditch and raised their hands in surrender.
“We then slowed down in our approach to the column. I used arm signals to make the American soldiers understand that they were to march back in the direction of the road intersection. I reported the enemy contact, firefight and results to the panzer group over the radio. I again received orders to advance to Ligneuville without delay. Between the lead panzer element and the advance guard, in which the command group marched, was an interval of approximately ten minutes."
The events from the point of view of the panzer group commander, SS-Obersturmbannführer Jochen Peiper: “As we left Grosbois, north of Thirimont, my lead element discovered on the left an American convoy marching to the south along the Malmédy – St. Vith road. When they became clearly discernible, I drove a couple of hundred meters behind in a jeep and interrogated a US Lieutenant Colonel who had got into our column. From him I learned that there was a senior US headquarters in Ligneuville and that we were not anticipated being in this region. I then hurried to the forward panzers, ordered them the cease-fire and continue to advance without delay. Perhaps it was still possible to take Ligneuville by surprise, in spite of the unfortunate sounds of fighting that just occurred. When we reached the road intersection and turned to the south, the pass was partially blocked by a crashed and burning truck.
“We found a number of US soldiers, estimated at sixty, in the roadside ditch and in a field. Besides those who had be killed or wounded by our fire, the men could be practically divided into three groups:
“One group came toward us with their hands held behind their helmets in surrender. We directed them to rear because the mission of the following infantry was to assemble prisoners we captured along our route of advance.
“Group two lay next to the road and played dead. I specifically remember several of our soldiers firing warning shots. The third group also played dead, but they were closer to the nearby forest. The soldiers tried to make their way, unobserved, to the edge of the forest and we fired several shots after them.
“The lead element then drove off in the direction of Ligneuville, while the prisoners of war, on their own more or less, unsupervised, assembled at the road intersection. There is more than one version of what later happened at the road intersection, but no one knows for sure, nor do I."
The adjutant from the III. (gep.) / Panzer Grenadier Regiment 2, SS-Obersturmführer Flacke, who drove in the command group behind the lead panzer element with his commander, Hauptsturmführer Diefenthal, remembered: “At midday the battle groups lead element, behind which road the command group with Obersturmbannführer Peiper, the commander of the 1st Panzer Regiment, along with the commander of the III. (gep.) Battalion reached the road that parallels the Malmédy – Ligneuville road. As we drove to the northwest along this road we saw an American column with about twenty-five vehicles driving on the road in the direction of Ligneuville. The end of this column had already crossed the road intersection, while the head of the column was already about 800 to 900 meters away from the road intersection when the panzers of the I Battalion and the ‘Schützenpanzerwagen’ machine guns began firing.
“I was able to see that the column stopped after an initial attempt to flee, and the men in the vehicles took cover. The lead element of our battle group then continued its advance and reached the road intersection. When I and my adjutant panzer reached the intersection behind my commander’s SPW, they were right on the intersection. I estimated that there were approximately twenty prisoners of war at that time. I left my panzer approximately 150 meters behind the intersection and obtained maps, which were important to us for the conduct of the fighting, from some American soldiers that were approaching.
“I reported to my commander 800 meters behind the intersection and mounted his panzer in order to join the fighting that was already taking place around Ligneuville. The battle group commander, Obersturmbannführer Peiper, was also in my commander’s panzer because his command panzer was having radio problems."
The regimental adjutant and immediate command assistant to SS-Obersturmbannführer Peiper, SS-Hauptsturmführer Gruhle, gave a clear summary of the events: “The lead panzer element (consisting of two panzers) reached the road intersection southeast of Malmédy between 1200 hours and 1300 hours, at the same time that an American truck column moving from Malmédy in the direction of St. Vith crossed the march route of the panzers. The panzers immediately opened fire on this column with all weapons. The completely surprised Americans – it turned out to be a combat-inexperienced observation battery – panicked.
“Some of the drivers jumped from their trucks, which were still moving, leaving the trucks to drive themselves, some of the vehicles were burning, some ran into road-side trees, others into the road-side ditch or into each other and turned over.
“As the lead panzer element approached the column, which was still under fire from a distance, a portion of the soldiers surrendered. Some offered the panzers resistance concealed in the roadside ditch or in the bushes, while others attempted to avoid capture by running toward the edge of the forest, which was about 60 meters away. All of the prisoners were – as usual – directed by the lead panzer element in the direction of Germany.” (bron HW).
Nog wat kaartmateriaal:
Cash en Heitman hebben nummer 20 en 21.
De krantenberichten:
