80: Malmedy Massacre

80 years ago today (December 17, 1944) the Malmedy Massacre occurred.

(American Soldiers removing the bodies of the American Prisoners of War massacred at Malmedy.)

It took place during the Battle of the Bulge in German-Occupied Belgium.

German Soldiers of the Kampfgruppe Peiper massacred 84 Unarmed American Prisoners of War (after they had surrendered) in a Farmer’s Field.

54 American Prisoners of War including the American Actor, Charles Durning, survived the Massacre.

The Malmedy Massacre was published in Allied Newspapers (including Time, Newsweek and The Stars and Stripes) on December 20, 1944.

In total the German Soldiers of Kampfgruppe Peiper murdered 749 U.S. POWs during the Battle of the Bulge.

The Malmedy Massacre Trial was held in May -July 1946 at the Former German Dachau Concentration Camp.

73 of the German Soldiers were tried.

43 were sentenced to Death (all were later commuted to Life In Prison.)