Often in written accounts about the Waffen-SS I’ve seen statements to the effect that the events that transpired at the Baugnez crossroads on Dec 17, 1944 are too shrouded in the fog of war to even be known. I’ve recently read a gem of a book that pretty conclusively lifts that fog and dispels the decades of myth and misinformation that has crusted over the incident - “The Malmedy Massacre” by by John M. Bauserman.

Published in 1995, Bauserman’s work, published by White Mare Publishing in Pennsylvania, seems to have flown under the radar of most WWII scholars. That is unfortunate. No serious scholar of the Battle of the Bulge or the LSSAH Division should go without reading “The Malmedy Massacre.” It is a succinct, well-written, extremely well researched account of the murder of 80 unarmed US POWs at the onset of the campaign by elements of Kampfgruppe Peiper. I wanted to share some details that the book covers with the AHF community and offer some observations about why this book is a worthwhile read.

Bauserman is a teacher and an expert on the Malmedy Massacre. In researching this book, Bauserman:
- Visited the Baugnez crossroads in 1987, 1990 & 1991

- Conducted interviews with the survivors, their families, and the families of the slain GIs

- Conducted primary source research at the National Archives (NARA) branch in Suitland, Maryland, the American Battle Monuments Commission in DC, the Department of the Army Casualties Affairs Office in Alexandria, VA, the Cartographic & Still Photographic Branch & Captured German Documents Center of NARA, the Army War College at Carlisle, PA

- He also corresponded with noted WWII researchers such as Col. David Pergrin, Charles MacDonald, the former Chief of Military History at the Center for Military History, Belgian historian Henri Rogister and British Maj. Gen. Michael F. Renyolds, author of at least three books on the Waffen-SS and well-known expert on the Battle of the Bulge

“The Malmedy Massacre” specifically focuses on the ambush and murder of members of B Battery of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion at the Baugnez crossroads by elements of KG Peiper on the afternoon of Dec 17, 1944. It does not go into detail about the subsequent, controversial war crimes trial, which is a complicated subject unto itself and certainly no stellar example of American military jurisprudence.

By focusing on the event itself and providing a wealth of detail based on the war crimes investigation, trial documentation and German and American recollections, Bauserman’s account sticks to the facts as best as they can be ascertained and adroitly sidesteps the controversies that were to cloud the event. It provides a good synopsis of the formation and deployment of both KG Peiper and Battery B, and a factual, almost bullet by bullet account of what happened in that farmer’s field alongside highway N23 in Belgium.

The book includes diagrams of the massacre site, including positions of the fallen and of the shooters, autopsy reports and ORBATs for the SS units and American forces involved. ( )