"Bloody Murder — Nine of the Most Shocking POW..." Topic

… Massacres of World War Two.

"NEXT WEDNESDAY MARKS THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF one of the worst atrocities committed against American troops in the Second World War – the Malmedy Massacre.

On Dec. 17, 1944, elements of the 1st SS Panzer Division's Kampfgruppe Peiper netted more than 120 American prisoners after punching through the Allied lines in the opening 24 hours of Hitler's famous Ardennes Offensive. Unwilling slow his column's advance, a 29-year-old German colonel named Joachim Peiper ordered his men assemble the captives at a crossroads just outside the Belgian village of Malmedy. Shortly after 1 p.m., the German troops opened fire. A total of 84 GIs from the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion were mowed down in a hail of machinegun fire. At least 43 of the prisoners played dead or fled into the nearby woods. Over the next three days, Peiper's men murdered 250 additional POWs as well as 100 civilians. In one incident, eleven African American soldiers captured at Wereth were mutilated before being gunned down. News of the atrocities infuriated the Allies. Over the next two weeks, GIs retaliated against German troops as the Americans fought to retake the lost territory. In one New Year's Day incident, U.S. infantrymen slaughtered 60 surrendering Wehrmacht soldiers at Chenogne in southern Belgium.

Oberst Peiper survived the war but fell into Allied hands in August of 1945. He was tried for war crimes and sentenced to death in 1946 along with more than 40 of his soldiers. While evidence against the Nazi officer was damning, controversy erupted following the trial when it was alleged that confessions from many of the accused were coerced using torture. Military officials commuted the sentences; Peiper served just 11 years in Landsberg Prison. Upon his release, the decorated panzer commander and one-time adjutant to SS chief Heinrich Himmler declared himself rehabilitated and took a job with the car maker Porsche. He later became an automotive journalist and moved to France. Allegations of wartime atrocities dogged him for years. In July of 1976, Peiper was mysteriously shot dead in his home near Vesoul. Authorities suspected that the 61-year-old's killers were former members of the French Resistance. No charges were laid…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Sometimes justice is just delayed a little.

Canadians murdered by the 12th SS in Normandy.

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Royal Scots murdered by the Totenkopf at Dunkirk.

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Sometimes you can get away with murder and I can't believe some of those responsible only got a few years inside for their crimes.