The Malmedy Massacre

During the Battle of the Bulge, Waffen SS soldiers shot 84 American prisoners near Malmedy, Belgium—the deadliest mass execution of U.S. soldiers during World War II. Drawing on newly declassified documents, Steven Remy revisits the massacre and the most infamously controversial war crimes trial in American history, to set the record straight.

On December 17, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, more than eighty unarmed United States soldiers were shot down after having surrendered to an SS unit near the small crossroads town of Malmédy, Belgium. Although more than thirty men lived to tell of the massacre, exactly what took place that day remains mired in controversy. Was it just a “battlefield incident” or rather a deliberate slaughter? Who gave the orders: infamous SS leader Jochen Peiper or someone else? Fatal Crossroads vividly reconstructs the critical events leading up to the atrocity—for the first time in all their revealing detail—as well as the aftermath. Danny S. Parker spent fifteen years researching original sources and interviewing more than one hundred witnesses to uncover the truth behind the Malmédy massacre, and the result is riveting.

Experiences of soldiers and the German assault in the northern shoulder of the Battle of the Buldge.

Willis M. Everett, Jr., a prominent Atlanta attorney, jeopardized his status as a member of the social elite to defend German members of the Nazi SS accused of a war crime in which a large number of American prisoners of war were murdered. Partially fuelled by an antisemitism that viewed the flaws in the investigation as signs of Jewish vengefulness, Everett was also deeply impressed by a major German defendant in the trial. Their bizarre relationship forms an intriguing component of this narrative. Includes bandw historical photos. Weingartner teaches history at Southern Illinois University. Annotation copyrighted by Book News Inc., Portland, OR

This book describes the Malmedy Massacre in detail. Nine specially drawn maps, rare photographs, and unique information-packed appendices give the reader a special insight into the last months of the war in Europe and its aftermath.