11/21/2020 0 Comments Joachim Peiper Photos
The decisive spearhead was given to a combat group commanded by a young lieutenant colonel named Joachim Peiper.The planning for the Ardennes offensive of 1944 was conducted with such secrecy that Peiper did not receive his formal mission briefing until two days before the assault.
His plan was to overrun lightly defended portions of the Allied line in the Ardennes Forest and drive across the River Meuse all the way to the Belgian port of Antwerp. The capture of the major port would effectively split the Allied armies in the West in two while disrupting supply and troop movements. First, the route Hitler selected for him was, Peiper said, not for tanks, but for bicycles. Second, he would have to rely on capturing American gasoline along the way to help meet the demands of his thirsty Panzer IV, Panther, and Tiger tanks. Peipers corps commander SS Lieutenant General Hermann Priess reassured him, If you get to the Meuse with one damned tank, Joachim, youll have done your job. It was not until Sunday that Peipers task force reached the town of Honsfeld, Belgium. There it surprised an array of American forces from the 394th Infantry Regiment and 32nd Calvary Squadron to the 801st and 612th Tank Destroyer Battalions. Four German tanks were knocked out, but Peiper captured 15 U.S. Hearing about an American fuel dump in Bllingen, Peiper proceeded there. The town was quickly overrun, and several Americans from the 2nd Infantry Divisions Quartermaster Company and a recon platoon of the 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion were captured. Peipers task force also seized about 50,000 gallons of gasoline and forced the American prisoners to refuel the German tanks at gunpoint. When the German column opened fire, the Americans abandoned their vehicles in panic. As the men began to surrender, Peiper passed by in his command vehicle. Moving westward, he neared the town of Ligneuville, where General Edward Timberlake and his staff were about ready to enjoy a hot lunch at the Htel du Moulin. It was the headquarters for the U.S. Antiaircraft Artillery Brigade, which protected Liege from V1 buzz bomb attacks. General Timberlake and his men were so surprised by the speed of Peipers advance that they narrowly escaped capture. Lieuteant Raphael Schumacker remembered escaping from the Germans with two other Americans. He heard either two pistol or rifle shots followed by machine-gun fire. The SS troopers, according to sworn statements from 21 American survivors, then stepped through the bodies lying in the snow, stopping to shoot those who showed any signs of life. A good deal of them had lost their parents, their sisters and brothers during the bombing.
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