| United States Army Signal Corps photo taken January 14, 1945, during exhumation of victims from B Battery 285th Forward Artillery Observation Battalion. They were killed at Baugnez Crossroads by Kampgruppe Peiper on December 17, 1944. Peiper’s column committed massacres of American troops and Belgian civilians as they drove for Antwerp. They got as far as Stoumont, 55 miles (88 kilometers) from Blankenheim, their line of departure. It took them 4 days. During that time, they committed massacres at Honsfeld (19 American prisoners shot, and their bodies crushed by tanks on December 17); Ligneville (8 American prisoners executed by pistol shot to the mouth for destroying 2 Panthers before they surrendered on December 17); Baugnez, often called the Malmedy Massacre (84 American prisoners machine-gunned, shot in the head, and crushed by tanks, December 17); Belgian civilians were massacred in Stavelot (at least 164 men, women and children on December 18); Stoumont (December 19); There were additional massacres by Kampgruppe Knittel, an advanced unit of Peiper’s column, at Wereth on December 17. 11 African-American soldiers were tortured and executed; At Parfondruy (civilians murdered, December 20) and Wanne (civilians executed on suspicion of Allied support, December 20). Note the list below for the table of American dead in this view. Walker was killed instantly when his heart was pierced by a machine-gun bullet; he died with hands raised. Carr also died with hands raised. Luers and others stopped a GI from firing on approaching tanks, preventing further combat. He tore up papers before capture. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0354.jpg |
| Image Size | 175.05 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 1000 x 763 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 2, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Baugnez |
| State or Province | Wallonia |
| Country | Belgium |
| Archive | United States Army |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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