Thank you again Timo--and now I know why they werent mentioned
Id like to see this thread continued instead of making a seperate one for the W-SS guys involved. here are some names of W-SS guys involved in the killings--according to the informative book put out by John M. Bauserman.
Waffen SS men involved in the Malmedy Massacre killings:
Now according to Massacre survivors--the first shots were fired by a Sturmann Georg Fleps of Panzer # 731 as identified by Lieutenant Virgil Lary of B Battery. But I think this has to be taken with a grain of salt--being that this Lieutenant identified this man during the trials in 1946--being supposedly able to recall this man in detail when in reality--he had less than a few seconds to look at anything--under combat conditions and who was appx 60 or so yards away from him. Its said that no other American survivors could I.D Fleps as the 1st shooter.
Now supposedly
3rd Panzer Pioneer Company, 2nd Platoon Leaders Schutzenpanzerwagon under the command of
Unterscharfuhrer Max Beutner supposedly positioned his SPW on the leftside of the road N23 to get into position to shoot the prisoners. Supposedly that was on the orders of
Sturmbannfuhrer Poetschke.
Beutners SPW Platoon deployed. The 1st
Beutner Platoon SPW was commanded by
Unterscharfunrer Sepp Witkowski and his vehicle went on the right side of N23.
Im not sure of the positioning of the remaining two SPWs of Beutners Platoon.
This is from the german version of the massacre:
German soldiers had stated that
Obersturmfuhrer Erich Runpf CO of the 9th Panzer Pioneer Kompanie, and
Unterscharfuhrer Max Beutner platoon leader of
2nd Platoon, 3rd Panzer Pioneer Kompanie, gave the orders to shoot.
Sturmmann Max Rieder jumped off
Rumpfs SPW in order to loot some American vehicles that were parked alongside the road headed sounth.
Rieder noticed that
Rumpf was talking with an officer in front of the Cafe: Bodarwe. While
Rieder was looking through a truck--
Rumpf yelled at him to grab his weapon and come with him.
Rumpf then made his way to the Cafe--and this is where he also joined several members of the
Penal Platoon of the 9th Panzer Pioneers. After standing around for several minutes--
Rumpf supposedly gave the orders to:
"Bump off the POWS."
At this time--
Oberscharfuhrer Wendeleit, and Unterscharfuhrers: Helmuth Haas, Willi von Chamier and Biotta, fired their weapons.
Reider fired 5 shots at an American who hit the ground but did not move and assumed he was dead.
((((I'll post more of their version tomorrow--when I have more time.))))