Memorial 612th and 801st US TD Battalion, Honsfeld

At this site in Honsfeld, the Kamfgruppe Peiper, 1st SS Panzer Divsion "Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler", carried out the 1st executions on disarmed American POWs at the start of the Ardennes offensive on December 16, 1944.

One day later on December 17, the Kampfgruppe committed 2 more executions, at Baugnez and at Ligneuville.

This place has hardly changed in the nearly 80 ages (2025) since 1944. The spring and catch basin is still in the same spot as it was then.

The black-and-white photograph of Dec. 17, 1944, shows in the foreground an American soldier whose combat boots have been taken off. One of the soldiers of the Kamfgruppe Peiper took off the fallen American soldier's boots to wear them himself. Around this time in the war, the German army was short of not only materiel but also equipment.

From Honsfeld, the Kamfgruppe Peiper continued toward Büllingen and arrived in Baugnez on Dec. 17.

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Source

• Text: Ed Lewandowski
• Photos: Hans Tasma (1), Ed Lewandowski (2), Ed Lewandowski (3), Randy Brandt (4)
• Kampfgruppe Peiper, de wedloop naar de Maas
• foto 3 van U.S. National Archives / Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Battle_Bulge_1944_HD-SN-99-02998.JPEG