December 23, 1944

PRISONERS SLAUGHTERED

Nazis Murder 150 near Malmedy

LONDON—Nazi troops kill nearly one hundred and fifty American prisoners—some of them medics wearing the Red Cross armband—near the village of Malmedy, Belgium. Word of the massacre first broke on December 17. These reports have since been confirmed by those who miraculously survived the shootings, including Private First Class Peter Piscatelli of New York City. Piscatelli said, “We were just standing there all bunched up. It started when a German tank man fired a pistol into the crowd. He fired again, and then all the Germans—the whole gang of them—opened up. They fired their machine guns and mowed our men down.” The official account from First Army Headquarters stated between one hundred and twenty and one hundred and fifty were slain and fifteen escaped.