One of the most heinous war crimes to occur in Europe during World War II was the mass execution of American prisoners of war by the Nazis’ Waffen SS troops of the 1st Panzer Division on December 17, 1944. The atrocity came to be called the Malmedy Massacre after its location at crossroads near the Belgian town. Its victims mostly were from Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. Thirty-one of the murdered POWs were from Pennsylvania.
Volunteers with the non-profit Stories Behind the Stars (www.storiesbehindthestars.org) have written memorials honoring the sacrifice of the fallen at Malmedy from Pennsylvania. Berks County was home to one of the victims of the massacre: T4c George H. Steffy.
George Howard Steffy was born on January 13, 1923 in Mohnton, PA to Benjamin Franklin and Mamie Edna Snader Steffy. His father was a road laborer and, later, was a hatter. The family lived in Cumru, PA until settling in East Cocalico, PA. Steffy had three younger sisters and completed at least two years at Sinking Spring High School in Sinking Spring, PA. He worked for the F&M Hat Company in Denver, PA. Steffy registered for the draft on June 30, 1942 in Stevens, PA and enlisted in the Army on January 13, 1943 at Harrisburg, PA as a private in the field artillery. He attended basic training at Camp Gruber, OK and Fort Sill, OK. He attained the rank of Technician 4th Class. Steffy deployed to Europe in August 1944 and was assigned to Battery B, 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion.
At 6:00 AM on December 17, 1944, Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion departed Schevenhutte, Germany enroute to the VII Corps sector to join the 7th Armored Division at the Battle of the Bulge. The battery of seven officers and 141 enlisted men was joined by five others from battalion Headquarters, Headquarters Battery and a Medical Detachment for a total of 153 men. The Americans were travelling in a convoy of thirty vehicles on a main mission to identify the location of enemy artillery using sound ranging and flash spotting.
Between noon and 1:00 PM, the German advance guard of the 1st SS Leibstandarte “Adolf Hitler” Division under SS Lt. Col. Joachim Peiper intercepted the American convoy at the Baugnez crossroads south of Malmedy, Belgium. There were 111 of the convoy’s troops present who were outnumbered and outgunned by the Germans, forcing the Americans to surrender. The prisoners of war were taken to a nearby field, lined up in rows, and riddled by machine guns. Anyone who survived the initial shooting was shot point blank in the head. Over a dozen escaped the initial massacre and were aided by local citizens until forced to surrender. The Germans marched the POWs to a cow pasture where they were tortured and bayoneted to death. Some initial escapees hid in a café that the Nazis set on fire. They killed every POW who attempted to flee from the burning building.
Eighty-four soldiers were massacred on December 17, 1944. Of the victims, sixty-nine were from Battery B and fifteen were from other units at Baugnez. According to historian Hugh Marshall Cole, the Malmedy Massacre was not the first execution of unarmed prisoners chargeable to Lt. Col. Peiper that day. Nineteen unarmed Americans were shot down at Honsfeld and fifty at Büllingen. By December 20, Peiper’s command had murdered approximately 350 American prisoners of war and at least 100 unarmed Belgian civilians, across twelve different locations along Peiper’s line of march. The Malmedy Massacre was treated as a war crime and was part of the Dachau Trials of 1946.
American soldiers with the 11th Armored Division exacted revenge for the Malmedy Massacre. On January 1, 1945, eighty German prisoners of war were summarily executed at Chenogne, Belgium. None of the perpetrators were ever punished.
Steffy was killed in action on December 17, 1944 outside of Malmedy, Belgium during a mass execution of prisoners of war by the Nazis. He was buried initially at Temporary Cemetery #1240 at Eupen, Belgium and was laid to rest permanently at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Liege, Belgium. Steffy posthumously received the Purple Heart.