In December of 1944, during the final flush of the German breakout in the Bulge, several SS divisions led by Colonel Johann Peiper swarmed the American encampment at Malmedy, in the Ardennes. American prisoners, wounded and unwounded, were summarily executed, as were many Belgian civilians, under the charge that the village had harbored American troops.

Colonel Peiper and a number of his lieutenants were subsequently charged for their roles in the massacre, and sentenced to hang. But incredibly, as with the majority of convicted war criminals, they were spared.

"...for those who recall the fears and turmoil of December 1944, it is a terribly real remembrance of dreadful events." (Best Sellers)