The following is an excerpt from The Longest Winter, by Alex Kershaw. It is part of a letter written by Lt. Lyle Bouck of I&R platoon, 394th Infantry, 99th Infantry Div. The letter was written to SS Commander Peiper 21 years after the end of the war:
"I know you faced charges of having your men shoot prisoners of war at Honsfeld, Bullingen, and Malmedy." wrote Bouck. "Because we were not molested after a day of severe battle with the best German troops, I have always thought you were accusted of something for which you had no control. It is well known that in the heat of battle tempers flare, and men will do things that they normally would not do. Many situations like this happened also with our troops."
Peiper replied quickly in fluent English, explaining that he had been delayed that day because of a jam of traffic and tanks. He then described his impressions on arriving at Lanzareth:
"No shots rang out....The Cafe (Scholzen) was full of soldiers, mostly officers, a great number of them asleep....I fully appreciate your honest attempt to correct the ruling 'historic" version...But we lost the war, are outcasts and pretty much disillusioned. However,though we have other problems and no time to again delve into our military past, we still have an ear for the language of front line soldiers. Therefore, once more; thank you for the outstretched hand. Good luck and best wishes, Jochen Peiper"
Bouck spread the word throughout the 99th Div. Association, and even asked Peiper if he would like to join the anniversary celebrations. (He declined the offer).
End of excerpt...Dogdaddy again. I posted this because I am interested in the opinions of others here at the VI Corps forums, the Veterans in particular. I will say only that reading this part was rather surprising to me, BUT.....since I was never in combat I realize that there are contributing factors I will never understand which made Lt. Bouck respond this way (almost apologetically) to Peiper. Opinions anybody?
Jim