On Page 128, the same witness gives the names of Germans who had executed prisoners of war.
We shall now submit Document 1634-PS, which will become Exhibit Number RF-382. The Tribunal will find it on Page 129 in their document book. It is a document which has not yet been read. It relates to the murder of 129 American prisoners of war which was perpetrated by the German Army in a field in the southwest, and west of Baignes in Belgium, on 17 December 1944 during the German offensive.
The author of this report summarizes the facts. The American prisoners were brought together near the crossroad. A few soldiers, whose names are indicated, rushed across the field toward the west, hid among the trees in the high grass, in thickets, and ditches, and thus escaped the massacre of their companions. A few others who, at the moment when this massacre began, were in the proximity of a barn, were able to hide in it. They also are survivors.
Page 129:
“. . . the artillery and machine gun fire on the column of American vehicles continued for about 10 to 15 minutes, and then two German tanks and some armored cars came down the road from the direction of Weismes. Upon reaching the intersection, these vehicles turned south on the road toward St. Vith. The tanks directed machine gun fire into the ditch along the side of the road in which the American soldiers were crouching; and upon seeing this, the other American soldiers dropped their weapons and raised their hands over their heads. The surrendered American soldiers were then made to march back to the crossroad, and as they passed by some of the German vehicles on highway N-23, German soldiers on these vehicles took from the American prisoners of war such personal belongings as wrist watches, rings, and gloves. The American soldiers were then assembled on the St. Vith road in front of a house standing on the southwest corner of the crossroad. Other German soldiers, in tanks and armored cars, halted at the crossroad and also searched some of the captured Americans and took valuables from them. . . .”
Top of Page 131:
“. . . an American prisoner was questioned and taken with his other comrades to the crossroads just referred to.
“. . . at about this same time a German light tank attempted to maneuver itself into position on the road so that its cannon would be directed at the group of American prisoners gathered in the field approximately 20 to 25 yards from the road. . . .”
I again skip four lines.