On 24 October 1944 , Priess succeeded Georg Keppler as commander of I SS Panzer Corps . He led this formation , as part of the 6th Panzer Army , in the failed '' Ardennenoffensive '' , which was dubbed the Battle of Bulge . The objective of the offensive was to split the British and American line in half , so the Germans could then proceed to encircle and destroy four Allied armies , forcing the Western Allies to negotiate a peace treaty with the Axis Powers . Subordinated to I SS Panzer Corps was '' Kampfgruppe '' " Peiper " , led by Joachim Peiper . Peiper 's command was responsible for the Malmedy massacre , a war crime in which 84 American prisoners of war were murdered by their German captors near Malmedy , Belgium
Malmedy massacre
Malmedy massacre
Hermann Priess