During the battle , '' Kampfgruppe '' Peiper , part of the 1 SS '' Leibstandarte '' , left a path of destruction , which included Waffen-SS men murdering American POWs and unarmed Belgian civilians . It is infamous for the Malmedy massacre , in which approximately 90 unarmed American prisoners of war were murdered on 17 December 1944 . Also during this battle , 3 . / SS-PzAA1 LSSAH captured and shot eleven African-American soldiers from the American 333rd Artillery Battalion in the hamlet of Wereth . Their remains were found by Allied troops two months later . The soldiers had their fingers cut off and legs broken , and one was shot while trying to bandage a comrade 's wounds
Malmedy massacre
Malmedy massacre
Waffen-SS