I sent a column to a place forty miles east of where John Waters and some 900 prisoners are said to be . I have been nervous as a cat … as everyone but me thought it too great a risk … . If I lose that column , it will possibly be a new incident . But I wo n’t lose it . " ( '' The Longest Winter '' , p. 207 ) A furious General Eisenhower reprimanded Patton for the incident . While Patton admitted the failure of the mission , he defended his actions due to fear that retreating Germans might kill the prisoners in the camp . Except for the Malmedy massacre during the Battle of the Bulge , the intentional killing of American prisoners was uncommon . According to Patton , the mistake was sending a force too small to perform the mission , saying , " I can say this , that throughout the campaign in Europe I know of no error I made except that of failing to send a combat command to take Hammelburg . ” As a footnote , Captain Abe Baum was born in the Bronx , New York , March 29 , 1921 . He died , age 91 , at his home in Rancho Bernardo , California on March 3 , 2013 . Baum fought at Normandy , suffering shrapnel wounds in a mine field . By March he was a battle-toughened officer . Surprised when Patton personally gave him his orders for the raid to Hammelburg , he later remarked : “ I thought , what the hell am I doing here ? ”
Malmedy massacre
Malmedy massacre
Task Force Baum