The Evening Star (May 17, 1946)
Bulge battle murders laid to Hitler order
DACHAU (AP) – The prosecution charged today that the 1st SS Panzer Regiment, acting on direct orders from Adolf Hitler to “show no humane inhibitions,” murdered between 538 and 749 American prisoners during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944.
Lt. Col. Burton Ellis of New York City, trial judge advocate, presented these figures in his opening statement to the war crimes court trying 74 officers and men of the 6th SS Panzer Army.
“These figures do not represent the historical truth as to the total number of victims murdered by the 1st SS Panzer Regiment during this offensive, but only the number the prosecution expects to show,” Col. Ellis declared.
He said he would prove that Hitler held a meeting of his army commanders shortly before the German drive started and as a result, Gen. Sepp Dietrich, one of the accused, ordered his troops to avenue “terror bombing” and shoot prisoners when combat conditions required.
Following this, Col. Ellis continued, the bodies of 71 Americans were found at Malmedy, where 43 escaped death and others still are missing. At La Greize, also in Belgium, he said, between 175 and 311 prisoners were slain by the Germans.