The Evening Star (May 21, 1946)
U.S. officer points out Nazi who began Malmedy massacre
DACHAU, Germany (AP) – A grim Kentucky soldier pointed today at a Nazi SS trooper and accused him of starting the Malmedy massacre of 71 unarmed American prisoners of war by wantonly firing at them with his pistol.
Lt. Virgil P. Lary Jr. of Winchester, testifying in the trial of 74 SS veterans in the Dachau War Crimes Court, was one of six Americans who survived the butchery at the Belgian town of Malmedy during the winter battle of the Ardennes bulge 17 months ago. That was Germany’s last offensive.
Lt. Lary climaxed his dramatic story by identifying George Fleps, 23, of the 1st Waffen SS Panzer Regiment, as the killer.
The prosecution charges that the Germans slaughtered nearly 800 American prisoners of war during the Ardennes offensive, allowed the 1st Panzer Regiment to hunt human beings for sport and issued “no prisoner” orders.
“We were standing in the field at Malmedy crossroads, 150 to 175 of us, unarmed with our hands clasped over our heads,” Lt. Lary testified. “I saw no wounded men. They were all Americans.
“Two vehicles drove up and parked on our flank and I saw a German place a machine gun over the side of one. Then another vehicle drove up and stopped between the other two. I saw a man take his pistol and aim in the direction of our group. He fired two shots from a distance of 15 yards.
“At the first, I saw an American with his hands clasped over his head go down. I did not see the effect of the second shot.”
Asked to identify the slayer, Lt. Lary walked across the court to the section seating the 74 SS defendants. He looked into the face of each. In the last row, his gaze fastened on Fleps.
“This is the man who fired the two shots into the field on December 17, 1944,” Lary said.
Lt. Lary said he was leading a small detachment from the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion on the road to Bastogne when they were attacked by a large enemy force and decided to surrender.
Leaving their light weapons on the frozen ground, they marched with hands clasped behind their heads past the leading German tank, whose commander thumbed them toward the enemy rear. Lt. Lary testified:
“A German in the sixth or seventh armored vehicle in the column said. ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary, boys.’ None of us responded.
“As we approached the crossroads, a German standing beside a parked half-track searched us and took our cigarettes and watches. We were motioned into a field where a big group of prisoners was standing, shoulder to shoulder, in ranks 20 men wide and eight deep.”
Lt. Lary said the group included several American medical corps men with bright red crosses on their helmets and brassards. An American lieutenant colonel arrived, driving his own jeep while covered by two German riflemen.
Wounded in leg
Lt. Lary said he dropped down in the mud when the pistol shots were fired. Machineguns started firing in about three minutes and he was wounded in the leg.
“I heard screams and then some single shots like pistol shots in the field,” he testified. “After the single shots, the groaning stopped. I heard only laughter from the men in the road and from some vehicles which came by, and then some more machinegun fire. Some walked past my head and fired.
“A man asked, ‘Have they killed you yet?’ and another answered. ‘No, but if they are going to kill me, I hope they come back and get it over with.’”
Lt. Lary said he lay in the field about 90 minutes before he heard another American soldier say “Let’s go.”
“Those of us who could got up and made a break,” he said. “I stepped over numerous bodies and ran. Another machinegun opened up. There were well over 100 bodies in the field. About 15 of us made the break. I crossed a barbed wire fence and crawled into a little shed. I covered myself with sticks and stayed there until after dark. I heard more screams and shots from the field.”
Lt. Lary said he then hobbled for two miles to a little town where two Belgian girls helped him to an American aid station.