26 candles for 26 victims in Parfondruy. 10 men 11 women 5 children aged 7 or younger The oldest victim was 86 years old The youngest victim was 9 months old The SS claimed they were partisans. #battleofthebulge #worldwar2 #worldwartwo #historybook

A Schwimmwagen from 3./SS-PzAA1 ended up in the water at the Amblève River bridge in Stavelot. Behind it, the total destruction of the houses in the southern part of the town. Photographer: Jean Jacob. #battleofthebulge #schwimmwagen #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #historybook

Merksplas, May 1944: temporary company commander Hstuf. Hennighausen trains new recruits for the 3. (gep.) Kompanie, SS-PzAA1 in the current Leopoldsstraat. #merksplas #leibstandarte #worldwar2 #historybook #worldwartwo

38 candles for the 38 civilians the Schnelle Gruppe murdered on the Route de Trois-Ponts in Stavelot on the 19th of December 1944. 8 men 16 women 14 children The oldest victim was 72 year old The youngest victim was 4 years old Obersturmführer Coblenz claimed they were partisans.

53-year-old tannery owner Tony Lambert was shot dead by the SS at the doorstep of his villa in the afternoon of the 18th of December 1944. The culprits most likely belonged to the 2. (gep.) Kompanie, SS-PzAA1, part of Schnelle Gruppe Knittel. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #historybook #ww2

The villa ‘Les Quartiers’, locally known as the Lambert villa, was located on the western edge of Stavelot on the main road to Trois-Ponts. The villa was built in 1932, was never restored after the war and was demolished in 1959 after the death of Elisabeth Lambert-Bock #battleofthebulge

Ook vandaag ben ik weer op pad om de vele verhalen te vertellen van de mannen die vochten voor onze vrijheid en die de fascisten verdreven. #antifa www.battletour.be

Staff Sergeant Howard E. King, 3rd platoon, Company A, 117th Infantry Regiment, was killed in action on the western edge of Stavelot on the evening of the 19th of December 1944. His platoon was defending the Lambert villa against the the advancing Schnelle Gruppe Knittel. #battleofthebulge

Private Curtis Adams was born in Anderson County, South Carolina. He enlisted at Fort Jackson on the 28th of October 1942 and was trained as a medic. A scouting team of Schnelle Gruppe Knittel murdered him in Wéreth on the 17th of December 1944. He is buried at Henri-Chapelle. #battleofthebulge

Fr. Jules Prégardien, director Marguerite Jacobs with two staff members and the children from the Château du Petit-Spay pose in the snow. The photo was most likely taken when Prégardien returned to the childrens home in January 1944. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #ww2 #historybook

“It was brought to the attention of the Belgian War Crimes Commission that Father Pregardien, chaplain at the home of the A.E.P. in Petit-Spay, was taken by SS officers on December 19, 1944 and his body, the head shattered by a bullet, was found on the 23rd of March 1945 in the Ambléve, in Coo."

[1/3] Helmut Merscher first put us on its trail when he told Mike and me that Knittel used a big American car joking that "he did not fit in a Schwimmer". When asked by Hans Weber in 2007, Manfred Coblenz confirmed that Knittel used a "big vehicle, bigger than a Kübel". #battleofthebulge

[1/2] When in 1948 the captured members of schnelle Gruppe Knittel were to stand trial for the murders in Stavelot and the surrounding hamlets, 20-year-old Ernst Kilat was the odd one out as a former member of Kampfgruppe Peiper. #battleofthebulge #leibstandarte #ww2 #worldwar2 #worldwartwo

Artwork: "Stavelot," 30th Division, Belgium, 1945. Artist: Bernard Arnest. US Army Art Collection, National Archives

The Leduc house in the hamlet of Renardmont. Victims of the killing spree of the Schnelle Gruppe, 74-year old Sylvie Leduc-Goffin and her 47-year old daughter, who was also called Sylvie, were shot dead, their bodies were later discovered behind their house. #battleofthebulge

‘Gruppe Wontorra’ in Sambek, spring 1942: Manske, Theo Böhler, Fast, Reinhold Ramspek and Karl Nauert, Siegfried Müller, Johann ‘Sepp’ Auchter, Harry Wontorra, Günther Jäger and Hermann Mehrmann.

The Liffrange hotel photographed shortly before it was demolished to make room for a parking space...

The Liffrange hotel and watermill in Trois-Ponts, the entrance of the tunnel is hidden by trees.

The double railroad viaduct in Trois-Ponts...

The double railroad viaduct in Trois-Ponts where 59-year-old Gustav Job and his 57-year-old brother Oscar were murdered on the 19th of December 1944. They were the brothers of Mrs. Liffrange, the owner of the watermill and adjacent buildings which can be seen through the tunnels. #battleofthebulge

The chateau de Petit-Spay...

Part of the reference works...

“When I close my eyes I see the corpses. I got the advice to tear it up to forget it. But it has always accompanied me, no matter where. What should I do? I'd like to forget, but I can't.” - Régine Grégoire-Heuser in 2004 #battleofthebulge #historybook #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #stavelot

Tiger 008 in front of the Gérard-Colette farm. American engineers work to pull it of the road. Photo taken around new years day, 1st of January 1945. #battleofthebulge

[1/2] The chemin Sous Bailleu, connecting the hamlet of Parfondruy with the main road from Stavelot to Trois-Ponts. In this open field, Company G, 120th US Infantry-Regiment, was caught in massed enemy fire on the 24th of December 1944. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #oldhickory

While Knittel, his staff, and 13 Belgian civilians were in the cellar, the Antoine Farm was under constant, relentless American artillery fire. In the photo, taken immediately after the fighting, we see farmhand Léonard Nailis on the roof, surveying the damage with several GIs. #battleofthebulge

The Antoine farm on the road from Stavelot to Trois-Ponts. From the 19th to the 22nd of December 1944 Knittel and his staff used the basement as command post. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #ww2 #historybook #Stavelot #Leibstandarte #waffen-ss

[1/2] Marie-Jeanne and her brother. The Legaye family did not celebrate Saint Nicholas on December 6, 1944, because Marie-Jeanne was suffering from scarlet fever. They celebrated later, and when the grandparents realised that the little girl had not yet fully recovered, they kept her at their home.

The death certificate for Marie-Jeanne Legaye who was murdered ten days before her ninth birthday. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #ww2 #historybook #Stavelot #Leibstandarte #waffen-ss #warcrime

Haymaking on the Route de Trois-Ponts in Stavelot: second from the left Prosper Legaye and in the middle, with the dark coloured dress, his granddaughter Marie-Jeanne. Both were murdered by the SS in the garden of their house in the evening of the 19th of December 1944. #battleofthebulge #worldwar2

#battleofthebulge youtu.be/lrfR6RANo3s?...

[1/2] Nicole Terf with Monique and Marie-Josée Mignon. Nicole recalled that Monique has a dirty mouth because she had eaten blueberry tart that Nicole’s mother had baked: “my mother took the photo without cleaning Monique’s besmirched mouth because she though it looks funny”. #battleofthebulge

[1/2] Summer 1944, from left to right: Paulette and Nicole Terf, Monique and Marie-José Mignon, Mimie Jacquemain-Mignon, Georgine Mignon-Carlens and José Terf, in front of the Petit-Spay farm. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #ww2 #historybook

knittelbooks.com/ambleve/ Format : 170mm x 240mm Pages : 321 Photos : 274 b/w Maps : 5 b/w Documents : 36 b/w Language : ENGLISH First print : December 2024 Paper: 100 grs hvo Hardback : € 47,50 Paperback : € 37,50 #battleofthebulge #historybook #worldwartwo #worldwar2

SS-Obersturmführer Wägner, photographed as a 22-year-old SS-Unterscharführer at the SS-Junkerschule in Bad Tölz. In December 1944, he was in charge of Knittel's 4. (schwere) Kompanie at Petit-Spay. #battleofthebulge

knittelbooks.com/schnelle-gru... Format : 170mm x 240mm Pages : 473 Photos : 295 b/w Maps : 8 b/w Documents : 56 b/w Language : ENGLISH First print : June 2022 Paper: 100 grs hvo Hardcover : € 52,75 Paperback : € 42,75 #battleofthebulge #historybook #worldwartwo #worldwar2

Knittel (left) and Leidreiter: la Vaulx-Richard, 18th of December 1944 and June 2025. Photo made by SS war photographer Max Büschel. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #ww2

Knittel (right) and Leidreiter: la Vaulx-Richard, 18th of December 1944 and June 2025. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #worldwar2 #ww2

The monument in the little hamlet of la Vaulx-Richard, Belgium, for twelve American soldiers murdered by the SS on December 18, 1944. The G.I.'s were part of Company ‘A’, 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, ‘Combat Command B’ (CCB), 9th US Armored Division. #battleofthebulge #worldwartwo #worldwar2

La Vaulx-Richard, the 4th of May 1987: inauguration of the monument for the G.I.'s murdered by Ustuf. Dröge's Pionierzug. #battleofthebulge #worldwar2 #worldwarII #ww2 #worldwartwo #stavelot

[1/3] During the trial in Liège in 1948 it was strictly forbidden to take photos. George Jarbinet, a teacher at the Athénée de Stavelot, was among the people from Stavelot who witnessed the trial from the public gallery.

The brilliant Tom Lehrer will be dearly missed... youtu.be/TjDEsGZLbio?...

Monument for 24 civilians murdered by the Schnelle Gruppe Knittel in Parfondruy on December 19, 1944.

An abandoned Jagdpanzer IV/70 from SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 1. One of two IV/70's supporting the attack of 'KG Keil'on the 12th of January 1945. It stopped approximately 150 metres past the border post and in the background the outskirts of the hamlet of Bohey are visible. #battleofthebulge

The Legrand-Pirnay farm in Renardmont where the SS shot 70-year-old Joséphine Legrand-Pirnay. Her husband, 69-year-old Franz Legrand, was killed in the massacre in the washing shed next to the Legrand-Sonveau farm. #battleofthebulge #ww2 #worldwartwo #worldwar2

Juliette Depas was born in La Reid near Theux on the 5th of July 1939. She lived in Pepinster with her parents but went to stay with her grandparents in Stavelot. Her return was delayed because little Juliette was well fed and happy at the farm. The SS murdered her on the 19th of December 1944.

The Depas-Kutz (left) and Depas-Mignon houses in March 2022 and Mariette Depas with her parents Catherine Depas-Mignon and Alphonse Depas. They were murdered bij the Schnelle Gruppe on the 19th of December 1944. #battleofthebulge

Stummel from the Kanonenzug, schwere Kompanie, SS-PzAA1, destroyed at the the Place du Marché (today Place Saint Remacle) in the evening of the 18th of December 1944 by Sherman 'B15' (Sergeant Kirksey) from B Company, 743rd Tank Battalion. Photo taken by mr. Courtejoie from his first floor window.