Joachim Peiper and the Ardenne Offensive, The 'Battle of the Bulge', a Retrospective from today's POV: 1986 German language booklet

A 16-page softcover booklet by Heinz-Werner Sondermann providing a retrospective look at one of the SS Panzer Group's most infamous leaders; SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer Joachim Peiper.

• Rise in the SS: Peiper joined the SS in 1934 and served as the personal adjutant to SS leader Heinrich Himmler from 1938 to 1941.
• Eastern and Western Fronts: As a tank commander in the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, he fought at the Third Battle of Kharkov (earning his unit the "Blowtorch Battalion" reputation for burning villages and killing civilians) and later on the Western Front.
• Malmedy Massacre: During the 1944 Ardennes Offensive (Battle of the Bulge), men under his command—part of Kampfgruppe Peiper—perpetrated the Malmedy massacre, murdering 84 American prisoners of war, alongside other atrocities against Allied POWs and Belgian/Italian civilians.

Postwar Trial and Imprisonment

• Conviction: In 1946, Peiper was tried by a U.S. military tribunal at Dachau (the Malmedy massacre trial) and sentenced to death by hanging.
• Commutation & Release: His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and later reduced to 35 years. Due to political and legal pressures, he was released early from prison on December 22, 1956, having served roughly 11.5 years.

Later Life and Death

• Civilian Life: After his release, Peiper worked for Porsche and Volkswagen before moving to Traves, France, where he lived under his own name and worked as a freelance translator of military history books.
• Assassination: In mid-1976, his identity and past were exposed by a French communist newspaper and local activists. On the night of July 13–14, 1976 (Bastille Day), his home in Traves was firebombed by unknown assailants, and Peiper died inside from burns and smoke inhalation after attempting to defend himself with firearms.