As I watched the O'Reilly vs Gen Westley Clark video from last night, I remember specifically when O'Reilly said that the 82nd Airborne committed a "massacre" during WWII. I recalled the Germans killing a bunch of surrendered US forces during WWII but not anything specific. Well, it turns out that O'Reilly turned the story a total 180 degrees by claiming that it was the 82nd Airborne "who did" the "massacre." Fox "News" even tried to cover up this falafel by lying on the transcripts.
Fox News Transcript:
O'REILLY: General, you need to look at the Malmady (ph) massacre in World War II and the 82nd Airborne.
Crooks and Liar's Transcript:
Clark: And let me explain something. You go all the way up the chain of command --
O'Reilly: General! You need to look at the Malmedy massacre in World War Two, and the 82nd Airborne who did it!
Here what really happened during the battle of Malmédy massacre:
On December 17, 1944, near the hamlet of Baugnez on the height half-way between the town of Malmédy and Ligneuville in Belgium, elements of Waffen-SS Kampfgruppe Peiper encountered the American 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. After a brief battle, the Americans surrendered. About 150 of the prisoners of war were disarmed and sent to stand in a field near the crossroads. Peiper and his leading armoured units then continued their advance.
A tank pulled up, and a truck shortly thereafter. A single SS officer pulled out a pistol and shot a medical officer standing in the front row, and then shot the man standing next to the medical officer. Other soldiers joined in with machine guns. It is not known why this happened; there is no record of an order by an SS officer. While the shooting of POWs was common on the Eastern front, such incidents were rare on the Western front.
Many prisoners escaped into the nearby woods. Some 72-84 of the prisoners were killed, their bodies left on the field where they fell. An American patrol discovered the massacre that night. News of it spread quickly among Allied troops. Afterwards, the order went out: SS and Fallschirmjäger were to be shot on sight.
American forces recaptured the site where the killings took place on January 13, 1945. The bodies were recovered on January 14 - January 15, 1945. The memorial at Baugnez bears the names of the murdered soldiers.
Watch the O'Reilly lie for yourself right here:
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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
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WW2 historian/filmmaker