Publisher's Synopsis
Jochen Peiper, a Colonel in the Waffen SS and one of the wars most divisive men. He was convicted of several hundred murders, yet he walked free after only a few years in prison, why? This book covers his whole life, from his humble beginnings in Berlin to his rise to full Colonel in the SS, and his participation in numerous campaigns in Europe and the Eastern Front.The story leads eventually to the war crimes trial held in Dachau in 1946, the results of that trial, and the use of coercion and dubious interrogation methods leading up to it. Many guilty men walked free and many innocent men remained in jail.So badly was it conducted by the US military that it influenced the ending of further planned war crimes trials. Rules were dismissed and what was supposed to be a shining example of justice became an embarrassing mess. If Peiper and his men were guilty of the crimes they were convicted of, why were the sentences never carried out? With photo
