     In a cellar in the village of Stoumont, Major Hal McCown of the 30th Infantry Division was deep in conversation with Colonel Jochen Peiper, the commander of the lead element of the 1st SS Panzer Division. McCown had been captured the previous afternoon while reconnoitering an attack against Peiper's surrounded forces. As a battalion commander, McCown was a minor prize. Around midnight that night, Peiper, fluent in English, had questioned McCown himself, but the interrogation evolved into a conversation between professional adversaries. Peiper and McCown spoke of war and peace, of politics, of their different views of the world. Peiper, an ardent Nazi, tried to communicate to McCown his image of Nazism as a purifying and unifying force in a corrupt and decadent Europe. McCown, keeping in mind the possibility of escape, encouraged Peiper and tried to prolong the conversation, hoping to learn something of military value. Peiper, with nothing better to do until sunrise, stayed up all night talking with the American. A wary rapport developed between the two officers. McCown asked for and got Peiper's word of honor that his American prisoners would not be harmed.
     The next day, Peiper had to abandon his fuelless tanks and break out of the American ring on foot. True to his word, he released the American prisoners unharmed, but he took Major McCown with him. The day after that, a confused firefight erupted between the retreating Germans and an American force. McCown, seeing his opportunity, slipped away in the chaos.
     McCown and Peiper were destined to meet once more. McCown came to the Malmedy Trial to testify about Peiper's honorable treatment of the American prisoners in Stoumont.
/Jochen Peiper
     Obersturmbannfuehrer (SS Lieutenant Colonel) Jochen Peiper was one of the most sensational figures of the Battle of the Bulge. He was handsome, daring, intelligent -- and only 28 years old. He had risen to his command through a combination of talent, drive, and political reliability. He had been an adjutant to Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Gestapo. Later, on the Eastern Front, he had pioneered daring armored tactics. At the head of a small group of tanks, he would raid deep into the Russian rear, shooting up supply columns and wreaking havoc. He always managed to extricate himself from apparently hopeless situations. His legendary exploits had made him a hero in the German army and gained him rapid promotions.
     But Peiper was ruthless. He would put two or three halftracks at the head of his columns and then charge deep into enemy territory. The halftracks would be sacrificed but the tanks behind them would then take out whatever defenses had been flushed by the halftracks.
     There is also no doubt that Peiper's men committed war crimes. Although he released the American prisoners at Stoumont unharmed, a total of 300 American POWs and perhaps 100 Belgian civilians were murdered by Peiper's men in the Battle of the Bulge. For these crimes Peiper was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted because of procedural irregularities and Peiper was released in 1957.
     He concealed his identity, moved to France and settled down to a quiet life translating German books into English. In the late 1970s a French magazine published his identity and address. Two nights later, somebody set fire to his house; Peiper died in the fire./