He had long established himself as a war criminal, whose forces committed a number of atrocities on eastern and western fronts.

Peiper was designated a considerable role in Operation Spring Awakening. Peiper, aged 30 in 1945 and with distinctive Nordic features, was someone with a highly aggressive reputation in combat. Seventy-five years ago, on 6 March 1945, the Third Reich launched what was to be its final great offensive of World War II, called Operation Spring Awakening (Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen).Īs the year 1945 continued beyond its first weeks, among those whom the Nazi hierarchy could still place their trust in were figures like Joachim Peiper, a panzer commander and SS Lieutenant-Colonel (Obersturmbannführer), someone whose legacy in the following decades has been romanticised by sections of the US Army and the Pentagon.