The Malmedy massacre was a war crime in which 80 American prisoners of war were murdered by their German captors during World War II. The massacre was committed on 17 December 1944, by members of Kampfgruppe Peiper (part of the 1st SS Panzer Division), a German combat unit, during the Battle of the Bulge. The massacre, as well as others committed by the same unit on the same day and following days, was the subject of the Malmedy massacre trial, part of the Dachau Trials of 1946. The trials were the focus of some controversy.