#95
Post
by TH Albright » 01 Dec 2009, 16:52
"Peiper reminds me of another controversial military figure from another era - Civil War Confederate Lt. General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was too a renowned military commander, famous (like Peiper) for his mobile warfare exploits. He was also a slave owner, and implicated in the massacre of black Union Army POWs after the Battle of Ft. Pillow. He was also a founding member of the KKK. Just as you can't have a discussion about Forrest without getting into the criminality of the Confederate cause, you can't successfully extricate Peiper from the criminality of the III Reich"
Good analogy, Rob..I can think of another...Banastre Tarlton, the British light troops/cavalry commander who "operated" under Cornwallis in the Carolinas during the brutal latter stages of the American Revolution. This theatre of war was a precursor to the the "total war" concept and Tarlton heartily embraced the burning of villages and execution of prisoners as part of his operational credo. Like Peiper, Tarlton was dashing, brave and charismatic, all qualities which made him a darling of the British and Loyalist press. Also, like Peiper, when taken out of his element, he was flawed as a commander, not performing up to snuff at major pitched battles at Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse. One of his last actions was an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Thomas Jefferson. In behavior contrary to Tarlton's reputation, Thomas Jefferson later noted, "I did not suffer by him. On the contrary he behaved very genteely with me. ... He gave strict orders to Capt. Mcleod to suffer nothing to be injured." Like Peiper, he never regretted the political views which guided his actions during the war, but unlike Peiper, he was a major political player in Parliment for 30 years after the war and ardent defender of the slave trade (his brothers were involved in the West Indian slave trade). I will give Peiper credit for not becoming a schill for HIAG and keeping to himself after his release. He seemed to know his "day was done" and his Thoreau-like existence in Traves (noted marvelously in Parker's 1st chapter) had a certain pathos and was an almost dignified contrast to the beer-thumping, self serving exhibitionism of some W-SS veterans groups. Of course, his relative unpopularity in Waffen SS circles and notoriety may have contributed to his reluctance to be an HAIG front man. I want to note both Rob and Harro's excellent contributions to the Peiper debate..looking forward to Parker's book. Peiper's life indeed is the stuff of Greek tragedy, only his fatal flaws were set against the modern backdrop of mass indoctrination and industrialized murder. I don't think it was coincidence that Peiper's unit in Northen Italy was chosen implement the deportation to Auschwitz of the region's remaining Jews in the Fall 1943.