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On December 17, 1944, the German armored spearhead of Kampfgruppe Pieper overran the U.S. 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion at a crossroads in Belgium during the opening of the Battle of the Bulge. The lightly armed Americans—mostly with M1 carbines—were quickly overwhelmed and forced to surrender. The name of the field they were herded into will live in infamy. It was there, at Malmedy, that 86 American prisoners of war were executed by the Germans. In this American Rifleman Television segment we are at that hallowed ground, and we continue on to the exact spot that Kamfgruppe Pieper was stopped by the men of the U.S. 30th Infantry and the 82nd Airborne Divisions.
Among the machine guns used by all the powers involved in World War I, the Austrian Schwarzlose is often forgotten. But this simple, reliable arm saw service for more than 20 years across two world wars.
For the Union Army during the American Civil War, its officers and cavalry troopers relied on one of Colt's most notable firearms: the 1860 Army revolver.