Peiper bypassed the Elsenborn ridge, and at 07:00 on 17 December, the unit seized a US fuel depot at Büllingen, and refueled before continuing westward. At 12:30, near the hamlet of Baugnez, on the height halfway between the town of Malmedy and Ligneuville, Peiper's "Kampfgruppe" encountered a convoy of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion, US 7th Armored Division. After a brief battle the Americans surrendered. Along with other Americans captured earlier (127 men total), they were disarmed and sent to stand in a field near the crossroads, where the Germans shot them en masse with machine guns and pistols. Of the 84 men killed, 41 were killed by a pistol shot to the head at close range and six were killed by having their skulls bashed in. After feigning death in the field for several hours while the Germans moved among them shooting survivors, a group of about 30 men escaped. Researcher Danny S. Parker believe that Peiper or one of his subordinates made the decision to kill the prisoners. There is no record of an SS officer giving an execution order. News of the killings raced through the Allied lines. Captured SS men who were part of "Kampfgruppe Peiper" were tried during the Malmedy massacre trial following the war for this massacre and several others in the area. Many of the perpetrators were sentenced to hang, but the sentences were commuted. Peiper himself was imprisoned for eleven years for his role in the killings.