Start date September 8, 1943 | Location Boves, Piedmont, Italy | |
The Boves massacre was a World War II war crime that took place on 8 September 1943 in the comune of Boves, Italy and was a symbol of the first German massacre there. Up to 195 Italian civilians were killed and 350 houses were destroyed by artillery fire of the Waffen-SS under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper. Two German NCOs had been captured and were held by Italian partisans in the vicinity of the town. After obtaining their release, Peiper ordered the destruction of the town under disputed circumstances.
The attempts by plaintiffs to bring about the conviction of Joachim Peiper for action at Boves, occurred 25 years after 1943. In 1968, an Italian court concluded there was "...insufficient suspicion of criminal activity on the part of any of the accused to warrant prosecution". On December 23, 1968, a German District Court in Stuttgart reached the same conclusion, terminating any potential prosecution of Peiper for his activities in Italy.