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Troops of the 23rd Tank Battalion of the 12th Armored Division of the US XXI Corps led by Captain John C. "Jack" Lee, Jr., a number of Wehrmacht soldiers led by Major Josef "Sepp" Gangl, SS-Hauptsturmfhrer Kurt Siegfried Schrader, and recently freed . Our quiz, Why Jasprit Bumrah is so important for Indian cricket, The race to unravel the mysteries of Moon's south pole, Solving the air-con conundrum. Castle Itter is the name of a castle in the Brixen Valley area of Austria located in the western part of the country, along Austria's border with Germany. Nazi loyalists would shoot at any window displaying either a white flag or an Austrian flag, and would summarily execute males as possible deserters. The woods surrounding them were full of Waffen SS and Gestapo. The prison became fully operational on April 25, 1943. The Battle for Castle Itter is a solitaire card driven tabletop boardgame. Like us on Facebook to get the latest on the world's hidden wonders. They would use their few remaining rounds of ammunition, their bayonets, andif necessarytheir fists to make the SS men fight for every stairwell, every hallway, every floor. {default} In the album "The Last Stand" by the Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton, the song "The Last Battle" is about the Battle of Castle Itter. [35], For his service defending the castle, Lee was promoted to Captain and received the Distinguished Service Cross. There, in the town square, it idled while waiting for the 12th to be relieved by the 36th Infantry Division. Andr, who volunteered to go find the nearest Allied unit and bring it back to secure the castle. The Battle for Castle Itter is a mind-blowing story and Harding's meticulous reconstruction of events makes what occurred there even more astounding. First, it is quite possibly the only. Offer subject to change without notice. For Lee and his men, the battles aftermath was more anticlimactic. Basse chose to accompany Lee to the castle, leaving Sergeant Elliot in command of Boche Buster. By this time Lee could see his objective just over four miles ahead, and he ordered his driver to move out carefully. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. The SS-Totenkopfverbnde guards left the castle soon after, and the prisoners took control of the castle and armed themselves with the weapons that remained,[19] however they feared an attack by any roaming parties of SS men still loyal to the Nazi regime. Only two more German soldiers under his command and a teenage Austrian resistance member, Hans Waltl, could be spared, and they quickly drove to the castle. The battle for Castle Itter was over. The present-day building was erected on the foundations of the former one from 1878 onwards. Glenn E. Shermann. The transformation of the castle into a prison was completed by 25 April 1943, and the facility was placed under the administration of the Dachau concentration camp. I wonder how this compare to Pavlov's House? :: Castle Itter General #3. Read about our approach to external linking. By May 4, the former prisoners were all alone in the castle. I wonder how this compare to Pavlov's House? :: Castle Itter General Waffen-SS attackers shot and killed Gangl, destroyed Lees tank, and damaged the castle walls. [3], Notable prisoners included: former Prime Ministers douard Daladier and Paul Reynaud;[6] Generals Maurice Gamelin[7] and former commander-in-chief Maxime Weygand, who had been prominent during the Phoney War;[8] former tennis champion Jean Borotra, later General Commissioner of Sports in the Vichy regime;[9] right-wing leader Franois de La Rocque, leader of the right-wing Croix de Feu movement;[10] trade union leader Lon Jouhaux;[11] Andr Franois-Poncet, a politician and diplomat; and Michel Clemenceau, politician and son of Georges Clemenceau. The addition of tangles of concertina wire and dozens of intricate locks rendered the castle virtually escape-proof. Not knowing the fate of ukovi, the Itter prisoners sent out a second emissary, the cook, Andreas Krobot. A small group of Americans, accompanied by Gangl and some of his men, made their way to Itter, parking their Sherman tank close to the castle entrance. Lee would be honored for his leadership in the battle with the Distinguished Service Cross. A look through the gate window into the castle. maybe lite in the sense that it's less complex, but in my opinion not lite in the sense that it's less challenging . En route, Lee was forced to send the reinforcements back when a bridge proved too flimsy for the entire column to cross once, let alone twice. When ukovi failed to return, and the former commandant of Dachau Eduard Weiter[18] died in suspicious circumstances at the castle on 2 May, Wimmer feared for his own life and abandoned his post. Castle Itter: History of the Battle - YouTube The destruction of Besotten Jenny signaled the start of a general attack. A small group of Americans, accompanied by Gangl and some of his men, made their way to Itter, parking their Sherman tank close to the castle entrance. Gangl sought to maintain his unit's position in the town to protect local residents from SS reprisals. Lee offered to lead a rescue mission to the castle. Accompanied by American war correspondent Meyer Levin and French photographer Eric Schwab, the convoy set out for Itter along the same refugee-choked roads Cuckovic had negotiated on his way to Innsbruck. Taking a big white flag, Gangl met up with the closest American unit, the 23rd Tank Battalion of the US 12th Armoured Division, led by Capt Jack Lee. Since then, Itter has passed through a number of hands. Upon the Final Act of the Vienna Congress, the valley became part of the Austrian, crown land of Tyrol in 1816. Whether they had come specifically to eliminate the French VIPs or had just decided to wipe out the small Allied force in their midst remains unclear, but the result was the same. In addition, several women were incarcerated along with their spouses or partners, and two peoplea sister of Gen. Charles de Gaulle and a relative of Gen. Henri Giraudwere held because of their family connections to enemies of the regime. "If the SS had managed to get into the castle and kill the French VIPs, the history of post-war France would have been radically different. The castle that was soon to figure so largely in Lees life lay fourteen miles to the southwest of where he sat perched atop his tank. Just after eleven oclock that evening, Waffen-SS troops in the hills opened fire on the castle with rifles and machine guns. Itter Castle: The Strangest Battle of World War II Several miles short of Wrgl, Kramerss column was hailed by a group of Austrian anti-Nazi partisans who had been fighting SS units further along the road. Within two hours they had pulled together a small task force of four M10 tank destroyers, three jeeps, and a truck bearing a platoon of infantrymen from the 411th Infantry Regiment. The Battle of Castle Itter Saw Germans Team Up with the American Forces The expected Waffen-SS assault came on the morning of May 5, 1945. Itter Castle (German: Schloss Itter) is a 19th-century castle in Itter, a village in Tyrol, Austria. Castle Itter: The Strangest Battle of World War II Nonetheless, the arrival of a constant stream of senior SS officers at the castle kept the French on edge. In early May 1945, American and German soldiers fought together against the Nazi SS to free prominent French prisoners of war. "Gangl realised he could not protect them [the prisoners], he only had about 20 soldiers who were loyal to him," Mr Harding said. Itter Castle - Wikipedia by Sebastien Roblin Key point: Crazy things happen in the confusion of war. "The tank was still burning," he said. That Time Nazis and Americans Fought On the Same Side The castles conversion into a high-security prison didnt take long. In 1943, Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS and an all-around monster, decided it would be a good idea to take the top. As it turned out, however, the only death Weiter had on his mind was his own. The Battle for Castle Itter: The Strangest Battle of WWII The French inmates slept in converted guest rooms, had free access to the castles substantial library, and took their daily exercise in a courtyard built around a thirteenth-century fountain. Also present were Alfred Cailliau, a relatively minor politician who was being held at Itter only because his wife, imprisoned along with him, was the sister of Free French leader Charles de Gaulle; Reynauds thirty-one-year-old secretary (and future wife) Christiane Mabire; Jouhauxs secretary, Madame Brucklin; the wives of Borotra and Weygand; and Marcel Granger, a relative of Free French general Henri Giraud. The story of the battle begins on May 4, 1945, when three Sherman tanks under the grip of Capt. Halfway between Wrgl and Innsbruck, Cuckovic encountered elements of the 103rd Infantry Division and was directed to Maj. John Kramers, a German-speaking officer in the 103rds mili-tary government section. The agent of that action was the always-helpful Zoonimir Cuckovic, a.k.a. It was renovated in 1878 and became a hotel early in the 20th century. But along the way, poor infrastructure caused one tank and its crew to be left behind. Crude or not, Lee knew his job. Lees company had spearheaded the drive into Kufstein, and had fought its way through a formidable German roadblock before clearing the town of its few defenders. Surviving records indicate that from the moment of its 1943 requisitioning, Itter was planned as a detention facility for VIP prisonersthose whom the Germans considered potentially valuable enough to be kept alive and housed in relatively decent conditions. Though one Wehrmacht soldier abandoned his post during the fighting, the remaining American-German defenses held the prison until more American troops from the 142nd Infantry Regiment arrived 12 hours after the fighting had begun. [22][23] 6km (4mi) from the castle, they defeated a party of SS troops that had been attempting to set up a roadblock. Nazis and Americans Fought Side-By-Side During One WWII Battle As journalist Meyer Levin set about interviewing everyone in sight, Lee and Basse walked over to Elliot and Sherman. "Castle Itter: The Strangest Battle of World War II", "The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe", "The Austrian castle where Nazis lost to German-US force", "Sepp Gangl-Strae in Wrgl Strassensuche.at", "Castle Itter: The Strangest Battle of WWII", "World War II's Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together", "Freed Daladier, Blum, Reynaud, Niemoeller, Schuschnigg, Gamelin DALADIER AND BLUM AMONG MANY FREED", YouTube video "When Americans and Wehrmacht allied against the SS Castle Itter 1945", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Battle_of_Castle_Itter&oldid=1171116749, Battles and operations of World War II involving France, Battles of World War II involving Germany, Battles and operations of World War II involving the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from December 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 4.0, This page was last edited on 19 August 2023, at 03:45. Armed with a similar note, he succeeded in contacting Austrian resistance in Wrgl which had recently been abandoned by Wehrmacht forces but reoccupied by roaming Waffen-SS troops. [13], On the afternoon of May 4, 1945, the prison's commander, Eduard Weiter, fled. The other man, Andreas Krobot, encountered Major Sepp Gangl, a German officer who was working with the Austrian resistance. Lees plan was simple: since he didnt have enough vehicles to move his men, the French, and the Germans back to Kufstein, hed stay put and wait to be relieved by advancing American forces. But as Stephen Harding writes in The Last Battle, those prisoners eventually found themselves unguarded and thrust into a precarious position. The Balkans: Landscapes and Memories of Yugoslavia, Peru: Machu Picchu and the Last Incan Bridges, Antiques and Their Afterlives: Stories from the Collection of Ryan and Regina Cohn, Monster of the Month w/ Colin Dickey: Gilles de Rais, Historical Nonfiction: Research-Based Writing With Hadley Meares, 3D Paper Art: Pop-Ups and Paper Engineering With Yoojin Kim, Big Shots, Small Creatures: Macro Photography With Joseph Saunders, How to Read a Landscape: Botany & Ecology With Annie Novak, Artful Stitches & Fixes: Visible Mending With Erin Eggenburg, Stephansson House Provincial Historic Site. Taking charge of the castle defense, Lee prepared to withstand a siege. During the last days of April, Clemenceauwho spoke fluent Germansummoned Wimmer to a meeting with Reynaud and Gamelin. Castle Itter (German: Schloss Itter) in the Austrian Alps existed as a fortress since at least the 13th century and was rebuilt in 1532. IMMERSIVE AND FUN INTRODUCTORY WAR GAME! - DVG's CASTLE ITTER Board An Austrian castle, SS troopers, renegade Wehrmacht soldiers, the US Army, and the castle's prisoners ensured the war ended on a singular note. The prisoners started to become nervous about their safety and spoke with the SS officer in charge, Sebastian Wimmer. Within the Burgfrieden jurisdiction of Itter, feuds and breach of the public peace were banned, nevertheless the castle was devastated during the German Peasants' War in 1526. The four roared off in pursuit of the 142nd Infantry tanks and halftracks, which had set off toward the castle with Boche Buster in the lead. Like many castles it fell into disrepair durung the 18th century, until it was finally used as a quarry from 1806 onwards. He was taken to Major Josef Gangl, commander of the remains of a unit of Wehrmacht soldiers who had defied an order to retreat and instead thrown in with the local resistance, led by Rupert Hagleitner.[20]. Had they died, who knows what would have happened? Battle for Castle Itter | Prisoners, Defenders - Britannica Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Like Atlas Obscura and get our latest and greatest stories in your Facebook feed. The Best 20 Castles to Visit in Austria (Listed by Popularity) The Unusual Battle That Saw The American And German - Opera News ukovi made contact with U.S. troops in Innsbruck, but the castle was outside their divisions military jurisdiction. [28] Throughout the night, the defenders were harried by a reconnaissance force sent to assess their strength and probe the fortress for weaknesses. During World War II, the Germans used it as a prison for French VIPs including leaders of state, generals, and the like. The former republic president Albert Lebrun was held at Itter for three months in 1943, before being sent back to France for health reasons; Marie-Agns de Gaulle, Resistance member and sister of General Charles de Gaulle, was interned in the castle at the very end of the war, in April 1945. After a brief round of celebratory toasts with the French, Lee, Basse, Gangel, and the young SS officer from the village set off to scout defensive positions and talk over strategy. 2023 Atlas Obscura. Gangl died during the battle from a 7.9257mm Mauser round while trying to move former French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud out of harm's way,[35][38] and was honored as an Austrian national hero;[39] a street in Wrgl was named after him. Popular accounts of the battle have called it the strangest battle of World War II. The prisoners had already sent their Yugoslavian handyman, Zvonimir ukovi, to get help from the advancing Americans. Part ski resort, part modern art space, this lodge brings giant metal spiders and bloody doors to the Austrian Alps. 5 May 1945 - Battle of Castle Itter, the only battle during - Reddit These soldiers were for the most part older, less capable troops with no combat experience. It is believed to be the only battle in the war in which Americans and Germans fought as allies. On May 5, 1945, Allied and German troops fought side-by-side against the SS. As the Americans were pondering their next move, enemy artillery rounds started landing about one hundred yards away. Food became increasingly scarce for both the prisoners and their guards, and a growing shortage of fuel for the castles generators meant that candles and lanterns ultimately replaced the electric lights. ukovi carried with him a letter in English seeking Allied assistance which he was to give to the first American he encountered. Castle Itter is a fortress originally built in the 13th century and rebuilt in 1532. Nevertheless, they came to fear for their lives in 1945, as Germany rapidly lost ground in the war. He created a list of all the former prisoners and placed the Sherman in front of the main gate. Having said that, Castle Itter is a bit lighter in terms of rules complexity. The story of the battle is based on the Castle Itter Companion that was provi. The German fighters were marched to a POW camp, and the French political prisoners would shape the future of post-war France. Stephen Harding, author of the book The Last Battle, says one of them managed to contact a German major, Josef (Sepp) Gangl. Most had served as guards at the larger camps, and were happy to spend whatever was left of the war guarding VIP prisoners in an alpine redoubt far removed from the horrors of the Final Solution. The prisoners were instructed to remain safely in the cellar, but many defied these orders and fought alongside the German and American troops. Bringing up the rear of the column were the Wehrmachts Gangel in his Kbelwagen and the truckload of German soldiers. Svkov / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0 The Allies fought fiercely against the Germans in both World War I and II. in teh 16th century it was destroyed by rebelling farmers and rebuilt. The Strangest Battle in History: The Battle for Castle Itter - Wargaming Schloss Itter had been a medieval castle, its foundations can be traced back to the 13th century. American and German defenders poured fire from the castles upper walls and loopholes, taking a heavy toll with their rifles and machine guns. [17][18], Media related to Itter Castle at Wikimedia Commons. SS attack. The Austrian castle where Nazis lost to German-US force - BBC With the commander gone, the rest of the guards in the castle left as well. Gangl, now serving as the head of the local resistance, was aware the forces under his command would not be strong enough to fight against the nearby Waffen-SS troops. In 1940, after the Anschluss brought Austria into the Third Reich, the castle was rented out to the German government. Pop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About World War II, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-for-Castle-Itter. Upon hearing of the French notables at Castle Itterand no doubt realizing that aiding in their rescue would reflect well on him and his menGangel dispatched Cuckovic toward Inns-bruck, thirty-eight miles to the southwest. This left the prisoners vulnerable to the loyal Waffen-SS troops prowling the countryside in search of deserters and enemies of the regime.