Thread by @garius

Right. Been a while since I did a history thread.

So let me tell you about the only time in WW2 that the German Wehrmacht and the US Army fought ON THE SAME SIDE in WW2.

This is the Battle of Itter Castle.

Wörgl. Austria. May 1945. The town watches as the German army fall back towards the 'Alpine Fortress', but the SS are arriving in force behind them.

Worried about atrocities, resistance leader Alois Mayr makes a huge decision:

He asks the Wehrmarcht to stay and defend the town.

More specifically, he asks Major Sepp Gangl. Gangl is a HIGHLY decorated soldier. Two Iron Crosses. Worked his way up from the ranks. Fought in the 1940 Blitzkrieg. Four years in Russia. Fought in France. Survived the Falaise Gap.

But he's also no Nazi, and Mayr knows this.

Gangl had already been in contact with the resistance before this. He looks at his order to move out with his understrength, untrained troops. He thinks about the town's occupants. He agrees to stay.

No sooner has he taken command when a man on a bike appears. He has a message.

The man is from Itter Castle nearby. The SS had turned it into a prison for VIPs. Gamelin, Weygand, Clemenceau, Reynaud, Daladier, tennis legend Jean Borotra, Marie-Agnes Cailliau (De Gaulle's sister) and more

Their guards have fled, but they fear the SS must be coming back.

This is the VIPs second attempt to get help. This time they were lucky.

Gangl realises the SS will kill the VIPs if they return. But he can't hold the castle with his depleted unit. He gambles himself:

He sets out to cross into 'enemy' territory, find the Americans and get help

In full uniform, carrying the castle's note, Gangl heads to Kurfstein. A recon force for the American 23rd is there.

Held at gunpoint, he offers their cigar-smoking tank commander the note.

The man reads it, smiles and says:

"Looks like we're going on a rescue mission."

This is Captain Jack Lee. A Nebraskan-born New Yorker. He radios his HQ for permission to go with Gangl and defend the VIPs. Permission is given, but he's told he can only take a few tanks and men.

Hold as long as you can, he's told. We'll send reinforcements.

Lee takes his own M4A2, "Besotted Jenny", "Boche Buster" commanded by his friend Elliot Wallace some infantry and some other Shermans.

By the time they reach Castle Itter they're down to his M4 and 4 infantry, the rest being left to deal with SS troops on the way and guard Wörgl

At the castle, the French VIPs are astonished to see their relief force - now made up of Lee's M4, a few US troops and Gangl's mixed Wehrmarcht/Austrian resistance unit.

They've barely twenty men, but - as Lee points out - at least they have a castle. And a tank.

They discover they're just in time when retired SS-Captain Kurt-Siegfried Schrader, long-disillusioned with Nazism, turns up at Itter and warns them the SS are coming in force. He joins the defenders.

Lee backs the M4 into the gateway. Defensive positions are taken up.

At 4am the next morning the first attack is beaten off. But it gets worse. From the tower, Gangl and Lee see 100 - 150 troops of the 17th SS Panzer-Granadier arriving, an 80mm gun, a 20mm anti-aircraft cannon, a 75mm PAK and more.

A fresh assault soon begins.

The US and Wehrmarcht troops cling on, but it's getting desperate. So desperate that the VIPs arm themselves to help hold against attacks from all directions.

Soon Gamelin, Weygand, Clemenceau and Reynaud are fighting alongside Lee and Gangl's men, holding off the SS.

For hours the defenders cling on. Their only tank explodes as the SS finally manage to destroy it.

Then, tragically, Gangl dies. Running to protect Reynaud from SS gunfire, he's killed by a sniper.

As the SS regroup, the defenders draw breath.

Then the castle phone rings.

It turns out that Čučković, the castle's first messenger HAD got through. He'd reached the American 103rd at Innsbruck.

A scratch relief force under Major Kramer had just reached Wörgl, where Wallace with Boche Buster were defending the town. Wallace explained what he knew.

Without radio contact (because of the tank loss), Kramer and Wallace don't know if the castle has fallen yet, or what they're facing.

Then Alois Mayr suggests they try and ring it.

They do. Lee tells them they're holding. Just. But before he can say more the SS cut the line.

As Wallace and Kramer debate what to do, another recon element of Lee's unit rolls into the town.

"We ain't got no order to move out and attack a castle." They protest.

Doesn't matter. Kramer soon ropes them into the relief attack.

This relief force sets out, but progress is slow as they don't know how the SS are deployed. Then suddenly a man tries to flag them down.

Rene Levesque (future Quebec Premier then a war correspondent) had tagged along with Kramer and tells him to stop:

"That's Jean Borotra!"

Turns out as soon as the line was cut, Borotra had volunteered to drop over the castle wall and run for the relief force, carrying details on where and how the SS were deployed.

The relief force now pushes on at speed.

At the castle, the SS are making another push. With ammo low and wounded piling up, Lee orders his meagre forces to withdraw into the keep.

The SS push forward, and level a panzerfaust at the door...

...only for machine gun and tank fire to burst out at them from behind.

Kramer's relief attacks out of Itter village towards the castle, catching the SS on multiple sides. Beaten, the SS withdraw into the woods.

As the smoke clears, Lee walks out to find Wallace leaning on Boche Buster.

"What kept you?" He grumbles. Then smiles and laughs in relief

The VIPs at Itter were saved by incredible bravery from men of all nations, including their own. And this thread covers barely half of it.

Gangl was the only fatal casualty that astonishing day.

Today, he is buried in Wörgl. It's my goal one day to visit and pay my respects.

As usual, has been of interest, then please do share it with others. You can also buy me a coffee here:

ko-fi.com/garius

I'd also highly recommend the book 'The Last Battle' by Stephen Harding if you want to read more about Itter.

Have a nice weekend!

ADDENDUM: Yes. Sorry - to clarify, MICHEL Clemenceau.

https://twitter.com/ted_morris/status/1484546384149860356

ADDENDUM AGAIN: More on Gangl, and why we need to be careful about condemning AND lionising those in the past:

https://twitter.com/garius/status/1484953227703558147