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Amongst all the suffering and pandemonium of its final week, why does a single battle
in a small Austrian village stand out against the horror and heroism of World War II and
is remembered today as the strangest battle of the war?
The strangest battle of World War Two took place at Castle Itter in the Austrian Alps.
This castle is located in the idyllic Brixental Valley; its original grounds were used as
a fort since the 13th century.
However, the building that still stands today was constructed during the 1870s and utilized
as a private residence.
After Germany annexed Austria, the castle was leased by the Austrian government to the
Nazi government as a retreat for high-ranking German officials.
That all changed in February of 1943 when Heinrich Himmler himself wanted to acquire
more property to house high-ranking political prisoners he deemed valuable to the Nazi regime.
By March of 1943, the castle was officially annexed and taken under the administration
of the infamous Dachau concentration camp as one of its 197 satellite camps under the
command of SS Captain Sebastian Wimmer.
The castle was soon home to several dozen high-ranking French political prisoners.
Among them was the former president of France, Albert Lebrun, former prime ministers Édouard
Daladier and Paul Reynaud, generals Maxime Weygand and Maurice Gamelin, and even tennis
star Jean Borotra.
How all these people ended up here was generally either their refusal to participate in the
Vichy government, such as the case of tennis star Borotra, or they had fallen out of favor
with the Germans as the war progressively turned against them.
Among these high-ranking French political prisoners were also a smattering Italian and
Yugoslav prisoners, to include a high-ranking communist partisan named Zoonimir Cuckovic,
also known as Andre, who will become very important later on in our story.
Life at the castle, though restrictive, was still quite posh compared to the existence
shared by those imprisoned at the main Dachau camp.
The "inmates," if they could be called that, were each given their own private rooms and
could enjoy the company of their wives and mistresses.
If they were bored, they could peruse the extensive library or exercise in the castle’s
courtyard.
They also enjoyed fine meals in the castle’s grand dining room though the prisoners often
self-segregated due to some of their vitriol hatred of each other due to their differing
politics back in France.
Despite this, their existence was relatively benign, with both the castle and the town
escaping the horrors of the war engulfing most of Europe.
They did not face harsh treatment here as their two-dozen strong SS guard contingent
were eager to wait out the rest of the war in peace, and though there were shortages
of some basics as the war progressed, the inmates lived in relative comfort and peace
until April of 1945.
As it became clear that Germany was going to lose the war, increasing throngs of SS
men with their wives and cronies began using the castle as a waypoint towards their final
escape in the Austrian Alps.
The prisoners became increasingly worried with each new guest as they faced the threat
of death from each SS officer that came by.
While they were never actually harmed, the threat was all too real.
After the death of the commandant of Dachau and the approach of the American army, Captain
Wimmer and his men fled the castle to avoid being captured, hoping to fade into obscurity
with the increasing throngs of German POWs being captured each day.
Once the Germans had abandoned the castle, the prisoners were left to fend for themselves.
Though they could have arguably waited out the rest of the war doing nothing, that was
not really an option given the roving remnants of the 17th Waffen SS-Panzer Grenadier Division,
who were actively fighting against Austrian partisans as well as shooting any Germans
they found surrendering.
Deciding that taking up arms was a better option, the inmates seized the few guns the
Germans had left, and Andre left to go get the help of the nearest American unit.
After leaving the castle, Andre ran into Austrian resistance fighters who had taken over the
town of Worgl.
After speaking with the fighters of their plight, they took him to their leader, a German
army officer named Major Josef Gangl.
Major Gangl had been a career army officer.
After enlisting in the German army in 1929, he rose through the ranks in the artillery,
eventually earning his commission and seeing extensive action on the Eastern front, where
he was awarded several awards for bravery.
After being promoted several times and teaching new officers at artillery school, he was given
command of a Nebelwerfer artillery regiment and sent to the Western front.
Here, he saw extensive action in Normandy, the Falaise Pocket, Battle of the Bulge, and
the defense of Germany.
After months of hard fighting, his unit had largely been destroyed, with the remaining
survivors converted into infantrymen and a battle group formed from other units.
However, Major Gangl knew the war was at its end, and he refused to see anyone else needlessly
suffer for the dreams of a dead despot.
Against orders from higher command, he refused to reinforce the town of Worgl against attack
and forbade his men from harming civilians who hung white flags from their homes.
In an act of further defiance against Nazi Germany, he and his men defected to local
partisans where they quickly made him a leader to organize a defense of the area from SS
attacks.
It was this man that Andre ran into and who quickly realized the gravity of the situation.
Major Gangl ordered Andre to continue to Innsbruck, where he knew American forces would be.
He then left in his staff car and headed towards the town of Kufstein, about thirteen miles
away, where he had gotten reports that an advanced patrol of Americans had just arrived.
Upon reaching the town, Gangl was quickly given an audience at the 23rd Tank Battalion's
command post.
After hearing his story and conversing with elements of the 103rd Infantry Division whom
Andre had been able to speak with as well, a grand relief force was established.
The command of the relief force was assigned to First Lieutenant Jack Lee.
Lieutenant Lee was a battle-hardened soldier who had been with the unit for several years,
including since its combat debut in Europe in October of 1944.
Known as a hard charger and a mini-Patton, he was the perfect officer to lead the relief
effort.
After personally inspecting the castle to see that it was true, he was given seven tanks
and several squads of infantry.
A separate column made up of four tank destroyers and a platoon of infantry from the 411th Infantry
Regiment from the 103rd Division were making their way from Innsbruck to also link up with
Lee.
Before leaving Kufstein, Lee further handpicked a squad of African-American riflemen from
the 17th Armored Infantry Battalion to ride on top of the tanks.
Once Lee assembled his force, the rag-tag unit of American tankers, African-American
infantrymen, and former Nazi artillerymen made their way towards the castle.
As they were making their approach to the castle, they encountered their first resistance
from the SS, beginning their preparations to retake the town.
A squad of SS-men were setting up a roadblock, and Lee's lead tank engaged them, sending
them fleeing into the woods.
However, before they actually entered the castle, Lee decided it was best to divide
up his force.
Because the Austrian resistance lacked armor and manpower, he gave them most of his infantry
and one of his tanks to defend the town of Worgl.
For the actual defense of the castle, Lee took just one squad of infantry, one tank,
and the German troops Gangl brought with him.
After the convoy breached the walls of the castle, the former prisoners were immediately
elated at seeing the Americans, but that elation quickly vanished when they saw just how small
the relief force was.
They were expecting a massive column of armored troops but instead got barely a squad along
with twenty of their former enemy.
Despite this, Lee began to set up a robust defense of the town, and his preparations
would soon pay off.
Early in the morning of May 5th, around 4 am, the SS began their attack.
Not wanting these valuable prisoners to fall into the hands of the allies and probably
incensed at their countrymen's treachery, in the words of Lieutenant Lee, they attacked
with great vigor.
The SS launched a small probing attack to test the defenses early in the morning, with
the main attack coming shortly after.
The Germans had used the cover of darkness to cut paths through the barbed wire surrounding
the castle.
They then rushed towards its walls like mad men but were met with withering fire from
the Americans and their newfound German allies.
After being repulsed, the Germans then opened fire on the castle and its lone tank with
a hidden 88mm gun.
The tank was knocked out, but luckily the man firing its machine gun escaped unharmed.
Seeing the tank knocked out, the Germans again pressed their attack home and began attempting
to scale the castle walls with grappling hooks and rope.
Seeing the desperate plight of their rescuers, some of the former French prisoners wanted
to take up arms to repel the SS.
As the fighting raged on, the defenders began to run dangerously low on ammunition.
Lee knew he must keep the SS away from the castle's interior where they would hold the
best vantage point.
In order to do this, he had to find and silence the 88 that was wreaking havoc on his positions
and pinning the defenders down.
Lee and Gangl clambered to the roof of the castle to find where the gun was firing from.
It was here that the vaunted Major Gangl, who had survived six years of war and countless
battles, was felled by a sniper's bullet.
Though saddened, the Americans, their German allies, and the French prisoners continued
fighting on.
As the battle wore on, the defenders were running incredibly low on ammunition.
At one point, Lee thought it would have been best to retreat towards the inner keep of
the castle and let the SS men pour in so they could pick them off easier.
They would also be able to use their bayonets if it came down to it.
Luckily for the defenders, that would not be the case.
Just as Lee was radioing back to his superiors again about the plight of his situation, he
began to hear the crackle of machine gunfire.
Looking outside, he could see the relief column from Innsbruck had finally made it and was
pouring fire into the German positions.
Not soon after, those Germans that had been firing at the castle began running out of
houses and trees with their hands up in surrender.
In the end, Major Gangl and several of his men were killed, protecting people they had
never met before from the wrath of war criminals hell-bent on exacting as much vengeance as
possible.
For his actions that day, Lieutenant Lee would be awarded the nation's second-highest award
for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross.
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