Schloss Itter and entrance pathway in 1979 (Steve J. Morgan, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
In the early morning hours on May 5, 1945, in the Tyrol region of Austria, the most unlikely alliance was formed. In order to save the prisoners located in the confines of Schloss Itter (Castle Itter), 24 American and German Soldiers, along with the French prisoners, had to stave off 150 Waffen SS fighters from certain death.
The previous day, Captain John C. “Jack” Lee of the 23rd Tank Battalion, 12th Armored Division was presented with the white flag of surrender by Major Josef “Sepp” Gangl along with 10 of his men from the 25th Nebelwerfer Artillery Regiment and Captain Kurt-Siegfried Schrader of the SS. Gangl had been notified by the prisoner’s cook, Andreas Krobot, who informed him of the situation.
Josef Gangl next to his car while talking to John C. Lee, prior to the defense of Schloss Itter (Onbekende fotograaf van het Amerikaanse leger., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
At this time, Gangl and his men had actively been working with the local Austrian resistance fighters and were seeking to undermine the Nazi regime in any way they could. A previous messenger Zvonimir Čučković, had left the castle to get help from the Americans and came across Major John T. Kramer of the 142nd Infantry Regiment in Innsbruck.
Kramer dispatched a rescue unit to help the prisoners but was ordered to stop because the castle location was outside of his area of responsibility. When Čučković didn’t return, Krobot was sent to try and contact the Americans again but came across Gangl’s unit. Gangl informed Lee of prisoners being held in the nearby castle who were soon to be executed by the SS forces of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier-Division who were on their way.
Jean Borotra 1924 (Agence Rol, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)
Of the prisoners being held within the castle, two were ex-Prime Ministers of France (Paul Reynaud and Édouard Daladier), French tennis player Jean Borotra, and Marie-Agnes Cailliau, sister to then Brigadier General Charles De Gaulle and future president of France.
Lee, along with his 14 Soldiers, joined Gangl and occupied Castle Itter with a lone Sherman tank blocking the main gate. Once the castle was occupied, the prisoners took the weapons in the armory left behind by the guards and helped fill in the defenses wherever they could.
Detail of an old German anti-tank gun Pak 43 caliber 88mm, Panzerabwehrkanone 43, Wehrmacht (Adolf-Adobe Stock )
When the SS arrived, Castle Itter was as prepared as it could be to withstand the siege. The fighting was intense. When the SS could not take any more ground with small arms, they employed the 88mm Anti-Tank Artillery gun to take out Lee’s Sherman and destroy portions of the castle. At one point during the attack, Gangl was killed by a sniper while protecting former minister Paul Reynaud.
With the defender’s ammunition running low and the SS gaining more ground, Borotra voluntarily jumped the castle walls, braved enemy fire and ran until he was able to contact Kramer’s unit. Borotra had requested a uniform, weapons and ammunition to help which he was given. Kramer sent a relief force, who upon arrival to the castle quickly defeated the remaining SS forces taking about 100 of them prisoner.
In the aftermath of the battle, Captain John C. Lee was awarded with the Distinguished Service Cross and Major Josef Gangl was honored as an Austrian national hero who is buried in Tyrol, Austria and had a street named after him in his honor.
US Distinguished Service Cross (Stas Kozlovskiy, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
