The Battle of Castle Itter: When Americans and Germans Fought Together

Two days before Germany's surrender, a deafening firefight raged at a medieval Austrian fortress where the defenders included an American tank commander, defecting German soldiers, an active SS officer, and a world-famous French tennis star, all fighting side by side against the Waffen-SS. This episode tells the story of the Battle of Castle Itter, the only known battle of World War II where Americans and Germans fought together.We set the scene of a collapsing Third Reich and a power vacuum, explain why high-value French VIPs like former prime ministers were held at the castle as hostages, and trace the desperate messengers, the Wehrmacht major who defied orders to protect civilians, and the SS officer who switched sides for survival. We follow the siege, the destruction of the Sherman tank, the tennis star's daring run for help, and the single defender killed.Why the castle held a roster of rival French dignitariesThe crucial distinction between the Wehrmacht and the fanatic Waffen-SSHow an American lieutenant chose to trust a truck of armed GermansJean Borotra's leap over the wall to find the relief forceHow Major Gangl died saving a French prime minister