Greatest battles
Austria, 5 May 1945
Discover why Nazis ended up fighting their comrades at Castle Itter
Nestled in the picturesque Austrian alps, the fortress of Schloss Itter had been requisitioned into a satellite facility of the dreaded Dachau concentration camp since 1943. In May 1945, the castle held a number of French VIPS under the watchful eye of their SS guards. Once it became clear that the war was lost, the guards abandoned their posts, leaving the prisoners in control of the castle – but at the mercy of roving bands of SS hellbent on executing any enemies of the Third Reich.
Not wanting to meet this grizzly fate, the castle’s handyman, Zvonimir Čučović was sent to find the advancing Allied forces and return with reinforcements. But the first soldiers he ran into were German, led by the pragmatic Major Josef
‘Sepp’ Gangl. Sensing the war was lost, Gangl decided to throw his lot in with the French trapped in the castle. These were not men who blindly followed the party line, and the fact that they were not targeted by anti-nazi partisans operating in the area could show as much.
After securing the help of the Germans, the US army was located and a strong relief force was quickly put together. However, they were turned back by a fierce artillery barrage. Meanwhile, a few kilometres away, word of the situation had reached tank commander Captain Jack Lee. Not knowing that the other relief force had been turned back, he quickly gathered an impromptu force, including Gangl’s men, and raced to the castle’s rescue.
On approach to Schloss Itter, Lee had only around 20 Germans, seven Americans and one Sherman tank under his command. After a brief skirmish they reached the fortress and it wasn’t long before SS units on the mountain opened fire. Lighting up the night with machine gun and small arms fire, they continued the barrage until the early morning.
After dawn, the boom of artillery signalled the beginning of the attack. An artillery shell tore into the Sherman guarding the gate, causing the tank to erupt in a ball of flame. At this signal, the SS started racing towards the castle. Lee immediately ordered his men to pour round after round into the attacking force, keeping them at bay and preventing them entering the castle grounds. As supplies began to run low, the Allies readied themselves for the final push. Just then, the sound of cannon fire echoed around the castle. The American relief force had finally arrived and broken through, easily driving off the remaining SS forces.
As Gangl was killed during the battle, we cannot know what kind of pardon or punishment he would have received. His men, while they fought bravely alongside the Allies, were immediately sent to a prisoner of war camp and they then faded into obscurity. A day of fighting for the Allies had not undone years of fighting for the Nazi regime.
Lee received the Distinguished Service Cross in honour of actions. His brash and uncouth manner offended the French politicians sensibilities but his leadership saw his tiny unit holdout and beat a much larger and better equipped force. Only a few men lost their lives – Major Gangl and a couple of Wehrmacht defenders. The SS losses are not known but must have been in the dozens. The remainder of the unit dissolved into the mountains after the attack, their strength crushed and will broken.