Hitler's mountain hideaway captured with barely a fight
...apart from punch-ups between Yankie conquerors and their jealous French allies
FOR many years, the picturesque Alpine town of Berchtesgaden has been notorious for playing host to Hitler and his evil cronies.
For it is here that the late dictator had a summer house called the Berghof, where he entertained his inner circle, as well as receiving his fellow fascist statesmen.
But today, thanks to the troops of the 7th Infantry Regiment of the American 3rd Infantry Division under Major General John W. ‘Iron Mike’ O’Daniel, the town joins the long list of landmarks of the Third Reich that are free from the Nazi yoke.
Early reports indicate that the town fell without much of a fight. So much for the fears of the Alpine Redoubt, the fabled Nazi stronghold in the mountains from which the diehards of the SS would hold out for months, if not years.
At around 4pm yesterday afternoon, men from the 7th Infantry Regiment entered the town and, within minutes, had taken prisoner some 2,000 German officers and men who were l i ning the streets, waiting to be captured. Unconfirmed reports state that among the prisoners is no less a figure than the nephew of Hermann Goering himself.
Of course, the real prize at Berchtesgaden is neither the town nor the relatives of Nazi nabobs, but the late Fuhrer’s complex in the mountains that overlook it.
All it took to liberate Hitler’s lair was a young lieutenant, a platoon of men and a few tanks. The Americans soon discovered that the Royal Air Force had got there before them, in the form of a vast air raid on the 25th of last month that had flattened many of the buildings.
But according to some reports, there was more than enough for the Yanks to pick over. Even though Major General O’Daniel has instigated a strict ‘ no looting’ order, mementoes from Hitler’s holiday home are being eagerly and secretly traded among the troops, who will doubtless pass them onto their grandchildren in years to come back home in the likes of Iowa and Kentucky.
Rumours abound of the ‘liberation’ of Hermann Goering’s wine cellar buried deep in the mountain, and last night it was impossible to confirm if a convoy of American trucks that returned from the complex were carrying alcohol or Nazi state secrets.
While there is much jubilation to be found among the Americans, their French allies are fuming. In his keenness to claim the town for the 7th Infantry, Major General O’Daniel has ordered his men not to allow any other troops to cross the vital railway bridge that is the only access route to the town.
It is heard that French General Jacques-Philippe Leclerc and his men were forbidden to cross, and apparently scuffles broke out between French and American troops. The French were only allowed into Berchtesgaden late last night, by which time the Stars and Stripes, rather than the Tricolore, had been well established.
Other units are reportedly on their way, including the men of the American 101st Airborne Division, who earned fame for holding out at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge last winter.
Doubtless, there will be many who claim that Berchtesgaden fell to them, but yesterday there was little doubt, judging by the expression on Major General O’Daniel’s face, that it was his ‘Cottonbalers’ — nicknamed after they used cotton bales as a defence at the Battle of New Orleans i n 1815 — who had scooped the prize.