20. Earlier Sherman models had carried the projectiles in the side sponsons above the tracks; the rounds would almost always detonate if the hull was breached by antitank fire, so in later-model M4s the main-gun ammunition was stored in bins under the turret floor. The bins were surrounded by a water-antifreeze mixture that greatly reduced the risk of the ammunition cooking off and catastrophically destroying the tank.
21. General Orders 33, HQs., 12th Armored Division, April 19, 1945. Lee was also awarded the Purple Heart for wounds received sometime in March 1945, but the nature of the wounds and exactly how and where they were inflicted remain unclear.
22. As World War II ground on in Europe, the army needed immediate reinforcements in its infantry units. When the numbers of white soldiers pulled from other tasks failed to fill the gap, the still-segregated army allowed black soldiers in Europe-based service and support units to volunteer. Some two thousand men did, and after truncated infantry training in France they were allocated to white-officered units in the 12th and 14th Armored divisions. While the black soldiers in the 17th AIB’s Company D proved themselves to be both brave and highly competent infantrymen, they did not—as some sources (including the author’s own 2005 magazine article) have erroneously indicated—participate in the Schloss Itter operation.
23. Operations in Germany, 1–10 May 1945, 84.
24. A few days earlier, as the 103rd had moved into Garmisch-Partenkirchen in southern Germany, Kramers had led his group of jeepborne civil-military government soldiers up the driveway of a particularly imposing villa. Intending to use the home as a command post, Kramers informed the residents that they had fifteen minutes to pack a single bag and leave. An elderly man walked slowly out of the house and up to Kramers, who was bent over the hood of his jeep studying a map. “I am Richard Strauss, the composer,” the man said, proffering part of the manuscript of his Der Rosenkavalier and a certificate proclaiming him to be an honorary citizen of Morgantown, West Virginia. Kramers, a fan of classical music in general and Strauss’s work in particular, decided he could find a suitable command post elsewhere. After posting an “Off Limits” sign in front of Strauss’s villa, Kramers and his men moved on. This incident is recounted in Alex Ross’s excellent The Rest Is Noise, 373–374. Kramers also related this event to the author in a June 8, 2012, telephone interview. And, according to a postwar history of the 103rd Infantry Division, Strauss’s son, Franz, his Jewish wife, and their two teenaged sons had spent the entire war in the composer’s home. The elder Strauss told Kramers and his men that Franz’s wife “was the only free Jewess in Germany during Hitler’s reign.” Her safety, it seems, stemmed from the fact that Strauss’s popularity with the German people was so great that even the Nazis couldn’t touch them. See Mueller and Turk, Report After Action, 140.
25. The actual term used in the Free French forces was Enseigne de vaisseau de première classe, but since Lutten was attached to an American unit, he went by “lieutenant.”
26. Levin, “We Liberated Who’s Who,” 98.
27. Pronounced “Simzik.”
28. The basic account of Lee’s initial recon to Wörgl and Schloss Itter is drawn from Operations in Germany, 1–10 May 1945, 68–70, and from Resistance and Persecution in Austria, 594–598.
29. Schrader, “Erinnerungen, Gedanken, Erkenntnisse,” 36.
30. It remains unclear which two men they were.
31. Demey, Paul Reynaud, 144.
32. Daladier, Prison Journal, 337.
33. Unfortunately I have been unable to determine the names of the other two members of Boche Buster’s crew.
34. The account of the 753rd’s actions in support of the Schloss Itter operation is drawn from Battalion Diary for Month of May 1945, 1–3, and Company History, 1–8 May 1945, 1–2.
35. Designed during World War I by John Browning, the Browning Automatic Rifle was chambered for a .30–06 round. In World War II the Model 1918A2 was normally the sole automatic weapon in each eight-man infantry squad.
36. Interview with Arthur P. Pollock.
37. While not perhaps as lethal as the famed German 88mm anti-aircraft/ antitank gun, the more mobile 75mm Panzerabwehrkanone (Pak) 40 was more than capable of knocking out a Sherman under most circumstances.
38. Interview with Pollock.
39. Tall, narrow openings in a castle’s defensive walls originally intended to allow defenders to fire arrows at attackers while remaining protected. The embrasures were wider on the inside than on the outside, allowing the defender a wide field of fire despite the narrowness of the exterior opening.
40. A common feature in medieval castles, a sally port allowed the troops of the castle’s garrison to mount quick raids outside the walls without having to open the main gate.
41. Interview with Edward J. Seiner.
CHAPTER SEVEN
1. Introduced in 1942, the Maschinengewehr-42’s readily identifiable sound resulted from a rate of fire of more than one thousand rounds per minute.
2. The red lens provides illumination in low light without revealing the user’s position as a white light would.
3. Daladier, Prison Journal, 337.
4. The 142nd’s actions in support of the Schloss Itter rescue operation are drawn from Operations in Germany and Austria, 1–10 May 1945, 4–6.
5. Battalion Diary for Month of May 1945.
6. Levin was speaking in comparative terms: the high temperature in the area that day, according to the weather forecast included in the 103rd Infantry Division’s daily operations report for May 5, was 38 degrees F.
7. Levin, “We Liberated Who’s Who,” 96.
8. Ibid.
9. As it happened, Kramers’s small force was not the only 103rd ID unit operating in the 36th ID’s area. A small element of the division’s 103rd Reconnaissance Troop under the command of Lieutenant Herbert had reached the outskirts of Wörgl on the afternoon of May 4, spent the night, and was making its way back toward Innsbruck even as Kramers was arguing with the division’s chief of staff. The recon troops did not know about the French VIPs at Itter; the GIs’ only mission was to establish contact with the lead elements of the 36th ID and then return to Innsbruck to report that contact. How the two groups failed to encounter each other on the road along the Inn River remains a mystery. See Regimental History, 409th Infantry Regiment, 1–10 May 1945, 68–71.
10. Levin, “We Liberated Who’ss Who,” 96.
11. Operations in Germany, 1–10 May 1945, 70.
12. According to the account of the action in Resistance and Persecution in Austria, 1938–1945 (597), the weapon was a 2cm Flak 30.
13. Operations in Germany, 1–10 May 1945, 70.
14. Ibid.
15. Paul Reynaud, in his In the Thick of the Fight (655), says that after the event he was informed by General Émile Antoine Béthouart, then commander of the French 1st Army Corps and postwar French high commissioner in Austria, that the Waffen-SS soldiers were there specifically to kill the French VIPs.
16. Resistance and Persecution in Austria, 1938–1945, 598.
17. Cailliau de Gaulle, Souvenirs personnels, 101.
18. Interview with Arthur P. Pollock.
19. Ibid.
20. Fortunately for all concerned, Besotten Jenny’s “wet” storage kept its 76mm main-gun ammunition from detonating.
21. Schrader, “Erinnerungen, Gedanken, Erkenntnisse.”
22. Ibid., and Léon-Jouhaux, Prison pour hommes d’Etat, 154.
23. Reynaud is using “tommy-gun” in the generic sense, to mean any type of submachine gun. The weapon he wielded during the fight for the castle was actually a German MP-40 machine pistol.
24. Reynaud, In the Thick of the Fight, 655.
25. Cailliau de Gaulle, Souvenirs personnels, 101.
26. Interview with Edward J. Seiner.
27. Interview with Pollock.
28. Reynaud, In the Thick of the Fight, 655.
29. Levin, “We Liberated Who’s Who,” 98.
&n
bsp; 30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. Gill was himself a bona fide hero; just over two weeks earlier he’d personally led an attack on an enemy position that ultimately resulted in his being decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second-highest military award for valor.
33. Levin, “We Liberated Who’s Who,” 98.
34. Ibid.
35. Operations in Germany and Austria, 1–10 May 1945, 2. Mühltal, as mentioned earlier in this volume, is about a mile northeast of Schloss Itter, on the road from Wörgl east to Söll.
36. Unit Journal, 1–10 May 1945, 53.
37. Levin, “We Liberated Who’s Who,” 98.
38. Ibid.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid.
41. Indeed, the Brixentaler Ache is still a popular destination for whitewater kayakers.
42. He was also the postwar founder of the separatist Parti Québécois and a prime mover in his province’s attempts to gain political independence from the Canadian Confederation.
43. Lévesque, Memoires, 96–99.
44. Ibid., 98.
45. Léon-Jouhaux, Prison pour hommes d’Etat, 156. See also Smyth, Jean Borotra, the Bounding Basque, 157–158.
46. Léon-Jouhaux, Prison pour hommes d’Etat, 157.
47. Operations in Germany and Austria, 1–10 May 1945.
48. Ibid.
49. Levin, “We Liberated Who’s Who,” 98.
50. Daladier, Prison Journal, 338.
51. Ibid.
CHAPTER EIGHT
1. Levin, “We Liberated Who’s Who,” 98.
2. Schrader, “Erinnerungen, Gedanken, Erkenntnisse,” 36. The reason for Čučković’s outburst is unclear; he almost certainly would have encountered Schrader—both in civilian clothes and in uniform—during the latter’s earlier visits to Schloss Itter. We can only assume that the now-free Čučković felt that he could display his true feelings about the man wearing the death’s-head collar insignia that was the symbol of so much horror and tragedy throughout Europe.
3. Levin, “We Liberated Who’s Who,” 98.
4. Lévesque, Memoires, 98–99.
5. A nickname given to the solidly built Daladier years earlier by the Parisian press.
6. Lévesque, Memoires, 98–99.
7. Ibid.
8. Operations in Germany and Austria, 1–10 May 1945, 3.
9. Cailliau de Gaulle, Souvenirs personnels, 102–105, and Daladier, Prison Journal, 340–341.
10. Čučković, “Zwei Jahren auf Schloss Itter,” 68–69.
11. Late in 1945 Schloss Itter was purchased by Wilhelm Woldrich, an Innsbruck hotelier who completely refurbished the castle and added an outdoor swimming pool and a larger garage. In 1964 the Hotel Schloss Itter was sold to a Frau Bettina McDuff, who in 1972 sold it to a Lichtenstein-based company, which, according to some sources, was owned at least in part by one-time Austrian Formula 1 race driver Niki Lauda. In the late 1980s the castle was purchased by Dr. Ernst Bosin, an Austrian attorney with offices in Kufstein, Wörgl, and Orlando, Florida. The hotel ceased operation about that time and has been closed to the public since then.
12. The DSC is awarded for extreme gallantry and risk of life in combat; it is second in order of precedence only to the Medal of Honor. The Silver Star is the third-highest U.S. military decoration for valor in combat.
13. General Order 212. I am indebted to Robert Lee for providing the original document.
14. The other being Carnets de captivité.
15. I am indebted to Mr. Reynaud’s daughter, Evelyne Demey Paul-Reynaud, for information on her mother’s later life.
16. Daladier, Prison Journal, 244.
17. Léon-Jouhaux, Prison pour hommes d’Etat, 149.
18. The letter is quoted in Schrader, “Erinnerungen, Gedanken, Erkenntnisse,” 40.
19. Lee remained in the inactive reserve until his honorable discharge on December 20, 1952.
20. It has proven impossible to determine the child’s name or birth date, or to discover what ultimately happened to him and his mother. Jack Lee apparently never saw either of them again.
21. I am indebted to James Dunne, Norwich sports writer and local historian, for details on Jack Lee’s later life.
INDEX
Alibi Network, 59
Allied advance
into Alpine passes, 69–71
into Tyrol area, 93–94
Allied air attacks
decimate Forster’s group, 89
of German industrial centers, 40–41
kill civilians, resisters, 75–76
of Kufstein, 76
over Belgium, 85
of Schrader’s Frundsberg unit, 99
Allied armies
recapture German-Austria frontier, 67–69
recapture western Europe, 85–86
Allied intelligence
British, and IFTU, 39
gathered by Austrian resisters, 74
passed to Britain by de La Rocque, 57, 59
provided by Gangl, Mayr, 145
on Tyrol military and training schools, 70
of XXI Corps, 71
Alpine Fortress, 68, 86
Alpine Front, Northwest, 71–73, 86, 87
Alsace-Lorraine, 38, 49, 68, 118
Anschluss, 9–11, 97
Anti-Nazi resistance. See Resistance (Austrian); Resistance (French)
Antismoking crusade, 12
Au Coeur de la Mêlée (Reynaud), 166–167
Au service de l’avenir (de La Rocque), 168
Austria
Allied plans for securing, 69–71
annexed by Nazi Germany (Anschluss), 9–11, 97
army transferred into Wehrmacht, 10–11
with Nazis in majority, 10, 73
Austrian resistance. See Resistance (Austrian)
Austrian Tyrol. See Tyrol region
Basques, 45–46, 47, 52
Basse, Harry J.
as Lee’s lifelong friend, 116, 173
commands tank in rescue effort, 123
as Lee’s lieutenant, 128–130
defends Schloss Itter, 130–132, 136–137, 143, 150–152
aftermath of battle, 160, 164
receives Silver Star, 165
postwar life and death, 171
Battle of the Bulge, 85
Besotten Jenny tank
of 12th Armored Division, 117
defends Schloss Itter, 124–136, 139
hit by antitank rounds, destroyed, 147–153, 164
Blechschmidt (Gangl’s lieutenant )
key member of Wörgl resistance, 110–111
accompanies Lee for rescue recon, 122–123
defends Great Hall, 137–138
defends Schloss Itter, 128–129, 151
Blitzkrieg warfare, 35, 58
Bloody Herrlisheim, 118
Blum, Léon
as premier of France, 26
in Vichy’s custody, 29
at Buchenwald, 32
as Riom Trial defendant, 30
Boche Buster tank
commanded by Basse, 123–125
rejoins 23rd Tank Battalion, 164
spearheads move to Schloss Itter, 155, 160
to Wörgl, 152–153
Böhaimb, Joannes, 72
Bonaparte, Napoléon, 7
Borotra, Jean
background, 45–46
as member of PSF with La Rocque, 47
at Sachsenhausen, 48
shunned by Daladier, Jouhaux, Gamelin, 63
escapes, is recaptured, 64–65
volunteers to search for Allies, 108
fires on enemy, 148–150, 151–152
carries message to 142nd Infantry, 157–159
after liberation, put on trial for collaboration, 164
postwar life and death, 167
Bourassol, 29, 31
British army 2nd Battalion, 20
British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), 39
British Special Operatio
ns Executive (SOE), 39
Bruchlen, Augusta
in CGT resistance movement, 38–39
arrested, interned, by Vichy secret police, 39–40
allowed to join Jouhaux at Schloss Itter, 48–50
summons Schrader to Schloss Itter, 108
in Schloss Itter under fire, 137
returns to cellar after defying Lee’s orders, 146, 148
postwar life and death, 166
See also Léon-Jouhaux, Augusta
Buchenwald concentration camp
Blum, Mandel, stay behind, 32
Cailliaus’ internment, 61
Gamelin’s internment, 36
Jouhaux’s internment, 31, 40
VIP prisoners’ conditions, 31
Buchner Battle Group, 72–73
Bundesheer Austrian army, 10–11, 70
Caen, 85, 99
Cailliau, Alfred
defies Lee’s orders, 146, 148
as resister, leading up to Schloss Itter, 59–62
postwar life and death, 168–169
Cailliau, Denis, 60
Cailliau, Marie-Agnès
as resister, sister of de Gaulle, 59–62
at Schloss Itter, 146, 148
postwar life and death, 168–169
Cailliau, Michel, 60
Campinchi, Caesar, 28
Caous, Pierre, 30–31
Capitulation of France/armistice (June 1940), 28–30, 32, 38, 54–55
Case Red, 44
Case Yellow, 43, 80
Castle Itter. See Schloss Itter
Central Council of Trade Unions of Soviet Russia, 38
CGT. See Confédération Générale du Travail
Chamberlain, Neville, 27
Château Chazeron, Riom, 29, 35–36
Clemenceau, Georges, 56
Clemenceau, Michel
background, 55–57
asks Schrader to ensure prisoners’ safety, 108–109
fires on enemy, 148–151
reports on retreating Germans, 107
postwar life and death, 168
Clow, Kelso G., 118–119, 121, 123
Cohen, David de Léon, 54
Communists, 26, 38, 73, 166
Company B, 753rd Tank Battalion. See 753rd Tank Battalion
Company B of 23rd Tank Battalion
led by Lee into Austria, 118–119
The Last Battle: When U.S. And German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe Page 26
