The Last Battle

[Schone23666]

Nope, this isn't about the T2k module...this is about a book detailing one of the last, and most bizarre, battles of WWII. Has anyone here read this? It's "The Last Battle" by Stephen Harding.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Last-Battl...dp/0306822083/

To quote one article on the book:

It was the last days of the war in Europe on May 5, 1945, when French prisoners, Austrian resistance fighters, German soldiers, and American tankers all fought in defense of Itter Castle in Austria.

In 1943, the German military turned the small castle into a prison for "high value" prisoners, such as French prime ministers, generals, sports stars, and politicians.

By May 4, 1945, with Germany and its military quickly collapsing, the commander of the prison and his guards abandoned their post.

The prisoners were now running the asylum, but they couldn’t just walk out the front door and enjoy their freedom. The Waffen SS, the German paramilitary unit commanded by Heinrich Himmler, had plans to recapture the castle and execute all of the prisoners.

That's when the prisoners enlisted the help of nearby American troops led by Capt. John "Jack" Lee, local resistance fighters, and yes, even soldiers of the Wehrmacht to defend the castle through the night and early morning of May 5. The book "The Last Battle" by Stephen Harding tells the true tale of what happened next.

As the New York Journal of Books notes in its review of Harding's work, Army Capt. Lee immediately assumed command of the fight for the castle over its leaders — Capt. Schrader and Maj. Gangl — and they fought against a force of 100 to 150 SS troops in a confusing battle, to say the least.

During the six-hour battle, the SS managed to destroy the sole American tank of the vastly outnumbered defenders, and Allied ammunition ran extremely low. But the Americans were able to call for reinforcements, and once they showed up the SS backed off, according to Donald Lateiner in his review.


Talk about something straight out of Twilight 2000! Someone needs to make an adventure patterned off of this!

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Yeah I read about this some time ago, the castle/prison apparently also housed the wives of the French politicians who were there are the time. The list of prisoners included two former Prime Ministers of France and also De Gaulle's sister.
The Wehrmacht officer who took his troops to fight on the side of the prisoners and US troops was unfortunately killed during the battle. He had kept the remains of his unit in the town to protect the locals from SS reprisals and is considered something of a hero in Austria.