The Last Battle (40 page)

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.

C
HAPTER
S
EVEN

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.

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.

C
HAPTER
E
IGHT

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