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American soldiers, German defectors, and French political prisoners were thrown together in one of World War II’s most unusual final battles at Castle Itter in Austria. As Nazi Germany collapsed, Captain John “Jack” Lee and Major Josef Gangl helped organize a desperate defense against an approaching Waffen-SS attack, turning a medieval prison into a makeshift stronghold.
The story traces the chaos in the closing days of the European war, when SS guards vanished, communication broke down, and the prisoners inside the castle were forced to help hold the walls. A damaged Sherman tank, scarce ammunition, and a shrinking defense made every minute count until American reinforcements finally arrived.
This military history documentary explores the Battle of Castle Itter, the collapse of the Third Reich, and the extraordinary moment when former enemies fought side by side to save lives.
Search terms: Battle of Castle Itter, World War II documentary, military history, WWII in Austria, Waffen-SS, American tank crew, German resistance, French prisoners, Castle Itter story, historical war documentary, narrated history, Europe 1945.
The story traces the chaos in the closing days of the European war, when SS guards vanished, communication broke down, and the prisoners inside the castle were forced to help hold the walls. A damaged Sherman tank, scarce ammunition, and a shrinking defense made every minute count until American reinforcements finally arrived.
This military history documentary explores the Battle of Castle Itter, the collapse of the Third Reich, and the extraordinary moment when former enemies fought side by side to save lives.
Search terms: Battle of Castle Itter, World War II documentary, military history, WWII in Austria, Waffen-SS, American tank crew, German resistance, French prisoners, Castle Itter story, historical war documentary, narrated history, Europe 1945.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Machine-gun fire ripped across the hills of Western Austria as bullets struck the ancient stone walls of a medieval
00:06castle that should never have become a battlefield.
00:09Smoke drifted over its towers, windows shattered one after another, and every defender knew the next assault could break through.
00:17Inside those walls stood a group that no one could have imagined only weeks earlier.
00:23American soldiers from the U.S. Army crouched beside German Wehrmacht troops who had turned against the Nazi regime.
00:31Around them were some of France's most prominent political prisoners, men who had spent months as captives of the Third
00:37Reich,
00:38and now found themselves loading rifles, carrying ammunition, and preparing to defend the very prison that had once held them.
00:46Outside, Waffen-SS troops tightened their grip around the castle.
00:49They outnumbered the defenders many times over.
00:52Every passing minute brought fresh gunfire, dwindling ammunition, and fewer reasons to believe help would arrive before the walls were
01:00overrun.
01:01Parked just beyond the entrance stood a single American Sherman tank.
01:06Already damaged, it had become both shield and symbol, absorbing enemy fire while its crew fought to keep the attackers
01:13at a distance for just a little longer.
01:16Nothing about this battle followed the rules that had defined nearly six years of war.
01:21Americans were fighting alongside German soldiers.
01:25French prisoners had become defenders.
01:27The enemy was not the German army as a whole, but determined Waffen-SS forces that refused to accept the
01:33collapse unfolding around them.
01:35How had one of the final battles of the European war become one of its most extraordinary?
01:40To understand why these unlikely allies stood shoulder to shoulder inside Castle Itter,
01:46we have to leave the sound of gunfire behind and return to the final days of a nation that was
01:52already falling apart.
01:54By the beginning of May 1945, the Third Reich was no longer fighting for victory.
02:00It was fighting through collapse.
02:02Berlin had fallen after weeks of brutal street fighting.
02:05Adolf Hitler was dead.
02:07The Soviet flag flew over the shattered Reichstag, while Germany's political and military leadership struggled to maintain even the appearance
02:16of control.
02:17Orders continued to travel across telephone lines and radio networks.
02:21But many arrived too late, contradicted one another, or came from commanders who no longer possessed any real authority.
02:29Across Germany and Austria, entire formations faced impossible decisions.
02:34Some officers concluded that further resistance served no purpose and began surrendering to Allied forces wherever they could.
02:41Others attempted to withdraw westward, hoping to avoid Soviet captivity.
02:46Still others simply abandoned their positions, leaving soldiers to decide their own fate in a country where the chain of
02:53command was rapidly disintegrating.
02:56Yet not everyone accepted that the war had been lost.
02:59Among the most determined were elements of the Waffen-SS.
03:04Bound by ideology as much as military discipline, many of these units continued fighting even as Germany itself unraveled around
03:12them.
03:13To them, surrender was not merely defeat.
03:16It was betrayal.
03:17In scattered pockets across the collapsing Reich, they launched attacks, hunted perceived enemies, and ignored the reality that the conflict
03:26they were trying to prolong had already reached its inevitable conclusion.
03:31Austria reflected this confusion more clearly than almost anywhere else.
03:35Roads filled with retreating soldiers, refugees, abandoned vehicles, and columns moving in opposite directions without clear purpose.
03:43Local officials struggled to maintain order while resistance groups quietly prepared to seize control wherever German authority disappeared.
03:52Every village carried its own uncertainty.
03:54Every crossroads presented another question.
03:58Was the next armed group friendly, hostile, or simply trying to survive another day?
04:03In this atmosphere, uniforms alone no longer revealed a man's intentions.
04:09Two German soldiers wearing the same insignia might make completely different choices.
04:14One could be searching for an opportunity to surrender peacefully.
04:18Another might still be willing to fight to the last cartridge.
04:21Distinguishing between them had become increasingly dangerous.
04:25Far from the great capitals and famous battlefields that would dominate history books,
04:29the small Austrian Tyrol seemed almost untouched by comparison.
04:35Surrounded by mountains and quiet valleys, it appeared distant from the destruction that it consumed so much of.
04:41Europe.
04:42But appearances were deceptive.
04:45Hidden among those mountains stood an old medieval castle overlooking the village of Itter.
04:50Its thick stone walls had survived centuries of changing rulers, wars, and political upheaval.
04:56Yet in the final days of Nazi Germany, it served a very different purpose.
05:01It was not protecting a kingdom or guarding a mountain pass.
05:05It had become a prison, and within its walls were prisoners whose fate was about to draw together
05:11American soldiers, German defectors, Austrian resistance members, and French captives
05:17in one of the most remarkable final battles of the Second World War.
05:21Castle Itter had never been intended to hold ordinary prisoners.
05:25Long before the Second World War, the medieval fortress overlooked the Austrian village below
05:30as little more than a quiet landmark among the Tyrolian Mountains.
05:35Isolated, heavily built, and easily controlled, it eventually attracted the attention of the SS,
05:41who transformed it into a special detention site, unlike almost any other in Nazi Germany.
05:47Rather than housing captured soldiers or political dissidents by the thousands,
05:52Castle Itter became a prison for men whose names carried political weight far beyond its stone walls.
05:58Many had shaped France before the war.
06:01Some had led governments.
06:02Others had commanded armies or occupied prominent positions in public life.
06:07If Germany hoped to negotiate with a future French government, these prisoners represented potential
06:13bargaining chips.
06:14If the regime wished to prevent influential figures from returning to public life,
06:19the castle offered a secure place to keep them out of reach.
06:23Among those confined, there were former French Prime Ministers Édouard Daladier
06:27and Paul Reynaud, whose governments had faced the catastrophe of 1940.
06:33General Maurice Gamelin, once commander of the French army during the opening months of the war,
06:39also found himself imprisoned behind the same walls.
06:42They were joined by politicians, senior military officers, labor leaders, and well-known public figures,
06:49each arriving from different circumstances but sharing the same uncertain future.
06:53The prisoners lived under constant supervision, yet Castle Itter was very different from the
06:59concentration camps that have become synonymous with Nazi imprisonment.
07:03The captives were not selected for extermination.
07:07Their value lay in who they were.
07:09As long as the Third Reich believed these men might prove useful politically,
07:14they remained alive, isolated, and closely watched.
07:18But by the spring of 1945, the system holding them together was collapsing.
07:23News filtered into the castle in fragments.
07:27German cities were falling.
07:28Allied armies were advancing from every direction.
07:32Rumors spread faster than facts.
07:34And even the guards struggled to separate truth from speculation.
07:38Every distant explosion and every passing vehicle hinted that the war's end was approaching.
07:44Then, something changed.
07:47The SS personnel assigned to Castle Itter began disappearing.
07:51Some left under orders.
07:53Others simply abandoned their posts.
07:56One by one, the men responsible for guarding the prisoners vanished, leaving behind weapons,
08:02empty barracks, and unanswered questions.
08:04Their departure seemed to signal liberation.
08:07After months of confinement, freedom finally appeared within reach.
08:12Yet the castle did not become safer.
08:14If anything, it became more vulnerable than ever before.
08:18Without guards, there was no longer anyone to protect the prisoners from the chaos unfolding outside.
08:24Communications had broken down.
08:26Civil authority barely existed.
08:29No one could say which armed force would arrive first.
08:32It might be advancing American troops.
08:34It might be Austrian resistance fighters.
08:36It might be desperate German soldiers searching for supplies.
08:39Or it could be Waffen SS units determined to eliminate prominent prisoners before they could be rescued.
08:46The gates of Castle Itter were no longer locked.
08:50But the men inside soon realized that stepping beyond them could be just as dangerous as remaining behind the walls.
08:57Only a few kilometers away, another officer faced a decision that would define the final days of his life.
09:04Major Josef Gangl was not a resistance leader by profession, nor had he spent the war secretly working against the
09:11Nazi regime.
09:12He was a career officer in the Wehrmacht who had served Germany throughout the conflict, like thousands of other professional
09:19soldiers.
09:20But by May 1945, the military reality confronting him could no longer be ignored.
09:27The front had disintegrated.
09:29Communications with higher headquarters were unreliable.
09:32Reinforcements no longer existed.
09:35Fuel, ammunition, and supplies had become scarce, while orders arriving from distant commanders often bore little resemblance to conditions on
09:44the ground.
09:45Around the town of Virgil, where Gangl and his remaining men were stationed, another concern demanded his attention.
09:52Civilians had endured years of war, and now they faced the prospect of becoming victims during the conflict's final hours.
09:59Fanatical formations still willing to fight could easily turn villages into battlefields for no strategic purpose at all.
10:08Every unnecessary engagement increased the danger to people who had already suffered enough.
10:14Gangl reached a conclusion that many German officers were beginning to reach independently.
10:20Continuing the war would achieve nothing except more destruction.
10:24Rather than sacrificing lives for a regime that was collapsing by the day,
10:28he quietly began cooperating with members of the local Austrian resistance.
10:32Their interests now overlapped.
10:35Both wanted to prevent needless fighting around Virgil and protect the civilian population until American forces arrived.
10:43It was an extraordinary step, but it remained a local and practical decision rather than a grand political statement.
10:50The Third Reich was falling apart, and survival increasingly depended on judgment instead of ideology.
10:57Then, urgent news reached Gangl.
11:01The prisoners inside Castle Itter had effectively been abandoned.
11:04The SS guards were gone, but that did not mean the danger had passed.
11:09Reports suggested that nearby Waffen-SS troops were still operating in the region.
11:13If they reached the castle first, the prominent French captives could become targets before Allied forces ever arrived.
11:21Gangl looked at the men under his command, and understood the problem immediately.
11:26He simply did not have enough soldiers.
11:29Even if every available man joined him, they could not guarantee the prisoners' safety against a determined assault.
11:35Waiting was equally dangerous.
11:37Every passing hour increased the chance that someone else would reach the castle first.
11:42There was only one realistic option left.
11:45He would have to ask for help.
11:47Not from another German headquarters that might no longer exist.
11:51Not from neighboring units whose loyalties had become uncertain.
11:54He would have to find the Americans.
11:56The decision carried enormous risks.
11:59Allied troops had spent years fighting German uniforms.
12:02A lone Wehrmacht officer approaching their lines could easily be mistaken for an enemy attempting deception or attack.
12:10Before Gangl could hope to save the prisoners at Castle Itter, he first had to survive crossing a battlefield where
12:16the wrong first impression could prove fatal.
12:18By the first days of May 1945, Captain John Jack Lee Jr. had spent months leading armored troops through some
12:26of the most difficult fighting in Europe.
12:28As an officer in the U.S. 23rd Tank Battalion, he had seen villages liberated, strong points reduced, and German
12:35resistance gradually collapse as Allied forces pushed deeper into Austria.
12:40Victory seemed close, but experience had taught him that the final days of a war could be among the most
12:46dangerous.
12:47A cornered enemy was often the most unpredictable.
12:51Lee's command was not a large armored formation sweeping across the countryside.
12:56His immediate resources were limited.
12:58Fuel remained precious.
13:00Communications were imperfect.
13:02And his men had already endured a long campaign.
13:04Every new mission had to justify the risks it imposed on soldiers who had survived nearly to the end of
13:11the war.
13:12The roads through western Austria offered few clear answers.
13:17Reports arrived from different directions, often contradicting one another.
13:22Some German units surrendered peacefully as soon as Americans appeared.
13:26Others melted into the countryside before contact could be made.
13:29Still others continued fighting without any obvious purpose, as if refusing to acknowledge that the Third Reich had already lost.
13:37It was in this atmosphere of uncertainty that an unexpected visitor arrived.
13:42A German major.
13:44Not carrying a white flag.
13:46Not leading an attack.
13:47Asking for help.
13:49Major Josef Gangl explained the situation as clearly as time allowed.
13:53A medieval castle nearby held several prominent French prisoners.
13:57The SS guards had abandoned the site, but Waffen-SS troops were believed to be moving toward it.
14:03If they reached the castle before American forces, the prisoners could be killed before.
14:08Germany formally surrendered.
14:11To any commander, the story sounded almost unbelievable.
14:15A German officer requesting American assistance, French political leaders trapped inside a former prison,
14:20an isolated castle surrounded by uncertainty.
14:24Lee had only minutes to weigh the decision.
14:27He could continue with his existing mission and leave the situation to larger Allied formations expected to arrive later.
14:34That would have been the safer military choice.
14:37Or he could act immediately with the men already under his command.
14:41The decision was not about winning the war.
14:44That outcome had already been decided across Europe.
14:47Berlin had fallen.
14:48Germany's surrender was only days away.
14:50But wars do not stop killing simply because their outcome is certain.
14:55As long as armed men continued fighting, people could still die.
15:00For Lee, that reality mattered more than waiting for perfect orders.
15:05He agreed to help.
15:06The force he assembled reflected both the urgency of the mission and the severe limits under which he was operating.
15:12There was no battalion-sized assault, no overwhelming armored column, no carefully prepared operation, only a handful of American soldiers.
15:30Every man who joined the mission understood that they were driving toward an unknown situation.
15:35They did not know exactly how many enemy troops remained in the area.
15:39They could not be certain the reports from Castle Itter were even accurate.
15:43They simply knew that if the information proved true, there would be very little time left to prevent a massacre.
15:50The convoy rolled toward the castle with astonishingly few defenders for a mission that might require holding off an enemy
15:56attack.
15:56If everything went according to plan, they would secure the prisoners and wait for larger American forces.
16:03If it did not, those few men would soon find themselves standing almost alone.
16:08The road climbed steadily toward Castle Itter, its ancient stone walls rising above the surrounding hills, much as they had
16:16for centuries.
16:17From a distance, it looked untouched by the chaos-consuming Europe.
16:22Thick walls, narrow windows, and sturdy towers suggested strength and permanence.
16:27The reality inside was far more fragile.
16:31As Captain Lee's small force entered the castle grounds, they found exhausted prisoners who had spent months living with
16:38uncertainty, only to discover that the disappearance of their guards had created a new and even greater danger.
16:45Relief quickly gave way to hurried preparations.
16:49There was little time for celebration.
16:51Every report pointed to armed SS units still operating nearby.
16:55The Americans immediately began organizing the defense.
16:59Weapons were distributed.
17:01Ammunition was gathered wherever it could be found.
17:04Windows overlooking likely approaches became firing positions.
17:07The damaged Sherman tank was placed outside the main entrance, where its gun and armor could help block the most
17:14direct route into the castle.
17:16Gangl's German soldiers took up positions alongside the Americans without hesitation.
17:21Only days earlier, they had worn the uniform of an army fighting against the United States.
17:26Now they discussed fields of fire, defensive positions, and escape routes with the very men they had once faced across
17:33the battlefield.
17:34The transformation was extraordinary, but nobody had time to dwell on it.
17:39The prisoners themselves refused to remain passive spectators.
17:43Several insisted on helping prepare the defenses.
17:46Some carried ammunition.
17:47Others relayed messages between firing positions or helped organize supplies inside the castle.
17:53These were not trained infantrymen preparing for combat after years on the front line.
17:58They were politicians, former government leaders, senior officers, and public figures who understood that their survival might depend upon contributing
18:07in whatever way they could.
18:09The atmosphere inside Castle Itter became unlike anything the war had produced before.
18:15American soldiers shared food with German Wehrmacht troops.
18:18French prisoners discussed defensive plans with officers who only weeks earlier had worn the uniform of the nation that imprisoned
18:26them.
18:27Trust did not appear overnight.
18:30It developed because everyone inside the castle faced the same immediate threat.
18:35Outside the walls, ideological differences mattered far less than the rifles aimed in their direction.
18:41Yet beneath the determination, uncertainty remained constant.
18:46The defenders had no reliable way of knowing when American reinforcements might arrive.
18:52Radios offered only limited contact.
18:55Nearby roads were still dangerous.
18:57Every hour that passed increased the possibility that the small force inside the castle would have to fight alone.
19:03Their greatest weakness was impossible to ignore.
19:06There simply were not enough defenders.
19:09Every casualty would leave another section of the walls exposed.
19:13Every magazine emptied brought them one step closer to running out of ammunition.
19:17Even the Sherman tank, valuable as it was, could not be everywhere at once.
19:24As final preparations continued, scouts and local contacts began bringing disturbing news from the surrounding countryside.
19:31Armed Waffen SS troops had been seen moving toward Castle Itter.
19:35The battle everyone hoped to avoid was now coming directly to them.
19:40The defenders did not have to wait long.
19:43As daylight spread across the hills surrounding Castle Itter, movement began appearing along the tree line.
19:49The wooded slopes and folds of the Austrian countryside offered excellent cover for anyone approaching on foot.
19:56From the castle walls, visibility was good in some directions but frustratingly limited in others.
20:02Every stand of trees, every stone wall, and every shallow depression in the ground could conceal advancing troops.
20:10Then, the first shots rang out.
20:13The defenders answered immediately.
20:16The battle for Castle Itter had begun.
20:18The Waffen SS attackers possessed one advantage the men inside the castle could never overcome.
20:25Numbers.
20:26Exactly how many surrounded the position has remained uncertain, with different accounts offering different estimates.
20:32But everyone inside understood they were heavily outnumbered.
20:36They could not hope to defeat the attackers through sheer firepower.
20:39Their only realistic strategy was to hold.
20:43Every hour they remained in control of the castle increased the likelihood that larger American forces would reach them.
20:49But every passing minute came with its own cost.
20:53Each burst of rifle fire emptied another magazine.
20:57Every machine gun volley consumed ammunition that could not easily be replaced.
21:01Unlike the attackers, the defenders could not afford waste.
21:05Captain Lee moved constantly between positions, checking fields of fire and making certain that no section of the defense became
21:12isolated.
21:13His men fired deliberately, conserving ammunition whenever possible.
21:17They understood that the first assault might not be the last.
21:21Outside the main entrance, the Sherman tank played a crucial role despite its limitations.
21:27Positioned to cover the most direct approach to the castle, it discouraged attackers from simply rushing the entrance in large
21:34numbers.
21:35Its presence forced the Waffen SS to use cover, spread their movements and search for weaker points around the perimeter.
21:42Yet the tank itself had become increasingly vulnerable.
21:46Already damaged before the battle began, it could no longer be relied upon as a fully mobile fighting vehicle.
21:52Enemy fire repeatedly struck the area around it, and before long, the Sherman was disabled as an effective combat platform,
22:00leaving its crew to continue the fight from cover alongside the infantry.
22:05The defenders had lost one of their strongest advantages.
22:08The pressure grew steadily.
22:10Rifle fire echoed across the valley.
22:12Bullets chipped stone from the castle walls and shattered more windows overlooking the approaches.
22:17Snipers searched patiently for anyone exposing themselves above the battlements, forcing the defenders to move carefully between firing positions.
22:26No one could remain visible for long.
22:29A moment spent watching the surrounding hills could become a fatal mistake.
22:33Inside the castle, every movement now carried purpose.
22:37Ammunition was passed from room to room.
22:40Messages traveled on foot as men avoided exposing themselves unnecessarily to enemy marksmen.
22:45The defenders learned to fight in brief, controlled bursts before withdrawing behind thick stone walls that had survived centuries of
22:53conflict.
22:54The castle itself became as important as the soldiers defending it.
22:58Its medieval design, intended for another age of warfare, still provided valuable protection against rifle fire.
23:06Narrow windows offered limited but useful firing positions.
23:09Thick masonry absorbed countless impacts that would have torn through lighter buildings.
23:15Even so, no wall could manufacture ammunition.
23:18Captain Lee knew that his greatest enemy might not be the attacking force outside.
23:22It might be time.
23:24If the battle continued for hours, supplies would inevitably diminish.
23:29Every decision became a calculation.
23:32Was this target worth another burst of ammunition?
23:36Should a position remain occupied despite sniper fire?
23:39Could another attack be repelled without revealing too much of the defender's strength?
23:44The men outside believed they only needed one successful breakthrough.
23:49The men inside understood they needed to prevent every breakthrough.
23:53It was a contest measured not in ground gained, but in time.
23:57And with every exchange of gunfire, that time became increasingly expensive.
24:03As the battle continued, exhaustion became another enemy.
24:07The defenders had begun the day with limited supplies.
24:10Hours of fighting steadily reduced them.
24:13Ammunition boxes that had seemed adequate at sunrise were becoming noticeably lighter.
24:18Medical supplies were scarce.
24:20Food and water mattered less than staying alive through the next attack.
24:24Communication also became increasingly difficult.
24:28The isolated position of Castle Itter left few reliable ways to coordinate with American units elsewhere in the region.
24:35Every interruption in communication increased uncertainty.
24:39Had the request for reinforcements been received?
24:42Were additional troops already moving?
24:44Or were the defenders truly alone?
24:47No one inside the castle knew the answer.
24:50The French prisoners refused to stand aside while others fought on their behalf.
24:54They carried ammunition wherever it was needed.
24:57They delivered messages between firing positions when moving across exposed courtyards.
25:03It became too dangerous for those already engaged.
25:07Some helped care for the wounded while others remained ready to reinforce threatened sections of the defense with whatever weapons
25:14were available.
25:14The distinction between prisoner and defender had almost disappeared.
25:20Everyone inside the walls now shared the same objective.
25:24Survive until help arrived.
25:27Outside, the attackers continued probing the defenses, searching for weakness rather than launching a single overwhelming assault.
25:34The uncertainty surrounding their exact numbers only added to the tension.
25:39Every burst of gunfire from the surrounding hills suggested fresh troops moving into position.
25:46Every pause invited the unsettling possibility that another attack was quietly being prepared.
25:51Among those moving between exposed positions was Major Joseph Gangl.
25:57Throughout the defense, he coordinated closely with Captain Lee and the other defenders, using his knowledge of the local terrain
26:04while helping direct fire where it was most needed.
26:07His decision to stand with the Americans had already placed him in extraordinary circumstances.
26:13Now, it repeatedly placed him in danger.
26:17During the fighting, Gangl moved to protect former French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, who had exposed himself to enemy fire.
26:25A sniper's bullet struck Gangl.
26:27He was killed during the battle.
26:30His death was immediate and the defense lost one of the officers whose leadership had made the unlikely alliance possible.
26:38Years later, Austria would remember Josef Gangl as one of its resistance heroes, not because he had opposed the Nazi
26:45regime from the beginning of the war, but because in its final days, he chose to risk, and ultimately lose,
26:52his life protecting others from continued violence.
26:55The battle, however, did not pause.
26:59Captain Lee and the remaining defenders continued holding their positions.
27:02There was no time to reflect on what had happened.
27:05Every man still capable of fighting remained focused on the walls, the surrounding hills, and the next movement beyond the
27:12trees.
27:13Far beyond Castle Itter, American reinforcements were finally making their way toward the isolated fortress.
27:20The roads were slow.
27:22Information remained incomplete.
27:24The soldiers advancing toward the castle knew only that a small force was under attack and urgently required assistance.
27:31Inside the castle, no one could hear the approaching vehicles.
27:35They could hear only rifle fire.
27:37Every passing minute stretched the defenders closer to exhaustion.
27:41Every magazine emptied brought them nearer to running out of ammunition altogether.
27:46The outcome no longer depended solely on courage or determination.
27:50It depended on whether relief could arrive before the defenders' resources, and their luck, finally ran out.
27:56The defenders had held for as long as they could.
27:59Ammunition was running low, the wounded were mounting, and every new exchange of gunfire threatened to become the one that
28:06finally broke the castle's defenses.
28:09Then, from beyond the surrounding hills, help finally arrived.
28:16American reinforcements reached Castle Itter, bringing the additional manpower the defenders had desperately needed.
28:22Faced with fresh U.S. troops, the Waffen-SS attack quickly lost momentum.
28:28Some attackers withdrew, while others were captured as the castle was secured.
28:32The battle was over.
28:33The French prisoners survived, spared in one of the final and most unusual engagements fought in Europe before Germany's surrender.
28:41Captain John, Jack Lee's decision to act immediately, had proved decisive.
28:47Rather than waiting for larger forces or clearer orders, he had risked a small command to save lives that were
28:53still in danger, despite the war's approaching end.
28:57The surviving American soldiers, the German troops who had followed Joseph Gangl, and the liberated prisoners, slowly emerged from their
29:05defensive positions as the sound of gunfire faded across the valley.
29:10Castle Itter remained standing, its ancient walls now marked by the final battle they had witnessed.
29:15It had been a brief engagement in the closing days of the Second World War.
29:20Yet the outcome had depended entirely on whether a handful of determined defenders could hold long enough for help to
29:26arrive.
29:27The Battle of Castle Itter is often remembered as the day American and German soldiers fought side by side.
29:33While that is true in the simplest sense, the reality is far more complex.
29:39This was not America fighting alongside Germany.
29:42It was a collapsing Reich in which Major Josef Gangl and a handful of Wehrmacht soldiers chose to defy the
29:49Nazi regime during its final days.
29:52Their stand was a local decision, made to protect innocent lives, against Waffen-SS forces that refused to accept Germany's
30:00inevitable defeat.
30:01Gangl never survived to see peace.
30:04Killed while protecting former French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud, he is remembered in Austria for the choice he made when
30:10the war was ending, not for the years that came before it.
30:13Captain John Jack Lee also demonstrated a different kind of courage.
30:18Faced with an extraordinary request, he chose action over hesitation, knowing that even in the final days of the war,
30:25lives still depended on individual decisions.
30:28That is why Castle Itter remains so remarkable.
30:33One of the last battles fought in Europe took place inside a medieval castle, where former enemies defended prisoners against
30:39a common threat.
30:40Not because history had erased years of conflict overnight, but because the collapse of Nazi Germany forced a handful of
30:48people to make extraordinary choices in extraordinary circumstances.
30:52Now let's see if the game is still Louis Vuitton, where the Ravs tells their rights to be.
30:52Toy-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue
30:52-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue-Sue.
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