World War II’s Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together

Jawgap

"Days after Hitler’s suicide a group of American soldiers, French prisoners, and, yes, German soldiers defended an Austrian castle against an SS division—the only time Germans and Allies fought together in World War II. Andrew Roberts on a story so wild that it has to be made into a movie."

More here

http://shar.es/lL6WR

Snickers Man

A lot of American soldiers WERE German. Or at least of fairly recent German origin. The names of US soldiers on headstones in France provide evidence of this: quite a lot of Schulz's, Hoffmans and Schneiders.

Then of course there was that chap Eisenhower, whose name was almost certainly originally spelled as Eisenhauer.

On a tour of the massive US war cemetery in Luxembourg a few years ago the guide pointed out all the items of interest. A couple of the "Band of Brothers" guys are buried there--it was after all a cemetery to cater mainly for fatalities in the Battle of the Bulge, General Patton has his pride of place at the head of his dead forces, and there are several examples of brothers buried there.

But the guide pointed out a particularly poignant set of brothers: I can't remember the name, but one is buried in the US cemetery and his brother is buried just about a mile away. In the German cemetery. One had emigrated from Germany to the US in his youth, the other had stayed behind and been drafted into the Wehrmacht.

Both ended up fighting and dying in the Ardennes.

valda33

I grew up with a lot of books in the house about both world wars, I never knew about the Germans and Americans fighting together. Just a week ago I went to a talk with a survivor of the Bergen Belsen camp. He lives in Ireland for past 50 years. I bought his book, I haven't had chance to read it yet. It was a privilege to listen to him, fascinating and humbling.

galwaycyclist

Snickers Man wrote: »

A lot of American soldiers WERE German. Or at least of fairly recent German origin. The names of US soldiers on headstones in France provide evidence of this: quite a lot of Schulz's, Hoffmans and Schneiders.

The Germans are one of the largest "ethnic" groups in the US. By pure luck this is on the BBC today

German dialect in Texas is one of a kind, and dying out
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22490560

My grandparents worked in the US in the 1920s and 30s. My grandfather told me about being in German communities at the time where there would be a sign outside certain shops saying "English spoken here" - everyones daily language was German.

claypigeon777

This is an excerpt from Hellcat News, the newspaper of the 12th Armored Division from Saturday, May 26, 1945

12th Men Free French Big-Wigs
By Cpl. John G. Mayer
Co. B, 23rd Tank Bn.
American troops, soldiers of the Wehrmacht, and a handful of French personages slated for death by the SS, fought side by side in an alpine castle on the last day of the war in Bavaria.

Among the 14 French notables rescued by tankers of the 12th Armored Division were former Premier Edouard Daladier, aging General Maxim Weygand who commanded the French armies when the Germans broke through into France, tennis star Jean Borotra and his wife, and a sister of the present chief executive of France, General Charles de Gaulle.

Also in the strangely mixed pro-and-anti-Nazi group were former premier Paul Reynaud; General Maurice Gamelin, former commanding general of all the French armies; Mrs. Weygand; Colonel DeLaRoque, former French fascist leader; M. Caillaux, former member of the government; Leon Jouhaux, French labor union leader; and Michel Clemencau, son of the World War I statesman.

Top heroes of the scenario-scrap were Lieutenant John C. Leo, Jr., commanding officer of Company B of the 23rd Tank Battalion, and his gunner, Corporal Edward J. Szymcyk.

Across the Border
Their saga began the afternoon of May 4 shortly after their platoon took Kufstein, just across the Austrian border, after knifing through a well-defended roadblock. Into the town came a German major, under a flag of truce, who said that he was in position to surrender a large force of enemy troops and 14 notables once connected with the pre-Petain governments of France.

All, he said, were at a castle in Litter, eight kilometers away. Lee and Szymcyk immediately left with the major but when they arrived, the German colonel in command refused to surrender.

Back in Kufstein, Lee picked up his reinforcements -- two tanks from his own outfit and five more from the 36th Infantry Division's 142nd Battalion. With Lee and Szymcyk went Lieutenant Harry Basse, Santa Ana, Cal., maintenance officer and the tanks' crews. At the town of Worgl the force paused. Lee, leaving the others behind, took his own medium tank with five volunteers, said goodbye to his rear-guard, and rumbled on to the castle, the faithful major trailing in his car.

Then began the classic defense of the ancient "schloss", which had not known battle since the days of crossbow and boiling oil. The defenders numbered 41 -- there were 20 soldiers of the Wehrmacht (German regular army), 14 French men and women, and seven Americans.

At 4 o'clock on the morning of May 5, a small force of SS men launched an attack up the slope toward the castle. American rifles and German light machine guns teamed up to beat them back.

Tennis Star Helps
"Jean Borotra was the spark of the defense," Leo recalls. "He volunteered to jump over the castle wall and make his way to Worgl to summon help. It meant a run across forty yards of open field before he could reach cover. I refused."

But half an hour later things started looking tougher, so Lee permitted Borotra, whose name ranks among the immortals of tennis history, to make what was a brave but futile dash. Soon after he left tanks of the 36th were sighted far away.

Guessing that they hadn't received Borotra's message and regarded the castle as simply another German stronghold to be blasted out of the way, Lee and Weygand quickly teamed up on an American 30-calibre machine gun and opened fire sending long bursts crackling into the woods well ahead of the approaching tanks.

"It worked," Lee said. "Later I found that the tankers had their heavy guns trained on the castle ready to fire when they recognized the sound of the American 'thirty' and decided it was a signal rather than a threat."

So the possibility of being killed by their own rescuers was averted for Lee and his men, who included, in addition to those already named, Technical Sergeant William E. Elliott, Corporal Edward J. Seiner, and Pfc. Herbert G. McHaley, Linton RFD 1, Ind.

Sgt. Glenn E. Shermann of Cameron, Mo., served as radioman and gunner on Elliot's tank. Pvt Joseph Wall, Selma, N.C., was left to guard the bridge alone all night, armed only with a carbine, and took a number of prisoners.

The SS, however, had no compunctions about blasting away at the castle. Their 88 shells crashed through thick walls into several rooms, wounding a German.

Last Fight on Front
At 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the 5th, the cautiously-advancing tanks of the relief force, led by Elliott and Sherman, after 16 hours pounded through the opposition and arrived at the castle like mechanized cowboys in a new-style Western movie. Lee's saga was ended. His tank, "Besotten Jenny," as she was fondly dubbed by the Negro troops, was kaput. All the infantry peeps were filled with notables. So Lee and his heroes climbed onto a truck loaded with German prisoners and rode ingloriously back to their outfit. They arrived just in time to hear the radio broadcast that all German troops in the south had agreed to stop shooting that day at noon. Theirs had been the last fighting on the whole southern front.

But there's a postscript: a few days later Lee's promotion to Captain was announced and his men have all been cited for decorations.