The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe by Stephen Harding (Da Capo Press, May 2013) brings to light one of those rare twist-of-fate moments in military history that deserves to be a movie.*

*[from the press release] The Last Battle is under option to Stellar Productions as a theatrical motion picture. The screenplay adaptation has been written by Bryce Abel, 2008 winner of the Writers Guild of America long form original screenwriting award.

I interviewed this author for The Politics and Patriotism Show. You can find that episode online or through iTunes.

Historians have known for centuries that big battles win wars, but small battles change lives. The men and women affected by the outcomes of these fights in little known out of the way places don't always earn the interest of historians or the ink of publishers for reasons which can sometimes be selfish or unsavory.

Stephen Harding reveals just such a little known life-changing event in The Last Battle. Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7th of 1945 after nearly six years of brutal war. A paradoxical battle took place just three days prior to that capitulation that most of us are not aware of.

The site of this unlikely engagement is Castle Itter, located in the Tyrolean region of Southernmost Austria, not far from the Italian border. It's an ancient stronghold overlooking a scenic mountain pass. The walled structure has a grand history that dates back to 902 CE, when it was first built to protect valuable trade routes.

Harding's chronicle relates how American GI's and German Army soldiers joined forces behind the walls of that old fortress to protect a handful of notable French POW's against the fury of fanatic SS units that had them surrounded. The old stone and mortar bastion was put to a test that none of its original designers could have imagined.

I'm pleased to report that the title of this book is both literal and figurative in ways that may surprise you. It's just the sort of symbolism that appeals to the fiction writer in me, while satisfying my historian's taste for irony.

Readers are in for a fast paced romp that includes political intrigues, heroic efforts in the face of unrelenting danger, furious firefights, and in one unexpected moment--the ultimate sacrifice--made by the last person you'd expect in this cast of characters.

The Last Battle, as it occurred in Southern Austria on May 4-5 of 1945, is among the final major engagements that take place in the few hours of war that remained to be fought in Europe. We are largely ignorant of this event today because tt was not "fashionable" for many decades afterward to write positively about German soldiers.

Authors, historians, and moviemakers alike adhered to this taboo well in to the 1960's. Time passed, and the Cold War persisted. Living memory of Nazi war crimes became scarce, allowing social attitudes to change.

Throughout the 1970's and in to the late 1980's, I observed fiction writers and academic researchers explore previously untouched war records while the rest of the world worried about nuclear annihilation. None of them ever addressed this incident in a way that I'm aware of, through books or movies.

It slowly became acceptable in some quarters to tell stories like this on a limited scale only because they people connected to them were dead and no longer in a position to object or be embarrassed.

The passage of time, limits of human mortality, and further changes in social perspective now permit Stephen Harding to bring us the full story of this remarkable moment in military history without skimping on details or pulling his punches.

There's enough temporal distance between us and what happened to more fully appreciate who these people were and what they did. That one fact alone makes this book worth your time to read. It's not just a good story. It's a positive lesson in morality and ethics that will stand the test of time.

Nazi Germany's early wartime success temporarily brought many countries under their control. France formally surrendered on June 17th of 1940 after six weeks of fighting. High profile members of the deposed French government and Vichy regime that came later were interned as Prisoners of War (POW's) for the remainder of the conflict.

These notable French citizens endured a lot during their years of captivity. Some suffered more than others. Many of them witnessed what the Nazi death camps were capable of. Most wrote memoirs after the war that said very little about the events you will learn more about from Stephen Harding.

These politicians and military officers were among the most famous people of their day. They were eventually transferred to Castle Itter for safekeeping during the final phases of the war. This was (and still is) a common detainment practice for Very Important Persons (VIP's), on the off chance they might be useful as diplomatic pawns.

These French VIP's included: Edouard Deladier, Maurice Gamelin, Maxime Weygand, Leon Jouhaux, Augusta Bruchlen, Paul Renaud, Christiane Mabire, Jean Borotra, Marcel Granger, Michel Clemenceau, Francois de la Rocque, and Alfed Cailliau.

All of these men and women played some role in French politics before the war, and they'd go on do more for their country after being liberated from captivity. All were ambitious and highly motivated competitors.

Many of these men, in particular, didn't get along well with each other. Rivalries were never set aside even though they all shared a common foe. Deladier and Renaud were notoriously unkind to each other throughout their incarceration.

Castle Itter's timeline of construction, renovation, reconstruction, modernization, and eventual use as a detention facility serves as an interesting backdrop for what is already a gripping account. Anyone who cares to do further research will plenty to work with.

Harding's historical presentation harnesses what we know about the famous people who are interned in this old military outpost, and builds on that common knowledge by briefly explaining what happened to them after the Fall of France.

In all cases, their journeys to Castle Itter take them through difficult circumstances. The author gives you just enough background on each VIP to set the stage. Harding's short course of French politics makes it clear that these men and women had both legitimate and unwarranted reasons to quarrel with each other, in spite of themselves, and despite the dire nature of their predicament.

A part of me finds that absurdity to be downright hilarious. Politicians from a vanquished country, taken as prisoners of war, arguing with each other behind enemy lines inside a heavily guarded detention facility, about who was responsible for their defeat.

As worthy of study as this dysfunctional interplay might be, the bulk of Harding's work revolves around the soldiers from both sides who rallied to defend these contrary captives. Their motives were different, but their goals were the same, because the deaths of these prisoners would be undesirable for either faction.

The Americans play their part as rescuers with all the dash and bravado you'd expect from young men in this era. The Germans who make the difficult decision to end their allegiance to the Nazi regime are of particular interest to me because they don't conform to the fanatical unswerving stereotypes of the period.

Harding's turn of phrase allows large parts of this book to read like the summary of an adventure novel, complete with highs and lows that make the future of the French VIP's seems quite uncertain. The story begins with an almost predictable opening that includes assignment of seasoned death camp administrators to guard the prisoners as Castle Itter as Allied forces prepare to invade Southern Austria.

SS Captain Sebastian "Wastl" Wimmer commands the garrison at Castle Itter as Allied forces approach. SS Lieutenant Stefan Otto (SD, military intelligence) is his second in command, and in charge of getting useful information out of the prisoners in their charge.

They were careful to cultivate good relations with their "guests." Neither of them was under any illusions about their fate, if they were held to account as the official jailers of these notable detainees. Their decision to abandon the prison is the last predictable moment in the story.
Like so much of real-world history, this is merely the prelude for a dramatic twist of fate that nobody could've predicted, if they'd actually been there at the time. As it turns out, Sebastian Wimmer is not without mercy.

Prior to his retreat, Wimmer arranges for SS Captain Kurt Siegfried Shrader to act as Castle Itter's new protector, until the Americans arrive. Shrader had seen combat before becoming disillusioned with the Nazi cause. He survived the hell of Ludendorf Bridge near Remagen in 1944, so he's well aware of what pain and suffering is.

He's able to imagine just hire dire the situation is at Castle Itter. American forces were close, but fanatical SS units were closer. They would execute the VIP's for reasons of spite, once word got out that the castle was undefended. Somebody with a conscience had to do something, or there would be a bloodbath.

The SS Captain knows what to do. Many regular army (non-SS) officers and formations in the area were already planning to surrendering when the Allies are close enough to see their white flags. Shrader, being well aware of these fissures in the German defense, called upon the nearest disaffected officer that he knows of for help.

Harding relates how Shrader relied on Zvonimir "Zvonko" Cuckovic, Croatian by birth, electrician by trade, to make contact with Major Josef "Sepp" Gangl, in the nearby town of Worgl. Gangl responds by going to the castle in person, with the few trustworthy soldiers he can find.

The author speculates that the French politicians must've been chagrined at the prospect of such a motley protection detail. I can't blame him for commenting on that irony. The Germans, acting on enlightened self-interest and a dose of morality, quickly devise a plan to make contact with advancing American units.

Austrian resistor Andreas Krobot takes a hand written message signed by Major Gangl through treacherous terrain to Worgl. His overland journey is no small effort, considering the fact that he has to bypass roaming SS patrols. Harding's rendering of this movement through enemy lines reads like the adventure it must have been.

U.S. Army Captain "Jack" Lee commands Company B of the 23rd Tank Battalion of the 12th Armored Division is tasked with acting on the information supplied by Gangl, as delivered by Krobot. He meets with Sepp Gangle to perform a hasty reconnaissance of the route to Castle Itter, just to be sure its not a trick.

I can imagine his astonishment on arriving in the castle's courtyard to discover just how real this unlikely defensive arrange really was. The author conjectures that the French prisoners must've been bewildered at Lee's cavalier reconnoiter, only to see him roar off in a bouncing jeep after promising to return with more help.

Jack Lee does make good on his promise to return with help...but...its not quite as much as anyone inside the old schloss would've hoped for. Jack Lee's rushed reinforcements amount to little more than a dozen men and two M4 Sherman tanks. SS troops in the area, who must've been wondering about all the comings and goings from the castle, converged on the ancient fortress with grim determination and heavy weapons with artillery support that included a much feared 88mm anti-tank gun.

Harding portrays the events that lead to the castle defense in a way that makes for easy reading. Lee, Gangl, and Shrader know their stuff. Americans, Germans, and Frenchmen make their stand as determined SS troops probe their defenses. A much larger American armored column is on the way...but...in true Hollywood fashion, it won't arrive until the next day.

Fact can sometimes be stranger than fiction. In many cases, history can be better than fiction. Harding's research turns up many surprises for me. Chief among these would be the apparent fact that Gamelin, Borotra, de la Rocque, Reynaud, and Clemencrau, all took turns on the parapets as riflemen during this desperate firefight.

As an American, I can't help drawing a comparison to the Alamo. Jack Lee and the "tame" Germans, with French support, are badly outnumbered as heavy caliber gunfire rakes the outer walls and artillery fire begins to reduce the castle. The defenders keep their attackers at bay, though each small victory comes at a high cost.

It's at this moment, when the battle reaches its crescendo, that Sepp Gangl is killed while attempting to save the life of one of France's most notable POW's. Harding's portrayal of this moment reads like something gallant.

I'm not going to tell you who Gangl saved because I want you to read the book. I will say the Major's selfless moment strikes me as being in keeping with his character profile. He strikes me as a decent man in an otherwise indecent situation. I'm not surprised that he is today an Austrian national hero.

The "cavalry" does arrive just in the nick of time. The French VIP's are saved. The actual conclusion of this battle owes a great deal to Captain Lee and his fellow Americans. The Germans bleed just as much, are equally as proficient, and when called for; just as brave in the face of terrible odds.

The Last Battle entertains as much as it educates. Harding's history brings a lot to our attention that isn't common knowledge. What might've been a shocking atrocity at war's end turned out to be an unsung victory in spite of everything stacked against the few who stood against many. Recognition of those events might be late in coming, but at least its here in a format that you'll enjoy.

Stephen Harding is a historian with a long track record going back to the early 1990's. The Last Battle wraps with his usual thoroughness that includes a synopsis of post war activities that take some of the luster off this victory only because a few of the heroes met less than deserved ends.

The French who survived Castle Itter went to new adventures in life and politics. Many of the Germans, Like Sebastian Wimmer, were less fortunate. The Austrian resisters set about the task of rebuilding their country. Zvonimir Cuckovic went back to Yugoslavia as a businessman.

Many of the men who served with Jack Lee lived long happy lives in prosperous post war America. The same cannot be said for the daring Captain who made so many miracles possible. John Carey "Jack" Lee Jr., high school football star, graduate of the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy, graduate of Norwich University, tried his hand unsuccessfully at many things after the war tht included a run for elected office. Bad luck, several divorces, and failing health eventually took their toll. He died in 1973 at the age of just 54.

Jack Lee and Josef Gangl are the two standouts for me in this drama. They had very little on common, except for a single moment in time. Lee, the drafted wartime soldier, was only it in to win and go home so he could get on with the rest of his dashing life. Gangl, the career soldier, was living his life and his job at the same time. Each in their own way died as they lived, destinies altered by The Last Battle.

I have put aside ARS stuff to read a charming little book called `The Last Battle;' it is the story of an improbable rescue of French VIPS imprisoned by the Nazis in Tyrolia in an ancient castle by a gaggle of Austrian Nazi-resisters, turncoat members of the German Army and and American Tank crew against diehard SS troops given the assignment of killing the VIPS. This occurred in the interregnum between Hitler's death and the first week in May before the official surrender. The writing is crisp and the depictions very well done even though the book was written some 68 years after the event. The book has no socially redeeming virtues; it is just a good story, well told, of people trying to survive a world little of their making. The French VIPs didn't really deserve rescue, but they are not the focus of the story anyway. This review based on the Kindle version.

In the hands of a writer with a flair for the dramatic and the ability to turn a phrase such as Cornelius Ryan (author of a book by the same name about a very different and larger battle), W.E.B. Griffin, Tom Clancy, or Donald Burgett, this book would have been a compelling read. However, Stephen Harding managed to turn a tale of German/Austrian officers and soldiers, bloody-handed SS types, concentration camp prisoners, members of the Austrian Resistance, combat-hardened Americans, and querulous Frenchmen into a dull trudge of boredom.

Part of the problem is that Harding spends a great deal of time on biographical background of the players on all sides; only about 35 pages of the 170 page text (the rest of the 230 page book is prelude, acknowledgments, index, bibliography, and footnotes) concerns the Battle of Schloss Itter. Perhaps this was necessary at this remove from the time of the action; but to me it gave the book the affect of Prince Humperdinck from The Princess Bride muttering to the Bishop at the wedding, "Man and wife! Say 'Man and wife!' " as the reader waits for the action to commence. Harding presents the facts of the establishment of this Prominente prison, the fight to hold it and protect the VIP prisoners held there, and the actions that led up to the battle with all the charm of cold pancakes without butter and syrup. As a writer, I know that if you are going to give a long lead-up to the heart of your story, you had better do something to insure your readers don't become so fed up waiting for something to happen that they throw the book across the room. This lesson Harding has yet to learn.

Another problem from my point of view as the reader is Harding's decision to have a separate footnote section instead of footnoting at the bottom of each page. While it is true some of his footnotes run to paragraph length, which in Cornelius Ryan's book of the same name resulted in some very short pages with very long footnotes, most of Harding's are only a line or two. Having to flip back and forth between footnotes and text breaks the narrative flow and detracts from the story he is trying to tell. Other people may not mind this constant back-and-forth, but it drove me crazy.

Harding also needed a much smarter proofreader than he had. The error that had me gritting my teeth most was his failure to capitalize "fuehrer" (which he also consistently misspelled; the "u" has an umlaut over it, which when translated into English where no accent marks are used, is properly spelled "ue"). As used in connection with Adolf Hitler, "Fuehrer" is a TITLE, like President, King, General, or Pope; and should be capitalized when it refers to a specific person as Harding used it. This sort of thing gets in the way of the story he is telling, and it was completely unnecessary for it to do so.

Harding's research for the book is impeccable. He met and interviewed as many of the surviving players, major and minor, as he could. He extracted information from a wide variety of published sources in three languages. From the way he wrote, I believe he spent more than a few days walking over the battlefield, including visiting the Schloss itself (now a private residence). He had the active cooperation of the residents of Itter, the Austrian government, and a variety of archivists from several countries. And yet, with that wealth of information to work with, the writer's palette he used consists only of flat, drab colors. I suppose that is why I am so disappointed with this book.

There is the potential for a compelling movie to be made from this material. The moral dilemmas, the French feuding until the bullets start to fly, the incongruity of an American armor officer accepting the aid of men wearing German uniform while the fighting still was on, the spirit and ingenuity of the staff of the Schloss (all concentration camp prisoners), and a series of firefights that make bright accents in a battle where the outcome was in doubt right until the final moments -- Hollywood screenwriters can have a field day with this. I can see a number of Hollywood stars fighting to pay the roles of the major players, including a couple of the villains. Just don't let Stephen Harding anywhere near the screenplay! He could turn diamonds into mud; he did with this book.

Bottom line: this book is a borrow-from-the-library-and-read-once. I do not suggest spending money to buy it. The material frankly deserves better.

That is a quote from an American officer, John C Lee, Jr. in charge of a small group of American soldiers, disgruntled former Wehrmacht soldiers and an ex SS officer who form a brief alliance to save the lives of the cream of the 1940 French government and French military from being executed at the end of WWII.

When France fell to the Germans, many of the prior heads of France (two French Premiers, the two leading military personages of France's defeat) along with a Wimbledon champion and many others were rounded up by Hitler's soldiers. Many of them would spend time in Dachau, Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen. It was Hitler's idea to have some hostages to exchange if he ever needed them.

Eventually this group French VIP's were sent to a castle in northern Austria, Schloss Itter, where the accommodations were a huge improvement over the concentration camps. The problem was the that the commandant of the castle was a brutal thug who had been in charge of prisoner discipline at Dachau.

After Hitler's suicide in May of 1945 the German armies broke up and deserters were common. However, there were seasoned and totally committed SS troops that were assigned to execute the French VIP's. At this point the alliance of disgruntled former German soldiers and a small contingent of American soldiers join up to try to defend and free the French hostages.

The author spends a great deal of time on the backgrounds of the hostages as they all seem to loathe each other. They eat at separate tables and studiously avoid each other. It would be as if the US lost a war and the enemy locked up Obama, Carter, the two Bushes, Clinton, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich together with their spouses and told them to live together. It actually is very funny as the sniping at each other goes on long after World War II in the memoirs of the various hostages.

There are complaints as to the author's matter of fact reporting style and the lengthy bios of the participants. Yet in this case that is the whole point. The eventual rescue is the anticlimax. The interesting parts are the interactions of the American soldiers, the haughty French VIP's, the other prisoners and German ex-soldiers. Some Americans realize there is a job to be done despite orders to the contrary from higher ups in the chain of command. Some German soldiers realize the jig is up and do the right thing instead of remaining Nazi idealogues.

Any producer/director who doesn't make a movie of this story is missing out. Read it first before the movie comes out. You will thoroughly enjoy it.

A wonderful book. The battle didn't actually start until halfway through, with the first half of the book covering the history of the castle and all the participants in the battle, in deep detail. The last 1/4 was references and footnotes, so you actually only get 1/4 of the book involved in the battle itself. That said, it is an excellent, in-depth work of an exceptional historian. If you are looking for a shoot-em-up from cover to cover, look elsewhere. If you want to read an engrossing story of history, buy it. The only drawback I saw was that while it provided several maps to help the reader, there were too many towns referenced in the story (and particularly detailed accounts of the roads and approaches) that were not shown, so I could only guess as to where these were. A lot of geography that was sort of confusing. Having a local knowledge of the topography or a detailed map would greatly help the reader.

I was very excited by the premise of the book, but at least 91 of the 170 pages is taken up by biographies of the characters. Many of the details provided are utterly pointless: you really don't need to know that this French prisoner was, after his arrest, transferred to one town, then another, then another, before arriving at our setting (nothing happened in all those locations). It feels like padding and does so little to create characters out of names.

The actual battle takes up almost none of the book, was unsatisfying, and I can't recommend it. It would make a nice short story, not a novel.

A story that had to be told, The Last Battle is about the attempt by an American tank commander (Jack Lee) to rescue a group of high-ranking French politicians who were imprisoned by the Nazis in an Austrian castle in the mountains east of Innsbruck. During the final days of the war, an SS unit was dispatched to execute the prisoners, and Lee--with a small contingent of American infantry and one tank--scrambled to defend the castle and its occupants. In a bizarre twist of allegiances, a former SS commandant and a small unit of Wehrmacht infantry joined them to protect the prisoners.

The story is full of larger-than-life characters: Lee was a former football star and a superbly competent tank commander; his SS ally was Hauptsturmfuhrer Kurt Schrader, a highly decorated veteran of the war who had finally decided to abandon the Nazi cause; among the prisoners were France's two most recent prime ministers (Reynaud and Daladier) and two former chiefs-of-staff of the French military (Gamelin and Weygand) as well as a leading French labor leader (Jouhaux) and a variety of other VIPs.

The story takes place mainly within the 14th-century castle, Schloss Itter, renovated as a luxury hotel and then converted by the Nazis into a prison. The castle's defenders needed to make use of the medieval structure to fight off thousands of SS troops equipped with artillery, machine-guns and sniper rifles. Harding's description of the battle is marvelously suspenseful and full of fascinating detail.

Harding's prose can be tiresome at times but this wonderful adventure more than compensates for that--this is a page-turner well-situated in a vibrant historical context and in a moment when history was taking a dramatic turn. Enjoyable and full of surprises.

I don't like it when authors replace "BC" with "BCE" Before Christ - Before Common Era. It is the same date and what is the common era based on? "Christ". This is a pet peeve of mine, but it immediately tells me the mindset of the author, which led to my next complaint which is the heavy emphasis on the word "right" when referring to the Nazi Party. Maybe it is just me, but the context the word is used feels like it compares the fascist Nazi Party to right wing conservatives. I would have given a higher mark if it were not for the political slant and "PC" jargon.

Long lead in, for a fairly short historical story,

I liked this book, but didn't love it. Compelling footnote to history, but there was a LOT of background material relating to the personalities involved as well as inter-war French politics that, frankly, didn't add much to the story. Honestly, I think this would make for a fascinating 1-hour special on the History Channel or 5-6 pages in the next issue of World War II History Magazine. But there just wasn't enough material there to warrant a 250-page book.