What can explain the this odd occurrence was the state of the war. As already stated, the battle took place during the final days of the war. Hitler, five days prior, had committed suicide, and the battle took place only two days before the unconditional surrender of Germany. SS troops however, notorious for their war crimes such as the brutal killings of individuals in Nazi occupied areas, as well as for their involvement in the daily operation of concentration camps, were not so willing to surrender. Those less fanatic about Nazi ideology, however, in many cases surrendered. In one case, however, in the case of the Battle for Castle Itter, two officer ended up assisting Allied forces. Maj. Sepp Gangl was a Wehrmacht officer that had given up the Nazi cause and by the end of the war began helping the Austrian resistance. Alongside Gangl, the other German helping the American and Wehrmacht soldiers and officers was surprisingly a Waffen-SS officer, Kurt-Siegfried Schrader. The Waffen-SS is the military branch of the SS. These two men, alongside Gangl's men, assisted the American soldiers lead by Captain Jack Lee in their attempt to release French prisoners held at the castle.The resulting battle between the combined American and German soldiers against the still fanatical SS troops resulted in the death of Gangl and the destruction of Lee's tank. The abandoned castle was occupied by the American-German forces in attempt to rescue the prisoners. The SS, still in the area, assaulted the castle. However, American reinforcements that would arrive later in the day would end up potentially saving the combined American-German forces, leading to the capture of 100 SS soldiers and the protection and release of French prisoners.
Source(s):
https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/ss
https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-for-Castle-Itter
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32622651
I really like how you explored something we didn't touch on at all in class because I found it very interesting and suprising. When you mentioned the Austrian resistance, that got me curios so I researched a bit and found that while the resistance was small, it was still a threat that the Nazis needed to deal with. The resistance primarily consisted of left winged groups who were ideologically the opposite of the Nazis which caused many of these left winged groups to rebel. It is estimated that around 10,000 members of the Austrian resistance were imprisoned for political reasons alone.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.britannica.com/place/Austria/Anschluss-and-World-War-II