The Unlikely Battle at Castle Itter

During the dying days of WWII, a small medieval castle in the Austrian Alps became the

backdrop to one of the war’s strangest and most unlikely battles. The Nazis had converted

Castle Itter into a prison to house a variety of VIP prisoners, including a French

tennis star and the sister of Charles de Gaulle. By 4th May 1945, the Nazi guards

had fled, leaving the remaining 14 prisoners free to leave. However,

the area was still crawling with SS and as bad luck would have it, one unit was heading

their way to execute them. Help came in the unlikely form of Joseg Gangl,

a highly decorated Wehrmacht Major who had become disillusioned with Nazi ideology. When a nearby US