
Battle for Castle Itter - sethbannon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Castle_Itter
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dewey
Read this a while ago when [https://riddip.com/the-battle-for-schloss-
itter](https://riddip.com/the-battle-for-schloss-itter) made the rounds on
Twitter. Maybe a bit nicer to read than the Wikipedia summary.

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benj111
How has this not already been made into a film?

Did someone think "nah, this is too far fetched, people will never believe it"
and make The Guns of Navarone, or Kelly's Heroes instead?

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dewey
It's in pre production:
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5138232/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5138232/)

edit: fixed typo, said "post" before

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Torkel
Pre not post

(”Production Status: Pre-production”)

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lostphilosopher
> "The French prisoners included former prime ministers, generals and a tennis
> star. It is the only known time during the war in which Americans and
> Germans fought side-by-side. Popular accounts of the battle have called it
> the strangest battle of World War II.[4]"

> "He was taken to Major Josef Gangl, commander of the remains of a unit of
> Wehrmacht soldiers who had defied an order to retreat and instead thrown in
> with the local resistance, being made its head.[23]"

> "Gangl died during the battle[35] from a rifle bullet while trying to move
> former French prime minister Reynaud out of harm's way[37] and was honored
> as an Austrian national hero,[38] and a street in Wörgl was named after
> him.[39][40] "

> "The battle was fought five days after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide[4]
> and only two days before the signing of Germany's unconditional surrender.
> It was also the only battle where Americans and Germans fought alongside one
> another during the war.[41]"

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Gibbon1
> and a tennis star

This is the cherry on the top of all this.

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asark
The cherry on top of the cherry is that he was apparently kind of a badass,
too, escaping from captivity twice before this battle and then, when the
castle was already surrounded by SS troops and under attack:

> ... Lee [US captain, in charge by this point] accepted tennis star Borotra's
> offer to vault the castle wall and run the gauntlet of SS strongpoints and
> ambushes to deliver [a message re: their situation, requesting
> reinforcements]. He succeeded, requested a uniform, then joined the force as
> it made haste to reach the prison before its defenders fired their last
> rounds of ammunition.

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Rebelgecko
The Last Battle, the book that is used as a reference for 95% of the entire
wikipedia article, is definitely worth a read. One of those stories that I'm
surprised hasn't been turned into a movie yet (maybe because some of the Nazis
are "good guys"?) edit: never mind, looks like they're finally making a movie
about it

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yellowapple
This battle is also the subject of one of my favorite Sabaton songs.

