Außenlager des Konzentrationslagers Dachau
Bezeichnung
SS-Sonderkdo Itter II
Gebiet
Österreich, Bundesland Tirol, Bezirk Kitzbühel
Eröffnung
06.10.1944
Schließung
25.04.1945
Beim Zusammenbruch 1945 ergab sich die Wehrmacht Wachmannschaft einem alliierten Vorkommando. In der Zwischenzeit erreichte jedoch eine SS Einheit Itter, die den Auftrag hatte die Geiseln zu erschießen. Die bereits entwaffneten Wehrmachtsangehörigen ergriffen wieder die Waffen und unterstützen die amerikanischen Soldaten bei der Abwehr gegen die SS. In der Zwischenzeit versuchte ein Gefangener die alliierte Lienen zu erreichen und Hilfe zu holen, die dann auch die Verteidiger unterstütze.
Häftlinge
7
Geschlecht
Frauen
Bemerkungen
Im Schloß Itter waren prominente Häftlinge untergebracht.
darunter:
Édouard Daladier
Paul Reynaud
Léon Jouhaux
Jean Borotra
André François-Poncet
Maurice Gamelin
Maxime Weygand
Albert Lebrun
Francesco Saverio Nitti
Als sich im April 1945 der Vormarsch der US-Armee Richtung Dachau ankündigte, setzte sich Eduard Weiter, der letzte Lagerkommandant vom Konzentrationslager Dachau, ab und erschoss sich hier am 2. Mai 1945
Seit 1980 ist das Anwesen Privatbesitz und Wohnobjekt
12th Men Free French Big Wigs
By Cpl. John G. Mayer
Co. B 23 Tank Bn .
American troops , soldiers of the Wehrmacht , and a handful of French personalities scheduled for the death of the SS , fought side by side in an alpine castle on the last day of the war in Bavaria.
Among the 14 French dignitaries tankers of 12 Rescued tank division were former Premier Edouard Daladier , aging General Maxim Weygand who commanded the French armies , when the Germans broke through in France, tennis star Jean Borotra and his wife, and a sister of the present chief executive of France, General Charles de Gaulle.
Even in the strange mixed pro-and anti-Nazi group were former Prime Minister Paul Reynaud , General Maurice Gamelin , former commanding general of all the French armies ; Mrs. Weygand ; Colonel DELAROQUE , former French fascist leader , M. Caillaux , a former member of the government , Leon Jouhaux , French union leaders and Michel Clemencau , son of the First World war statesman.
Top heroes of the scenario scrap were Lieutenant John C. Leo , Jr., commander of Company B of the 23rd Tank Battalion , and his shooters , Corporal Edward J. Szymcyk .
Across the Border
Their story began on the afternoon of 4 May shortly after their platoon took Kufstein , just across the Austrian border to stabbing by a well-defended roadblock . In the city was a German major, under a flag of truce , which he was associated in a position , a large force of enemy troops and 14 notables once with the pre- Pétain governments of France capitulate said.
All , he said, were at a castle in union , eight kilometers away. Lee and Szymcyk immediately left with the great , but when they arrived , the German colonel refused to hand over the command .
Back in Kufstein, Lee took his reinforcements - two tanks of his own outfit and five of the 36th Infantry Division 142 Battalion. With Lee and Szymcyk Lieutenant Harry Basse, Santa Ana, Cal . , Maintenance and officer of the tank crews went . In the city of Wörgl stopped the force. Lee, leaving the other behind , took his own medium tank with five volunteers , took leave of his rearguard and rumbled at the castle, the large rear believers in his car.
Then began the classic defense of the old " castle " , the fight had not known since the days of the crossbow and cooking oil . The defenders numbered 41 - there were 20 soldiers of the Wehrmacht ( German regular army ) , 14 French men and women , and seven Americans.
By 4 clock in the morning of the 5th May started a small group of SS men to attack the hill to the castle. American and German rifles light machine guns teamed up to beat them back .
Tennis star Helps
" Jean Borotra was the spark the defense ," said Leo recalls. " He volunteered to jump over the castle wall and to call on his way to Wörgl help. It meant a run about forty yards of open field before he could reach cover . Refused I am . "
But half an hour later, things looked harder , says Lee allowed Borotra , whose name is one of the immortals in tennis history to make what was a brave but futile dash. Soon after he left tanks of the 36th were far sighted .
Guess that they do not Borotra receive the message and sees the castle to be blown out of the way , Lee and Weygand quickly together on an American 30 - caliber machine gun and opened fire, sending long bursts of crackling in the forest than just another German stronghold significantly from the advancing tanks.
"It worked ," Lee said. " Later, I found that the tanker had their big guns trained at the castle ready to shoot when she recognized and decided it was a signal and not as a threat to the sound of the American ' thirty ' . "
So the opportunity has been killed by their own savior averted for Lee and his men , which contain , in addition to those already mentioned , Technical Sergeant William E. Elliott , Corporal Edward J. Seiner, and PFC . Herbert G. McHaley , RFD 1 Linton , Ind.
Sgt Glenn E. Sherman of Cameron , Mo. , served as a radio operator and Sagittarius on Elliot tank. Pvt Joseph Wall, Selma , NC, the bridge was alone all night, guarding armed only with a carbine, and took a number of prisoners.
However, the SS had no compunction blasting away at the castle. Your 88 shells crashed through thick walls in several rooms , wounding a German .
Last fight on the front
By 3 clock in the afternoon of the 5th , the carefully - advancing tanks of the relief force , led by Elliott and Sherman, after 16 hours suggested by the opposition and came to the castle as mechanized Cowboys in a new style western movie. Lee saga has ended. His tank " Besotten Jenny " as she affectionately called by the Negro troops was broken. All infantry were filled with dignitaries looks . Thus 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 that all German forces in the south had agreed, the recording stops that day at noon . Theirs was the last fight 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.