The World War II Battle Where Americans and Germans Fought On the Same Side

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Days after Hitler’s suicide a group of American soldiers, French prisoners, and German soldiers defended an Austrian castle against an SS division — the only time Germans and Allies fought together in World War II.

[I]n 5 May 1945 — five days after Hitler’s suicide — three Sherman tanks from the 23rd Tank Battalion of the U.S. 12th Armored Division under the command of Capt. John C. “Jack” Lee Jr., liberated an Austrian castle called Schloss Itter in the Tyrol, a special prison that housed various French VIPs.

Yet when the units of the veteran 17th Waffen-SS Panzer Grenadier Division arrived to recapture the castle and execute the prisoners, Lee’s beleaguered and outnumbered men were joined by anti-Nazi German soldiers of the Wehrmacht.

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

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I design video games for a living, write fiction, political theory and poetry for personal amusement, and train regularly in Western European 16th century swordwork. On frequent occasion I have been known to hunt for and explore abandoned graveyards, train tunnels and other interesting places wherever I may find them, but there is absolutely no truth to the rumor that I am preparing to set off a zombie apocalypse. Nothing that will stand up in court, at least. I use paranthesis with distressing frequency, have a deep passion for history, anthropology and sociological theory, and really, really, really hate mayonnaise. But I wash my hands after the writing. Promise.

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