The agent of that action was the always-helpful Zoonimir Cuckovic, a.k.a. André, who volunteered to go find the nearest Allied unit and bring it back to secure the castle.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in World War II magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

Vaulting aboard a bike liberated from a shopkeeper in the surrounding village, Cuckovic set off for Wörgl, a large town on the Inn River six miles northwest of the castle. He was unaware that much of the town was occupied by elements of a Waffen-SS regiment, and was lucky to stumble instead upon a group of Wehrmacht troops led by a surrender-minded major named Gangel. Upon hearing of the French notables at Castle Itter—and no doubt realizing that aiding in their rescue would reflect well on him and his men—Gangel dispatched Cuckovic toward Inns-bruck, thirty-eight miles to the southwest. Innsbruck had just been taken by the U.S. 103rd Infantry Division, and chances were excellent that Cuckovic would encounter American troops moving east toward Wörgl. But to be on the safe side, and possibly to better his own chances with the Americans, Gangel jumped in his Kübelwagen and, leading a truck packed with some twenty Wehrmacht troops, sped off toward Kufstein, thirteen miles in the opposite direction.

This two-pronged effort to locate American units paid off in spades. Halfway between Wörgl and Innsbruck, Cuckovic encountered elements of the 103rd Infantry Division and was directed to Maj. John Kramers, a German-speaking officer in the 103rd’s mili-tary government section. Kramers summoned a French liaison officer, Lt. Eric Lutten, and together the two formulated a rescue plan. Within two hours they had pulled together a small task force of four M10 tank destroyers, three jeeps, and a truck bearing a platoon of infantrymen from the 411th Infantry Regiment. Accompanied by American war correspondent Meyer Levin and French photographer Eric Schwab, the convoy set out for Itter along the same refugee-choked roads Cuckovic had negotiated on his way to Innsbruck.

Their trip wasn’t as uneventful as Cuckovic’s had been, however. Several miles short of Wörgl, Kramers’s column was hailed by a group of Austrian anti-Nazi partisans who had been fighting SS units further along the road. As the Americans were pondering their next move, enemy artillery rounds started landing about one hundred yards away. Kramers and the senior M10 officer quickly decided to pull into the cover of the surrounding trees and wait for the barrage to lift before moving on toward Itter.

Major Gangel, meanwhile, had rolled into Kufstein with a huge white flag fluttering from his vehicle. His story of a group of French VIPs being held in a nearby castle earned him a trip to the 23rd Tank Battalion’s forward command post, where he recounted his tale to the battalion’s commander and intelligence officer. That was when 1st Lt. Jack Lee’s dreams of peace officially came to an end. Summoned to the 23rd’s command post, he volunteered to take a patrol up to the castle to secure the French captives.

Lee chose eight volunteers to man the patrol’s two Shermans: his own Besotten Jenny and Lt. Wallace S. Holbrook’s “Boche Buster.” Lee’s crew included Sgt. William T. Rushford, Cpl. Edward J. Szymcyk, Cpl. Edward J. Seiner, and Pfc. Herbert G. McHaley. Lt. Harry Basse, Company B’s motor officer and a close friend of Lee’s, took command of Boche Buster, whose crew included Tech. Sgt. William E. Elliot and Sgt. Glenn E. Shermann. Lee also tapped six members of the all–African American Company D, 17th Armored Infantry Battalion, to ride atop the tanks. At the last moment, Lee dragooned five M4s and crews from the 36th Infantry Division’s 142nd Infantry Regiment to provide extra firepower. Bringing up the rear of the column were the Wehrmacht’s Gangel in his Kübelwagen and the truckload of German soldiers.

The group set off toward Wörgl in the early afternoon, its members well aware that Waffen-SS units were still putting up fierce rear-guard resistance throughout northern Austria. Fortunately for Lee and his men, the SS regiment that had been in Wörgl just hours earlier had pulled out of the town. Austrian partisans welcomed the Americans, and at their urging Lee agreed to leave the five 36th Infantry Division tanks on the northern edge of Wörgl, to defend the main road leading into the city.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to