5 May: World War Two’s Weirdest Battle
Americans and Nazis fought side-by-side in the ‘Battle For Castle Itter’ on 5th May, 1945 – an attempt to free high-profile French prisoners from a 13th century Austrian castle at the very end of the War.
The prison – a sub-unit of Dachau concentration camp – housed former prime ministers and military figures, treated as “honour prisoners” by the Nazis. But the looming chaos of the war’s end brought the risk of execution as Allied and Soviet forces closed in.
Sensing the shifting tides, prisoners took matters into their own hands, dispatching emissaries to seek aid from advancing American troops. What followed was a daring rescue mission that brought together an unlikely coalition of American, German, and French forces – led by an American tank commander and aided by a defected Wehrmacht officer
This episode first aired in 2024