Castle Itter: The Strangest Battle of World War Two, May 1945

French POWs Defended by Wehrmacht, American, and Austrian Freedom Fighters in final days of WW2

Background

Overview

By the early 1940’s, war raged across Europe and many other parts of the world. Meanwhile, Germany was expanding its prison and concentration camps. One of the more infamous of these camps was Dachau in southern Germany which was intended to hold political prisoners. However, this location was not ideal for some of the most important French prisoners. The Third Reich decided to set up a prison in an Austrian Castle: Castle Itter, to hold these prisoners.

These prisoners included former prime ministers, generals, and even a tennis star: Jean Borotra. Castle Itter was ran as a sub-camp of Dachau and the SS served as administrators and guards of the prison.

By May of 1945 the war in Europe was coming to a close. News of Hitler’s suicide had made its way through Nazi Germany and Berlin was in Soviet hands. Knowing the end was near, many SS and Wehrmacht soldiers abandoned their posts rather than fight in lost causes. Among these deserters were the guards and administrators of Castle Itter who abandoned the prisoners and the castle on May 3rd.

Prelude

Though the prisoners were now free, they knew that several loyal cells of SS troops still remained in the area. In order to defend themselves, they broke into the armory and armed themselves while sending a runner to try and find allied reinforcements. The runner rode his bicycle to the nearest town and found the Austrian Resistance and was taken to Major Joseph Gangl, a Wehrmacht officer who, along with a handful of loyal troops, disobeyed orders to abandon the town and instead assisted local freedom fighters.

Gangl knew that any of the local SS troops that found him, or his unit would shoot them on-site for desertion. Without any other option and under a cover of white flag, Gangl approached American positions to request aid.

Gangl found American Captain Jack Lee, part of an armored reconnaissance unit. Upon hearing the story of the prisoners at Itter, Lee requested and received permission to guard the castle until reinforcements could arrive.

The joint Allied/Wehrmacht force quickly arrived at Itter and took up defensive positions. The lone tank was positioned at the front gate, and remaining troops took up positions around the perimeter. Shortly after these defenders arrived the local SS forces decided to attack Castle Itter to try and re-take the stronghold.

Early Game

Early Turn

As the SS forces began their approach from all sides the defenders, quickly took up positions. Besotten Jenny, the American Sherman tank at the gate, was vital in early defense. Its powerful machine guns proved effective in laying down suppressing fire to hold the attackers back.

The remaining first defenders to their positions joined the fight by also laying down suppressing fire around all four sides of the castle. Their strategy was to try and limit SS progress until all defenders could take up positions along the caste’s walls.

Meanwhile early SS activity included several artillery strikes against the fortifications. The SS force planned to weaken these defenses in the early stages hoping that a strong attack against the castle itself would force the defenders to surrender.

Luckily for the defense force the SS forces were unsuccessful at penetrating the castle’s strong walls as they tried to zero their guns. These early shots missed their targets and the walls were not penetrated.

Altered Tactics

After seeing their early artillery attacks fail, the SS decided to rush the castle on foot. Attackers pressed hard along the northeastern approach, making it about halfway to the castle perimeter. That was before defenders at gate house were able to make a dent in the advancing troops.

The defenders quickly realized that, though their positions were strong, the best chance for survival was to send word to nearby allied units to provide assistance. They decided that the best chance was to send a runner from the south terrace to scale the walls and to for help. Jean Borotra, the tennis star volunteered. However, before he could do so, the defenders would need to clear a path for him.

Seeing the fire coming from the south terrace the SS countered by placing mortars and machine gun teams in the southwest corner of the castle.

Battle Escalates

Escape preparations

After all the defenders took up arms and positions along the castle, the French prisoners entered the fight. First was Borotra, who was called to the south terrace and readied for the signal to make his getaway.

The defenders focused most of their efforts along the south terrace and was finally able to clear it for long enough to allow Borotra to slip away in the middle of the second wave of attacks.

Counterattack

Unfortunately, all the efforts to clear one section of the battlefield enabled the attackers to progress and by the time Borotra was making his escape to the south, attackers threatened the northern terrace and were making their way close to the keep in the back of the castle.

Luckily again the defenders in the gate house were able to turn attention to the advancing troops along the northeast and provide much needed relief.

Defenses fall

SS target castle defenses

The attackers feeling much more confident in the advance on foot against the castle decided to again target the perimeter defenses in order to try and weaken the defenders’ positions. First was a coordinated artillery attack against the keep.

Three successful attacks in quick succession saw the walls begin to lose their integrity and defenders positions become more exposed to enemy fire. The last strike was able to eliminate two defenders from the western wall of the keep and successfully disrupt the other defenders.

Simultaneously, SS troops launched several Panzerfaust attacks against Besotten Jenny, hoping to destroy the tank and its devastating machine guns. The only saving grace for the valiant defenders was that the attack on the keep called for more reinforcements along the western side of the castle. As such the defenders inside the Sherman tank were pulled back and repositioned inside Castle Itter just in time before the tank was finally destroyed.

The loss of the Sherman reduced the suppression along the east, however the defenders of the gate house proved to hold the line. Seeing the last of the defender’s leap from Jenny before the final hit took her out boosted the morale of the entire force.

Reinforcements arrive

Not knowing if Borotra was successful in his escape and able to find assistance, Gangl was able to telephone the Austrian Resistance for assistance. Though understaffed, the resistance was able to send one freedom fighter as well as two more former Wehrmacht soldiers to assist the defenders at the castle.

Though small in number, the reinforcements arrived just in time to provide relief and push back the attackers along the eastern approach to the castle.

Final Push

Northern attack

Feeling the situation getting desperate, the SS commander focuses his attention to the Northern Terrace hoping to distract the defenders to his troops can approach from the south. These attacks included successful artillery strikes and combined machine gun/mortar attacks that eventually took the life of one of the defenders in the western corner of the terrace. Though shaken the remaining defenders and their French VIP were able to successfully hold out against the attack.

Epic conclusion

As the SS made their final push along the north and southeastern approaches the defenders made a last-ditch effort to hold the line. Luckily the valiant defenders in the gatehouse again were able to provide just enough fire to hold the northern line back and prevent them from advancing into the castle. They were able to keep them pinned just at the northern terrace wall.

Simultaneously again the Austrian reinforcement fighter came through, eliminating SS troops approaching the south terrace and again hold the force at bay.

Just as the SS began to close along all entrances to the castle and the defenders were nearly all exhausted and low at ammunition the battle ended as quickly as it began.

The 142nd infantry arrived in force and the SS troops knowing they were outnumbered and outgunned abandoned the attack and most broke off the fight and went into full retreat.

The exhausted defenders were able to finally relax knowing that all the prisoners survived. Though the victory was a narrow one, it was important as the VIPs soon made way back to France.

Conclusion

Game overview

This wraps up the last game in my series of playthroughs for the Valiant Defense series. Castle Itter had probably been the one game in the series I had the longest hiatus before this playthrough. That said the game definitely held up. I went in confident that it was the simplest in the series however, it took 3 plays for me to finally make it to the end for this report.

What makes Itter stand out from the other games? To me it is the 12 different approaches the attackers take. Itter has very streamlined mechanics, however the sheer number of areas you need to keep focus on provides a difficult challenge.

Coupled with the scoring incentive to try and clear an early path for Borotra to escape, you can find attackers at the doors to the castle very quickly. In some ways this title even more than the others, it is CRITICAL to use your leaders and their command actions to your advantage.

The other trick to the game, I have found, is to use the basement. The reinforcement soldiers you get midway through are better than most with a two-suppression rating. However, if you don’t lose anyone, you’ll quickly find there aren’t enough combat positions for them. I have found moving the low morale Wehrmacht soldiers to the basement allow you to deploy reinforcement troops where needed.

Another key not shown in this playthrough is how critical having those French VIPs deployed. They give a bonus to all the defenders in the same area, which can be critical for success.

Series comparison

While all games in the series are easy to learn, I feel that Castle Itter might be the best entrance point for a novice in the solo wargaming space. The rules overhead is very low, and it eliminates the supply issues of Pavlov’s House and some of the fiddly parts of interior of the Post Office in Soldiers in Postmen’s Uniforms. The forthcoming Lazareth Ridge is more similar to this title, but the changes to command and recover might make that one harder for someone new to the series.

The other benefit it has is just such a unique story. It’s almost surprising we haven’t seen this made into a big budget movie as the story is just so crazy it’s hard to believe at first. German and US troops defending French VIPs against SS troops in a castle in Austria…it almost is unbelievable. Unlike Soldiers in Postmen’s Uniforms this story ended on a rather positive note historically with Gangl being the only solider to lose his life.

Valiant Defense Final thoughts

Overall, I had a blast playing through this series. Pavlov’s House was my first entrance to wargaming, and the intensity and narrative hasn’t dipped at all from my first plays of each of these games. David Thompson did such a great job in storytelling with his games. From the pictures of the defenders on the counters; the extensive companion books; and marrying mechanic to theme it is no surprise to me that the series has done so well.

Anytime anyone asks for a good place to start with solo wargaming this series is my first answer. The rules are easy to understand, the narrative elements are strong, and they give great tactical challenges that change each playthrough.

If you aren’t a fan of luck in games you might be disappointed, these are dice checkers, and card draws can derail your best laid plans. However, this only fuels the suspense level for me. Every dice roll and card draw you’ll find yourself holding your breath, wondering if this will be it. Like many solo games you will lose many times, but if you are like me, you’ll keep coming back for more.

And it’s a good thing that many other gamers agree as there doesn’t appear to be an end to the series in sight. I look forward to next installment and wonder what stories we’ll see next. Until then I’m happy there are still more stories to discover and high scores to set.