hunter15991

The Nazis really liked the whole "kill people right before they're liberated" thing.

The Battle for Castle Itter is an interesting read, a case where the Nazis failed to do so due to an interesting coalition. A lot of high-value prisoners including a couple of former French Prime Ministers were being held in a castle in Austria.

One dude escaped from the castle but couldn't reach American lines to warn them of the prisoners who were at risk of getting executed by roaming Nazi elements. He did find a former German Army unit led by Major Josef Gangl that had defected to the local anti-Nazi resistance and was trying to stop a nearby town from falling into anarchy, so he tried to get them to liberate the castle.

Those Germans decided they were too weak alone, so they headed west and rendezvoused with advancing American elements, whom they told of the pending situation. The American commander set out with the German defectors to liberate the castle but had to leave most of his tanks behind at a flimsy bridge.

16 Americans and 11 Germans, with one truck and one Sherman tank to their name, fought their way into the castle. Most SS guards had abandoned their posts because they were worried about incoming Allied troops, although one guy remained who had been kind to the prisoners.

So now this mish-mash of US Army, German Army, 8 former French politicians and celebrities, and an SS officer quickly set up defenses for the castle and hold out for reinforcements. Before reinforcements could get there the SS returned in force, 150 men or so and several pieces of artillery.

The joint German-French-American coalition held off the Nazis for a while but soon started running low on ammo. Gangl sent French tennis star Jean Borotra out to warn the American reinforcements to hurry the hell up. Borotra vaulted out of a lower level window and used his world-class athleticism to run like the devil through SS lines and fortifications to get to US lines, which he successfully did before donning a US uniform and guiding American tanks back to the castle, catching the SS by surprise from the rear and taking them prisoner.

The only Allied casualty during the battle was Gangl, who took a sniper's bullet intended for Paul Reynaud.

There's a metal song about the whole thing.

What do you say to former Bernie voters who are considering a Johnson/Stein/write-in vote as opposed to voting for Clinton?

Hey Rich, love your show. Two questions.

1. Sometimes there are days in the NFL where the ever-changing news, and the absurdity of some sources almost makes you hope it never ends - like Chip's Free Agent Frenzy or the Owners Meeting this month. Did you ever have such days at work when you dreaded leaving, the news was so crazy to cover? What were they like?

2. You did play-by-play for tennis in 2014. If you had to commentate on a football game, who would you want as your partner(s) in the booth?

I know! Gangl's fate is so cliche youd think someone would have lapped up the storyline.

Hey Dan - you sound like a great, honest candidate.

If you weren't running, which NV-04 candidate would you vote for instead?

EDIT: grammar