On this day in WW2, the US and Germans fought together in the Battle of Castle Itter

The Battle of Castle Itter was fought on 5 May 1945, in the Austrian village of Itter in the North Tyrol region of the country, during the last days of the European Theater of World War II.

Troops of the 23rd Tank Battalion of the 12th Armored Division of the US XXI Corps led by Lieut. John C. "Jack" Lee, Jr., a number of Wehrmacht soldiers led by Major Josef "Sepp" Gangl, SS-Hauptsturmführer Kurt-Siegfried Schrader, and recently freed French prisoners of war defended Castle Itter against an attacking force from the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division until relief from the American 142nd Infantry Regiment of the 36th Division of XXI Corps arrived.

The French prisoners included former prime ministers, generals, tennis star Jean Borotra, and Charles de Gaulle's sister. It is one of two known times during the war in which Americans and Germans fought side by side, the other being Operation Cowboy. Popular accounts of the battle have called it the strangest battle of World War II

Shortly after the arrival of the reinforcements, a force of 100–150 Waffen-SS soldiers led by Georg Bochmann, who had been occupying some hills near the town, decided to launch an attack. Lee had ordered the French prisoners to hide, but they remained outside and fought alongside the American and Wehrmacht soldiers.

Aware that he had been unable to give the 142nd complete information on the enemy and its disposition before communications had been severed, Lee accepted tennis star Borotra's offer to vault the castle wall and run the gauntlet of SS strongpoints and ambushes to deliver it. The tennis star was recognized by René Lévesque, a French Canadian reporter embedded with the 142nd and later Premier of Quebec. Borotra asked for an American military uniform, then joined the force as it made haste to reach the prison before its defenders fired their last rounds of ammunition.

The relief force arrived around 16:00, and the SS were promptly defeated. Some 100 SS prisoners were reportedly taken. The French prisoners were evacuated towards France that evening, reaching Paris on 10 May.

Wehrmacht Major Josef Gangl was the sole defender to die during the battle, though four others were wounded. Gangl died during the battle from a sniper rifle bullet while trying to move former French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud out of harm's way The battle was fought five days after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide and only two days before the signing of Germany's unconditional surrender.

Had to be weird as shite for American GI's to team up with the Wehrmacht and a French tennis player to fight off the Waffen SS.