The Last Battle (Harding book)

{{other uses|Last Battle (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox book |

| name = The Last Battle

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = The Last Battle (Harding).jpg

| caption =

| author = Stephen Harding

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| genre = History

| publisher = Da Capo Press

| release_date = 2013

| media_type = Hardcover

| pages = 256

| isbn = 0-3068-2208-3

| congress =

| oclc =

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}}

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe is a book by the historian Stephen Harding which tells the story of the World War II Battle for Castle Itter.

Published by Da Capo Press,{{cite web | url=http://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/review/last-battle-when-us-and-german-soldiers-joined-forces-waning-hours-world-war-ii-europe | title=The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe | work=New York Journal of Books | date=April 23, 2013 | accessdate=December 9, 2013 | author=Thomas E. Nutter}} on May 7, 2013,{{cite book|author=Stephen Harding|title=The Last Battle: When U. S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kwSlMAEACAAJ|date=7 May 2013|publisher=Da Capo Press, Incorporated|isbn=978-0-306-82208-7}} it describes a mixed force of United States Army, German Wehrmacht, and Austrian resistance fighters acting together to prevent the recapture of a number of French VIP prisoners being held at Itter Castle, Austria, by an SS assault party ordered to retake the prison days after Hitler’s suicide.

The fourteen prisoners being held in the facility included two former French Prime Ministers, Paul Reynaud and Édouard Daladier,{{cite news|last1=Roberts|first1=Andrew|title=World War II's Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/12/world-war-ii-s-strangest-battle-when-americans-and-germans-fought-together.html|accessdate=25 May 2016|agency=The Daily Beast|date=12 May 2013}} two former commanders of the French military, the son of famous prime minister Georges Clemenceau, and {{Interlanguage link|Marie-Agnès de Gaulle|fr}}, Resistance member and sister of General Charles de Gaulle.{{cite web | url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/12/world-war-ii-s-strangest-battle-when-americans-and-germans-fought-together.html | title=World War II's Strangest Battle: When Americans and Germans Fought Together | publisher=The Daily Beast | date=May 12, 2013 | accessdate=December 9, 2013 | author=Andrew Roberts}}{{cite news | url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P2-34695016 | author=Alan Wallace | title=Leaders to follow, Course Corrections | work=Tribune-Review/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | publisher=Trib Total Media, Inc. 2013. | date=May 25, 2013 }}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}

The story is based on military records, author interviews, personal memoirs, and official German, American, and French histories.