Do Go On - 247 - The Battle For Castle Itter

Episode Date: July 15, 2020

Often referred to as the strangest battle of World War II, The Battle For Castle Itter was a daring mission to protect and rescue two former French Prime Ministers, two former military commanders, a Noble Peace Prize winner and a champion tennis player... all of whom were trapped in an Austrian castle.Buy tickets to our live streamed shows on July 18 + 25, August 1st + 8:https://sospresents.com/catalogSupport the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: patreon.com/DoGoOnPodCheck out our web series: https://www.youtube.com/user/stupidoldchannel Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-TopicTwitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasREFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:The Battle For Castle Itter, Stephen Harding:https://www.historynet.com/the-battle-for-castle-itter.htmStephen Harding on ABC’s Nightlife (2019)https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/nightlife/this-week-in-history-battle-for-itter-castle/11083380https://militarywiz.tumblr.com/post/116582883769/castle-itter-the-strangest-battle-of-ww-iihttps://warfarehistorynetwork.com/2019/01/02/when-the-wehrmacht-and-american-gis-joined-forces-to-fight-the-waffen-ss/https://allthatsinteresting.com/battle-for-castle-itter

Melbourne and Canada, we got exciting news for you. And we should also say this is 2026. Jess, what year is it? 2026. Thank God you're here. Right now, I'm in Melbourne doing my show with Serengy Amarna 630 each night at the Cooper's Inn Hotel, having so much fun. We'd love to see you there. Canada, we are visiting you in September this year.

If you've somehow missed the news, we are heading up Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto for shows. That's going to be so much fun. Tickets for all this stuff, I believe, are online. And I'm here too. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. And welcome to another episode of Do Go On. My name is Dave Warnocky and as always, I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart.

Hello, Dave, hello, Jess. Hello, Matt, hello Dave. Hello. We should figure out something more consistent to do. Because Dave is the same at the start of every episode and every time he says, I'm sitting here with Jess and Matt. I'm always like, what am I going to say? Okay.

We should think of something. We don't have to do it right now. I'm just saying... I mean, you've had 247 weeks. Okay. Yeah, well, you know, you can always grow, always learn. Focusing on the negative there, Dave. Classic Dave.

Yeah. Negative Nelly. Sorry. Middle name Nelly. Mr. We're there. You've only had 247 weeks. So don't be hard on yourself. Yes, there we go.

Because you're going to be alive for thousands of weeks. I love this positive energy. Do you reckon I am? Yeah. You already have been. Oh my God. Look at me go. That's exciting

Hey speaking of being Live Yes That's good stuff That's great What are you going Keep it going Keep it going

Well I was just really Just open that up for you Because you speak good Well this weekend We are kicking off Our first of four live shows Weekly live shows We're going to film

And stream to the world Via the internet filmed at stupid old studios And you can get tickets At sOS presents Dot com And basically you get to see us

Do a live episode But then afterwards, we are also going to do either a quiz, a Q&A, or for our 250th episode of the third week. We are doing a 250th party. A birthday party, I guess. Yeah, it's a birthday party in a way. We'll have crossing live to special guests or that sort of, well, I don't know if it's live, we'll be crossing to special guests and having a lot of fun. And you can get tickets, like I said, at SOS Presents.com. And you can also get tickets to all four shows for the price of three.

Ooh, a barjad. Oh, a 25% saving, I believe. I think, oh, hang on. Yes. Oh, well, thank goodness. That has checked out. So please buy tickets because it is a lot of fun. So much fun.

Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be great. So you should get tickets and come along. Oh, last thing to say is that you can watch live and you can comment along with other people, but you can also, the episodes are now going to be up forever, basically, this time. Yes. So if you want to watch it a week later because you've got stuff on. you can do that.

The ticket will stay open. If you want to watch it a year later, if you're listening to this in the year 2025. What? And you're like, oh, I would have liked to have seen that, you probably still can. You probably still can.

And you should do that. And hello in the future. If planet Earth exists. Yeah, have you got a hover car? Well, should we crack on with the show, Matt? What is this show all about? Well, basically three obvious friends, I meet each week to learn a little bit about something.

One of the three of us will go away after having a topic suggested, normally by a listener, and we'll just read up on it, we'll watch documentaries, we'll bathe in the knowledge of the topic, bring that knowledge back to the other two and tell them all about it, while they rudely interrupt and annoying new listeners. And this week, Dave is doing the topic, I believe, and it always starts with a question. What is this week's question, Dave?

My question to you two is the... Well, basically the question includes the title of the episode because you wouldn't get it. It's one of those ones. But here we go. You still have a shot at getting the question, though. And this one is very getable. So, hands-on buzzers.

Here we go. The Battle of Castle Itter has been dubbed one of the strangest battles of which war. Bs. Matt? Boar War. One of my favorite named wars, but no. Yes. Star Wars.

Crimean War Second favourite named war It's a great name, isn't it? One of the World Wars? It is, narrowing it down. Two. No. One!

No, it is two, but I was going to give it to Jess because you had so many guesses, but Matt is right. That was like my father, no, let Jess have a go. That's funny that we, I mean, I'm like, it won't be the obvious answer. Yeah, I was like, it'll be one of those little wars. No, it is world. Star. But if I, if I don't know.

I would ask you, the Battle of which castle was dubbed the strangest battle of World War II? I would have said Castle Itter. Yeah, I would have said Itch. I know this story incredibly well. I could do the report without even looking, but I guess I'll let you have a go then. Thank you. How do you spell Itter? I-T-E-R.

Itter. Love it. Love that. Tell us more. Well, this one has been suggested by a few people, also voted for by the Patreon. And if you are a Patreon supporter, you get to vote for two out of three topics. and not everyone exercises their right to vote. And this one was again, even though there were hundreds of votes, only won by a handful. Wow, tight race.

So get in there if you are a Patreon supporter. Suggested by this topic, thanks so much to Zach from Buffalo, New York, Stuart from Edinburgh, Claire from Sacramento, or people that do not trust this with their last name. I respect that. I just say, go bills, go hearts and go kings. Wow. Sacramento Kings a team? Don't look at me.

I don't know. How about this one? We've got two more people that did give us their full names. And what a name. Antonio Eskusha Jr. Oh my goodness. From Hanover Park, Illinois. Illinois.

Well, I know Chicago, Illinois, right? Is that wrong? Go Bulls. Yeah. Bills and Bulls all at once. Hello, boys. And also this one, another challenging one. George Chandler McGini.

Could he be any? anymore, McGini? From Royal Lemington Spa. Oh my God, that place sounds delicious. Oh my God, it sounds delicious and like Jury. Oh, my God, I love I want to be there. I'm picturing it some sort of idyllic paradise. I'm picturing like high tea but in a hot spring.

Wow. That's the perfect combo. So good. If they had a sports team, it would definitely be a polo team. Yes. They don't play anything else there. Yeah. Yes.

The horses do most of our sport over here. Lost control of that a little bit. So thanks for the suggestions team. All right, here we go. Castle Itter, known in German by the much cooler name of Schloss Itter. Yes. Schlossh. Slosh Itter is a small castle located in the Austrian Alps,

atop a 666 metre or 2100 foot hill. So you've got to imagine rolling hills, the beautiful Austrian countryside. The sound of music. Basically, it's the sound of music all over again. With a big castle in it. A little castle. Little. I mean, you say little castle.

Comparatively. Sure. A little castle. Just a small castle. It's only got 18 bedrooms. It's a two bedroom, one bath. That's like my house. Is my house a castle?

Yeah, I live in a castle. Every man's house is a castle, whatever that saying is. A man's house is his castle? Yeah. Not a woman's. No, God, no. There's a palaces. My husband's house is a castle.

I'm allowed to stay in. So it's a beautiful location for the strangest battle of the Second World War. Castle Itter itself dates back as a fortress to at least the 13th century. Small fortress. It was rebuilt in 1532. Renovated in 1878 on what I can only imagine was an episode of Escape to the Country. Do you think fortress is a lady fort? Like princess.

Prince, rest. Duchess. Fortress. Anything with S on the end makes it a lady version. E-W-S. like Jess. You're a Lady J. I'm a Lady J.

You're a nickname Lady J. You're a Lady J. No, E-W-S. So Lady J. Fortress. Sorry, it's all I can think when you said Fortress, so I didn't hear the rest of that sentence. It was renovated in 1878.

Escape to the country, yes. And it actually did become an escape to the country because they always want Airbnb facilities, as we talk about here off mic. But that dream came true because it became a hotel in the early 20th century. Oh, wow. But then,

came to the war for the second time. Austria was annexed, aka occupied for the Nazis in 1938, and in 1940, Castle Itter was rented out to the German government. It was originally used by the Germans for Adolf Hitler's anti-smoking campaign. What? Why did you need a castle for that? Well, they needed headquarters somewhere. So they put they used a castle.

Isn't that a matter? It feels like they really lost, the Nazis weren't great budgeters. No. We had a scout hall or something. Yeah. Anti-smoking, you know, obviously, yeah, the budgets have ballooned out. It's one of the worst things about the whole Nazi thing was there. They just didn't use funds well.

Yeah. The overheads were awful. Yeah. The brief info I could find about this was that they used the castle to print flyers and things for the anti-smoking campaign, which of course you need a castle for. Yeah, you get the butler to do it. They just got a bunch of printers. Yeah.

Went down to office works. I said how many printers you got. I'll tell you that. Buddy, Steve Jobs, started Apple out of a shed. Hitler? Your anti-smoking campaign? Is it a fucking castle?

Come on, mate. This guy's ridiculous. You've absolutely lost it. I think we've said it before, and I'm willing to say it again, Hitler's a bitch. Yeah, he's a bitch. You know what?

If I had a time machine, I'd go back, and I would get baby Hitler, and I'd teach him about budgeting. Yeah. Me too. Teach him to smoke. That would have changed everything.

Well, you're going to have to smoke this entire package. I'm only one. In 1943, the castle came under the control of the infamous Dashau concentration camp. Dashow was located 90 miles or 145 kilometers away and was intended to hold political prisoners. But over 40,000 people were murdered there, a truly, truly horrifying, what? How many? 40,000.

Fucking how. Truly horrifying place to be. But Castle Itter, which was under the administration. administrative control of Dashau, was a long way away, but under the same people. It was made into a special detention facility run by the SS, the foremost agency of security, surveillance, and terror within Germany, and that's occupied countries. They're really bad, but also, it's two ladies, SS, isn't it? Yep.

And they were bad. Two bad ladies. Two bad ladies. It's like a fucked up bingo. 88, two bad ladies. No, that's SS. Okay. Right, oh, barrel?

The castle had high medieval walls, was surrounded by steep ravines, as well as a dry moat that was crossed only by a small bridge, and had a virtually impenetrable gatehouse. This meant it was a perfect place to make an escape-proof fortress. An even better place to have an Andy smoking campaign headquartered. I mean, you've got to keep the smoke.

They're still working on the anti-smoking campaign while they've got people prisoner there. It's a bit, it's a castle, there's space. They use the west wing. It's a small castle. There's a small amount of space. The second bedroom was the prison. Yeah. The first bedroom, anti-smoking campaign.

Yeah, that makes sense. With its escape-proof status, it was designated as a place for prisoners who had potential value as hostages, high-profile people that you wanted to keep an eye on and who were worth more to you alive than. dead. Right. People you could use to negotiate with the enemy. Yep.

Which is the war seemed to be coming to an end for the Germans, seemed like it was increasing in likelihood. Yeah, okay. And because of their high profile statuses, high profile prisons, the inmates experienced for the most part a prison that was better than most run by the Nazis, especially the neighbouring Dashau.

The POWs it house slept in 20 converted guest rooms. They had food cooked for them, were given cigarettes in the ex-ante-smoking plate. Oh my God. Irony. Can you believe that? They were given wine, could listen to local radio, or were allowed free access to the castle library

and could exercise in the courtyard. That sounds quite nice. The women could even get their hair done. Get out of town. There was a salon. And all prisoners were allowed to go to the local church service outside the castle. Oh, wow. Okay.

Impenetrable. Except on Sundays. Most of these high-profile prisoners were from France. These are a few of the inmates. And we'll attempt some friends. French names here. Wish me luck. First of all, we have former French prime minister, Edward Deladier, who was the prime minister at the start of World War II.

He'd even signed treaties with Neville Chamberlain, Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini in the late 1930s, but resigned a year into the war. When France was also annexed by the Germans, he was arrested. Wow. So you got your former country's leader. His replacement prime minister was Paul Reynho, who was also arrested and prisoned in Castleta. Wow.

He had tried to flee France with his mistress, Helene Deport, quoting from Wikipedia here because I liked the writing that I couldn't believe the writing that he used. This is describing his lover, Helene. Okay. A fascist sympathiser, she was very unpopular, she was described as a middle-aged woman with a shrill voice and a clamorous, demanding manner, who chatted like a magpie and lost her temper with ease.

Charles de Gaul called her a turkey, whilst Winston Churchill nicknamed her the parrot. It's not a bird. I don't know how bird like she was. The magpies have a beautiful voice. I love listening to the magpies warble in the morning. Love it. Do you think it sounds like, you know that Tom Homer was in the jury? And he had the fake glasses to make it look like he wasn't sleeping, like his eyes were open.

So Homer, this is a meme I've just created in my mind. Homer is France. Okay, Homer's France? Yes. The first set of glasses are the first prime minister. And the Nazis take them off him. as they take them off. The second paragraph is the second prime minister,

and then the Nazis go, we'll take them as well. Huh? Do you think that could go viral? I can't believe I've never been near someone as they've created a meme. That was thrilling. A viral meme. I'm going to be interviewed in the doco about this viral meme. Yeah, you were there.

I was there. And audibly created a meme too, not like, hey, check this out. I just made it. You know, audibly created a viral meme. Well, I'm assuming someone out there will do the easy bit. But you get the hard work. You get the credit. Thinking of the, yeah.

If they even think about taking a shred of your credit. No, I'm happy to co-create. They can put by Matt Stewart and Domenique, Swissonswatz, or whatever their name will be. I suppose it'll be something like that. I would assume so, yeah. We do have some incredible names of people that listen to the show. Like Domenique Switzerland swats.

So with German army approaching, former Prime Minister Reynne, who eventually would get captured, and Helene, the parent, tried to flee by car, but they crashed, which almost decapitated her. Oh, my God. So she died instantly. Oh, fuck.

When you say almost decapitated, I'm like, that was a close call. Then you're like, so she's dead. Makes it a bit harder for me to do any sort of jokes about that. Yeah. I bet I mean, like, what part of almost decapitating? And then you go, well, you just stick a... You duck under something.

Oh, right. I was imagining, like... It didn't quite cut through the whole way. Oh, my God, that's great. Yuck. That's awful. She's gone... Rayno himself was hospitalized

and arrested on discharge and eventually found himself in Castle Litus and they have two successive prime ministers locked in a small castle together. Wow. Also held at the castle was former supreme commanders of the French armed forces,

Maxime Weigand and Maurice Gamalan. So they're both men that were in charge of the army. Yeah, wow. Two highest-ranking military people of France had at the time, both in there as well. There's trade union leader and future Nobel Peace Prize winner, Leon Joux, was there. This is quite a group of people. It's a big names. Marie Agnes de Gaulle, a resistance fighter and sister of Charles de Gaulle,

who was at the time the leader of France in exile during World War II. Part of the age then was like, de Gaul, that rings a bell. Yes, okay. He was the biggest dog in France. No wonder they were happy to capture his sister. Oh, he was a dog. Oh, yeah. Yeah, right.

So there's, we got a parrot. Now there's a dog. A big dog. A big dog. Oh, sorry. That's why they named an airport or a train station after him. Yeah, big dog airport. Big dog international airport.

Yeah. Not flying in there. Where the big dogs fly. So she's in there. And she was the only reason that her brother was still around at all during World War I. Because Marie herself was responsible for the evacuation of her brother. than Lieutenant de Gaulle, who was badly injured in the war. She saved him by assaulting the opposing trenches.

So she got right in there. Wow. She was a badass. Is the De Gaul maybe, is the De Gaul airport or train station named after the family or after? No, I think it's, of course, Charles. Charles de Gaulle, yeah. So he's a very, very famous Frenchman. Charles de Gaulle, Big Dog Airport.

Yeah. So now you've got two ex-prime ministers, two former French army heads and also the leader of the actual. So the two former French army heads, they were decapitated. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Went right through. Went right through.

I hurt my eyes then when I rolled them back. I rolled them back so far that they hurt my eyes. I'd mean that's the instant karma. Yeah. It did look painful. So these are mostly military and political people so far, but also an inmate was Jean Barotra. It was a legendary French tennis player

Part of the so-called four musketeers Four French players who dominated tennis in the 20s and 30s A bit like the big four today, Federer and Adal, Jockovich, Murray. They dominated the game for years and won 20 Grand Slam titles and 23 Grand Slam doubles between them. Jean was the oldest of the four and was known as the Bounding Basque. Oh, I'm loving all of this.

I know, two nicknames already. He won four Grand Slam singles titles in the French, Australian and All England. in ships and achieved a high rank of number two in the world. He was a big tennis star. Couldn't hack it in America though, on three of the four. I think you made the final in America so close to doing the Grand Slam. Glend Slam.

That's what they called it back then. Yeah. Well, I'd tell you got their name. They used to win the vanquished glands. They would cut them out of them and wear them as a scarf. Yeah. I don't know what a gland looks like. How much work it would take to make a gland into a skull.

Garth, but it's a different time. You get enough, you get enough glanes. You can make anything. Yeah, all right. I always said that. That's the right attitude. So this is the tennis player. In 1942, at the age of 44, Barotra was arrested by the Gestapo, and he was first deported

to a concentration camp, but then he was transported to Castle Itter, not because of his fame as a tennis player, but because he'd served briefly in the French government in the sports slash recreation portfolio. Oh, okay. So he was, yeah, okay. So they were like, oh, he's a government guy, valuable enough to keep alive. in the castle. There are a few of the main players in the castle, where there are others.

Some of the wives, girlfriends and secretaries of the POWs were imprisoned in the castle along with their partners and bosses, including our tennis playing friend John's wife. She was also imprisoned with him. And because the POWs came from all sides of French politics, many were rivals who hated each other.

Even when you're in prison, can you just drop it? They could not. Wow. Especially the two former prime ministers who are on opposite sides of politics. It was like locking up Obama and Trump together. Right. Two men opposite sides of politics

and they very much dislike each other personally and politically. Okay. The prime ministers hated each other. They also hated another prisoner, General Weigand. It's because he'd been in charge of the French army when they surrendered to the Germans in 1940 and allowed Hitler to take over the country. So they hate each other, but then they also, together as a team, hate this general.

Oh, they thought he should have stuck it out. I think you tried to enter a bit of a treaty type thing and then I think once Germany had the power they were like, well, I'm going to arrest you now. Right, yeah. He didn't realize the Nazis were all that bad, not to be trusted. But to them, the Nazis were already known as being

like the Nazis even then, right? Yeah, well, they'd already invaded and... There was that weird early time where it was like the world didn't know and there's photos of, you know, like didn't church dealt with him and the the English current queen was doing Nazi salutes for fun and stuff because of what didn't represent evil yet yeah what a wild definitely as a child you're saying

that right yes yeah isn't there a photo of her as a child maybe or maybe it's her siblings and it's just a it's a wild because you know you think a Nazi means evil but as they were coming up, it obviously wasn't super clear straight away, even though it feels like there were a few signs. But as they were marching into Paris to take it over, I think it was pretty safe to do as to you. Let's see what

they go with this. They're nice. They might have some nice ideas. They might just want to pay their respects to the Mona Lisa and they might keep going. Maybe they've brought cake. You don't have them brought cake. All right. Well, maybe this wasn't a good idea. Oh, no. We thought they might have had some Black Forest cake. I love a bit of Black Forest. We've got a red

velvet in there, that's my fav. Cheesecake for me. The prisoners formed groups based on their political views and stuck to them, often being more at odds with each other than with their German captors. They ate at separate tables, so it was all very mean girls in there. There's different cliques. That's what you have to understand. Apparently, yeah, there was three clicks, I believe, three main clicks.

There was the two political prime ministers in there, the people that were on either of their sides, and then there was a third group that weren't liked by either of them. The Goths, for example. Sort of sounds like our podcast when we go to a cafeteria, each of our three clicks sit at a different table. I'm the goth. You look great in eye makeup.

So there was also one Yugoslav political prisoner named Zunamir Kukovic, thankfully for me, known among the prisoners as Andre. Great. From here out, you're referring to him as Andre. I would have called him the kook. Yeah, big time. Kukovic. Kukovic.

Kukovic. Love that. I'd call him the Kuk. Yeah, the kuk. Captain Kook, maybe. Very good. Like Kirk, I suppose. Or hook.

Yes. Or Cook. There's a lot of captains in that world. It's a four-letter ending with K-world. Yeah. Do you say Kirk yet? Yeah, that's where we began. Oh, sorry.

Did you think he thought of that? Does your inner monologue sound like Jess? No, I was looking at an upcoming word that I'm like, I think I've worked out a way to not say it. Love that, love that quick on-the-fly edit of, oh, too hard. And then the depacking of it before we even get into it. Yeah, the big run-up to it. Here we go.

So, Andre had been transferred. This is the political prisoner from Yugoslavia. The kuk. As was known. he's been transferred from Dachau, the much worse concentration camp, to work as an electrician for the castle. Oh, yeah, so...

Massive upgrade. He's also getting an income now. Right. So that's good. They give him a van. I doubt they were paying him. Does he have a van? Yeah, I got him for van.

So he have an A-B-N. Yeah, oh, yeah. Who's doing his bass? Oh, yeah. I mean, that's the thing. Now he's got... Maybe he's got a better gig, but he's got to work out his tax.

Yeah. I've got a computer in the corner with MI-O-B. accounting software there you go one of the big two but there's new players in town zero's there now used to be all about NYUB and

what's the other one I forget NYUC in high school been a while Excel Spretcher no

was it no not funny I think of what it was a jagger right so we'll talk a bit more about Andre later. I just wanted to introduce you to our good friend Andrei.

I love him, the electrician. He's got a part in this story. Don't you worry about that, Andro. And as for the German side of things, Sebastian Vimmer, or Wimmer, of the SS was given command of the prison. And he was also given 25 people to guard the castle. Okay. These were all men who had previously guarded concentration camps. And even they were glad to be away from the horrors of the death camps. Yeah, I bet. Even if they were the ones inflicting the death. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Never really thought.

thought about it from that point of view either, hey. Yeah, I was watching an interview with historian talking about how, even for them, because at this castle, it's quite nice. But even when they're at the concentration camp, they're surrounded by it. There's no way to get away from it. Yeah. If you are on the oppressive side. Yeah, I'd be...

Which I also had never thought of it, but still, fuck those guys. Oh, big time. But, you know, I'd never really thought about it. That wouldn't be a very nice job, would it? Arguably. What's that? Being guard in the concentration camp? That would fucking suck.

Yeah. And these were all... But I'd say, hear me out. There would be even worse to be inside the concentration. I... Yep. I reckon you're right there. QuickBooks was the other one.

Moving on. Did you look it up? Yes. That was the one I learnt in year 12 as well. Oh, wow. Well, so I've just... That's all the players in this story. Okay.

It's a real rabble of the who's who of... French political life and military life And they're all in there squabbling about And this one on for a couple of years That's the way of life now And a few of them have got their wives in there Secretaries is confusing Well if I'm going

She's got to come with me Because I can't keep track of anything And so you know This is normally the setup in the film Where it's a rag tag band But this is like whatever the opposite of rag tag It's a silk tag I was going to say tag

tag tag tag tag tag tag What did you say? Silk tag. Silk tag. It's a rag tag. It's a beautiful fabric. Pinky tag. But it's, yeah, it's like, it feels, but not necessarily all that many, if they're making

the big escape, it's not like, oh, they've got all the skills covered, like, in a, in a hoist film. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. We need a guy that can do backflips. How about someone who knows how to talk to ambassadors from other countries? Is that going to be important here? Well, I've got a secretary.

Yeah, that Christian might be handy. Yeah, well, let me just tell you that the two most important people in the story are not the political people. Yeah, okay. Funny that. Somehow. Hey, obviously they've got practical skills too, and being president is not their value. But it sounds like they maybe don't have any values in terms of getting out of a castle. Yeah, that's right.

So life went on like this for a couple of years. The prisoners just squabbled with each other daily and got used to their monotonous routine. but they noticed that life began to change in 1944 and even more so in 1945. Food became more scarce for both the guards and the prisoners as did fuel for the generators. Okay. Started doing a lot more stuff by candlelight.

The French captives took the lack of supplies as a sign that the Germans were losing the war outside the walls, but began to worry what would happen to them. Maybe they would no longer be worth more alive than dead. Yeah. You can't afford to feed your own people. Why are you going to keep sending stuff to these facts? counts. The truth was, outside the castle, by early 1945, Nazi Germany was on the verge of

of total military collapse. The Soviet army had retaken Poland and were closing in on Berlin. Hitler retreated to his bunker in Berlin in January 1945, and on April 30th, with the Soviets less than 500 metres away, and knowing all was lost, he shot and killed himself April 30, 1945. During the weeks leading up to this time, Castle Iter had become a stopover for SS guards who were fleeing, often with stolen loot. Edward Vita, who was then in charge of the Dashar Death Camp, who was a horrific person, arrived one night, bragged about, oh, I've just executed a lot of people and then killed himself too. And that's when everyone's looking around going, what the hell's happening out there? Right. Panicking.

A few days later The guy in charge of Castle Itter Sebastian Vimmer saw this and was like Oh fuck this, I'm out of here So he and his wife ran away on May 4th And his 25 guards saw this and were like Well fuck it, we're out of here too So they all left

Leaving the French prisoners alone in the castle And you're like, great The war's ending, they're free to go, just go home But it's not that simple There were still SS units in the area surrounding the castle So it's forests and stuff all around the castle. A few towns, and the SS could be anywhere.

They were the Nazi diehards, people that were going to fight until the bitter end, and who'd been ordered to kill thousands of prisoners to cover up the atrocities that the regime had inflicted. There's stories of the local Austrians and villages who were not a fan of the Nazis when they came in, and now they're seeing them collapse. They're like, this is good. They're hoisting white flags, hoping to be liberated by American soldiers when they come through, only for small groups of SS to get there and hang these civilians on light poles to to crush any early surrenders.

Oh, that is, I don't know why. Everything's been brutal, but that is fucking fucked. Because they were, I think these Austrian locals are worried that the Americans would come through and also treat them harshly because they're seen as collaborators. But really, they're like, oh, we never liked them. Yeah, yeah, please save us. Yeah, I'm just a baker. Oh, bloody hell.

Inside the castle, they knew it was too risky to make a break for it, and also that they probably didn't have enough time to wait to be liberated. They'd have to at least defend themselves. So they broke into the weapons room of the now deserted castle and armed themselves with pistols, rifles and even a few submachine guns. Has the chef gone as well? Now they've got to feed themselves. That is absolute horseshit.

I've grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle in prison, and now you're just up and go. where's your obligation? Where's your four weeks notice? Where's the librarian? I've been in line for a few hours, trying to check out this book here. Where's the hairdresser? I've got regrowth. That looked terrible. If I'm going to be captured again, I want to look good.

The four men that especially hated each other, our former prime ministers and two army commanders, had to put aside their differences and come up with a plan to survive. So finally they've shut the fuck up after OTA. This is when they turned to. Everyone's favourite electrician turned political prisoner, Andre. Andre. The coque.

The cook. He volunteered to go and get help. So he took a letter in French and English that outlined the plight of the castle and managed to slip away on the pretense of running an errand. Because he was able to travel more easily as he was an electrician. Yeah, he had his van. Yeah. He had a van.

One 800, dial a sparky. And everyone saw him and went, Ah, good. We needed an electrician. Sparky's here? Very good. On your way, sir. So he had an excuse if he got stopped by the Germans.

I'm just going for an errand. But having said that, if they found the letters on him, they would have shot him then and there. So he's also risking his life. Yeah. With that in mind, he stole the bicycle and rode into town. Okay, so he doesn't have a van.

No. Well, no, he does. Just wanted to, you know, pedal it out a bit. Incidental exercise as well, I get that. He was. very lucky to come across major sep gangl. Stop it. Sep, gangle.

Fantastic. Sep is good. Gangal is incredible. Gangal. That sounds like some kind of, like a little, a gadget, you know?

A gangal. I was thinking it sounds like something you don't want to catch. Nah, it sounds that's got a positive ring to me. Yeah, gangl. Like a gadget, a positive thing. Like a dongle, you know?

Sounds like gangl. Or maybe something you'd call your balls, gangles. Dangles. Yeah, my dangly gangles. Yeah. Once something's gone wrong. Titt me in the gangles. Oh, that's a bit fun. My goleys.

Yeah. My gangoolies. There we go. I knew we'd get there eventually. So, our, Andreau, bike riding electrician, comes across Major Step Gangal of the Wehrmacht, which was the

unified forces of the German army, which on paper doesn't sound like someone you want to run into. But unlike the die-hard SS soldiers, lots of the Varmarked by the end of the war were conscripts and they didn't necessarily want to keep fighting a war that they were certain that any day now they're about to lose. I also heard an historian say that these people were scared

that they did not want, you don't want to be the last person killed in a battle because it's like you were so close to... Yeah, okay, yep. I imagine the bang, shot that guy, all right, we surrender, you'd be like, fuck on. Come on. Come on. I was that close. You're saying that, what, as a ghost hovering above?

Love you, body. Oh, come on. Oh, fantastic. You've just been kneecapped or something. You're like, oh, for God's sake. Come on. Sepp Gangel, he wasn't a conscript, however. He was a career member of the Wehrmacht, having been a soldier since 1935.

But when the orders came through to shoot every male member of a household that waved a white flag, he and his men stayed in the town to protect the people from these reprisals, and at the same time ignored an order to withdraw. He was like, we are not doing that. So he'd already defied his command when Andre wrote up to him and told him of the French former political prisoners trapped in the castle.

Whether Sep saw this as an opportunity to help some high-ranking French people and make himself in his unit look good or if he just wanted to help people, it's unclear. Hey, bit of column A, bit of Colombe. Nothing wrong with, you know, doing the right thing and also there being a bit of a gain to it. And I already do like this guy because he had...

Sep Gangel, yes. Name Sep Gangel. I need to protect these Austrian people for a needless death. So he agreed to help. The only problem was he only had about 20 soldiers left who were loyal to him. And he didn't feel like this was enough to liberate and then protect an entire castle. So Gangal, a German guy wanting to help, grabbed a giant white flag and approached the closest battalion of American soldiers,

who were the 23rd Tank Battalion of the US 12th Armour Division, led by Captain Jack Lee. Well, I thought it was going to be Sparrow. So honestly, Lee is a little disappointing. Oh, I don't want to let you down because this guy's cool. Jack Lee. Jack Lee. That's pretty underwhelming name.

Jack Lee. That's solid. Jack Lee. Jack Lee. A proud New Yorker. I mean, I'm sure Jack's great. I'm sure I'll grow to love his name. Yeah.

But right now I'm not impressed. I don't Jack solid. It's a jack knife. Okay. Now I'm listening. Jack Hammer? Jack Hammer, the hammer. The hammer of peace.

Okay. He's not a hammer of peace this guy. Tell me more about Jack Lee. Well, Sep Gangal explained his plight to Jack Lee. And minutes before this, they were bitter enemies. Yeah. But being a pretty gung-ho guy, Jack heard the story and he agreed to help lead a rescue mission. But I mean, this is a guy approaching you from.

the enemy, would you not sort of have the thought that maybe it's a setup? Apparently, waved white flag spoke to a subordinate, like a low ranking person. And the guy's like, we've got to tell the boss this story. Yeah. There's two four and prime ministers over there. Goes up to Jack's like, all right, I'll hear this guy out, and then they brought him in. Yeah, okay. And then he was like, all right, I'll like you.

I'm going to help you. So he organized four and four German, Sherman tanks, sorry, and some soldiers to man them. And combined with gangles soldiers, they now have. about 36 men. Okay. Okay. And some tanks.

And some tanks. In terms of it being a setup, you'd think, like, as the, like, their war efforts falling apart, they probably have time to do pranks. Yeah. And, yeah. It's probably a bit pointless. It's not enough to win. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We go out there and, like, put a banana peel down and watch Jack Lee fall over. No, watch a tank fall over. Suck on that tank. They can go through anything except bananas. Bananas. They'll slip and slide all over. The crypto night. It's crazy.

The whole tank flips. Tanks on its lid now. It's crazy. No. Good luck getting out of there. Is there an emergency door underneath? Yeah, if it's well built. Because I know bananas are about.

Are these shirmen's well built? Oh, yeah. Okay. So there's probably a little safety door. That's good. So they're ready to lead a rescue mission. Dave, can I, do you mind if I interrupt you right there? Well, I mean, we're about to do a sweet kick-ass rescue mission, but you must.

This feels like the perfect time. There's going to be a rescue mission. Jess, what are you trying to make a cliffhanger scenario? Well, I just, I wanted to talk to you guys about something. Okay. Let's hear around, but I'm not sure. Mike's up? Mike's down.

How personal is this? Oh, mics up. Okay. So the other day, right, I was having a, I was Googling some stuff on Google, on my computer, on my laptop that I own. And I was sort of thinking, this isn't exactly stuff that I want other people to see on screen. You know what I mean? Okay.

Read into that what you will. All right. And now I know what you're thinking. Just just pop it in incognito mode. Yeah, surely you did that. Well, let me tell you something. Incognito mode doesn't hide your activity. What's the point of it then?

Very little. It doesn't matter what modes you use or how many times you clear your browsing history. Your internet service provider, I-I-I-Net, can see everything that you're looking at. I'm just using I-I-Net's mind, for example. How don't you know I use I-I-I-Nus? Are you from Ionet?

Yeah, and I know what you've been looking up, mate. Oh, no. How can I stop that? Well, that's why even when I'm at home, I never go online without using ExpressVPN. Well, that makes it. I was going to say, Dave, I don't know why you're so surprised. We've been sponsored by ExpressVPN a few times. When are you going to get the message? Well, I didn't realize that that's what they did, but I am very lucky that I've been using ExpressVPN. Thank you.

That's real good, Dave. Did you know that ExpressVPN is an app that reroutes your internet connection through their secure service? So your ISP can't see the sites you visit. They also keep all of your information secure by encrypting 100% of your data with the most powerful encryption available. Guys, it doesn't matter if you get your internet from Verizon or Comcast or any other internet service provider. I-I-I-NAT. Dodo? Yes.

Telstra. Optus. All these things and more. And if you're using any of those in the US, Did you know they can legally sell your information to add companies? What? I know, that's no good. But if you use ExpressVPN, it locks those bastards out.

Get out of here, you dogs. So protect your online activity today with the VPN rated number one by CNET and Wired. Visit our exclusive link, ExpressVPN.com slash do go on. And you can get extra three months free on a one-year package. That's ExpressVPN.com.com. Slash Dugger 1. Three months out of a year, that's like 50% or more. That's great.

That's huge. Wow. Thank you to ExpressVPN. Now back to my report that I'm reading on a laptop using ExpressVPN. Full circle. So the reinforcements are on the way to liberate this castle. And they've got, they had four tanks. They dropped off a couple along the way to help protect the entrance to an Austrian city.

They're sharing the tanks around. And then they headed to the castle. They had to cross a bridge wired. with explosives and encountered some SS men on the way who were setting up a roadblock who were like, what the fuck when a tank came round the corner. Far out. And the men on top opened fire and these soldiers just ran into the forest. Right.

So they decided there's just a few SS men. They sussed out and went, there's like 30 of them and a few tanks. We probably can't take them. Oh no, they did take them, yeah. Oh, no, the SS men were like, oh. Yeah, the SS were like, let's run, I reckon. They were just caught by surprise because I think it was around a bend. I was literally reading

and then the tank comes around and they're like, you know, you'd hear it a little bit, but I suppose they come around and they've got men on top with machine guns plus the tank's gun and they're like, nah. Nah.

I mean, the war's not worth it anymore. By the time they got to the castle, they only had one functioning tank. Down from four to one tank. They had to carefully back it, reverse it, over the rickety bridge in front of the castle.

Beep, beep. We got four guys on each side. Just go a little bit, a little bit as way. Unless you're driving it, Jess, then just swoosh, straight in. I'd take it out of the way, boys. I got this. I mean, it's the only time you'd be scared to park a tank. Any other time you're like, well, I'm coming off.

I'm coming off better than anything else here. But they had to do it over a rickety bridge. They weren't sure if it would hold, and it had a steep ravine underneath it. Oh, my God. How scary, though? No, that'd be awful. Just leave the tank there. Lock it.

Like, take the keys with you. I don't know why. the roadrunners there. Remember where you parked it and then just wander in. Where I park in front of Castle Litter. Okay, yep, yep. I just built a little ramp and just jump the ravine. Yes.

How fast can tanks go? Pretty quicker, yeah. Can they? Especially these days, my God. Cool. Yeah. But they do flip easily. Yeah, banana peels.

Everyone's got a kryptonite. Yeah. So they made it to the castle. And inside at first the French VIP, who are stoked to have some help arrive. They're like, finally, our lunch. Here we are gone. Where is the caviar?

Is that tank full of caviar? They were quickly disappointed with what they saw, though. Being VIPs, that expected the entire US Army to come and rescue them. And what they discovered they had really turned up was one tank, seven American soldiers and about 14 Germans, who were still the enemy. They were like, what the hell is this guy doing? God, ungrateful.

Yeah. So ungrateful. They backed a tank. over a rickety bridge for you, you little shits. You'll say thank you and you'll get in the tank. I mean, that's how I assume they help they get them out in the tank. No.

How many people can get in a tank? The tank I've seen a photo of, the Sherman is not very big. I'm guessing four. Military historian I get in contact, I'm sure now. But Angle, actually a Sherman tank has seats for five. You idiot, unless you meant four, not including the driver, in which case you are correct. That's what I meant.

It was three on the tree so it has a bench seat. You can actually squeeze a small child in the front middle. It's the Tarago of the tank world. How many of your social distancing, though, right? Harder doing a tank. So Gangal, the German, he was very nice to the French VIPs. And he's the one that they don't like because they're like, this is a German guy, your enemy.

But Lee was an American band. Badass and didn't have time for their shit and quickly jumped into action. Organising food and beds for his soldiers. And better yet, a survival strategy for them all. Now, one of the former prime ministers remembered Lee in his autobiography, he wrote, quote, he was as crude in both looks and manners. But at least he gets results, damn it. Has this been a movie?

That's a character from an old movie. He gets results. He may be a little unorthodox, but he gets results. God damn it. Hand in your badge. Lee took the tank, nicknamed Besotten Jenny. Besotten. Okay.

I don't want to get in that tank. I am besottened by Jenny. Jenny. Jenny is a female donkey. Ah. Why they called it to that? Because this tank is badass. Is that a pun?

I loved that. I know. I threw my head back. I know. You've got whiplash. Ow! Ow! That quip hurts. That's quip gave me whip.

Quip lash. That's good fun. So Lee took the tank, nickname Besot and Jenny, and manned by members of the All-African American Company, Company D, the 17th Armoured Infantry Battalion, and they parked it in front of the gate of the castle. Good. Basically, you've got to get through the tank to get into the castle.

He didn't have enough transport, this is Lee, to move everyone out, so his plan was to stay inside the castle until reinforcements arrive. which is kind of the, that's the whole purpose of a castle, isn't it? You're safe inside. He hoped that between the tank and the three feet thick stone walls of the castle that they'd be able to hold out just long enough. Okay. They didn't have to wait long to find out, though.

Just after 11 o'clock that evening, Waffen SS troops in the hills opened fire on the castle with rifles and machine guns. So the baddies are here. Yeah, right. Fucking give up, assholes. I know, you've got nothing. Hitler's topped himself. Yeah, it's done.

It's over. It's over. What are you fighting for now? If it was world domination before, now is it just because you're an absolute... It's probably okay to say. Can't. He waits for permission,

like a polite dog waiting for permission to eat food. It's a case-by-case basis. Sometimes we say, don't do it. I'll allow it. It's like it goes to be... Sometimes you'll hear people say, I was just following orders. It's like, well, what are you doing now?

The guy giving the orders is dead. Do you reckon it's just that, like, they'll just go out fighting because if they, I mean, if they're captured or if they sort of surrender now, they're going to be killed. Right? Class of their fear, yeah. Yeah. Because they're quite, they're quite bad. Oh, yeah, I'd be, I'd be picking your God, making your best case to them.

Yep. And crossing your fingers that there's an afterlife at that point, probably. But I think God would probably see through it. Oh, now, now you're apologetic. Got to say, one of the best I've heard today. It would have to be one of the best he's ever heard. Yeah, and even then, he'd be like, you're still a piece of sure. The right religions are.

That's all you have to, you just have to apologize and ask for forgiveness. But I think you're to, I think you'll to mean it. And it might be a bit too transparent if you're just like, oh, we're about to lose. Sorry. Take me back. Oh, sorry, sorry. No take back. Sees.

Inside the castle, the Americans and Germans manned their guns and returned fire all night. By the following morning, around 150 to 200 SS troops, had massed to besiege Castle Iter. So there's about, you know, including the people inside, 30 to 40. And now there's 200 people outside trying to kill them. How did they know? This is the thing. I was like, okay, they're going to wait for reinforcements. What do you do?

Text them? No. So how do reinforcements know to come? So how did all these SS people know to get to go to the castle? do you know what I mean does that make sense right why did they even know something was going on there yeah they have packed a big tank out the front maybe and they maybe would notice on the way through

yeah they shot up a bunch of people on the way in oh yeah that might have done it oh yes that is true yep and those people that they shot out ran into the forest probably to get to tell people yeah okay yep that does make a bit more sense and then yeah I guess they just hope the word gets around to someone from their side to come get them yeah or I guess eventually the Americans or whoever would be sweeping through.

Yeah, so Americans are sweeping through and they're hoping inside that they can hold on long enough, but they don't know how long as going to be. And then they put the American out the front to say, hey, I'm New York in here. They're cool, they're cool. They're with me. It's a good New York accent.

Yeah, I'm New York in here. They're with me. They're with me. So the SS had set up 150 to 200 troops, setting up a deadly 88-millimeter anti-tank gun and a 20-millimeter. anti-aircraft flat gun on a hill 700 metres away. So they also brought in serious firepower.

Whoa. At dawns, things got very serious because that's when the shelling of the castle started. One of the rooms that was previously a room of one of the French people was completely destroyed. Thankfully, he was not in it at the time. And just as the tank, parked in front of the gates, was preparing to fire at the SS,

it too was shelled and it exploded just seconds after the men on board were able to escape. Whoa. So they lost their tank. Right. And that's when the SS began to charge on the castle. No. Running towards the main gate and also trying to find a rear entrance,

so some people went round. See the back door. That old rear admiral. So it's a funny image of these idiots running at a castle. And just bouncing off the front gate. Okay, that didn't work. This castle is wily. Thought I could sneak up on it.

The US and German soldiers inside fired back, inflicting many casualties from the higher ground. So that's one of their things. They've got the protection of the castle. Chot, chut, chot, chot, chot, hiding behind the ramparts. The two former PMs and two former French generals refused to stay in the basement as they'd ordered to be,

and they came up to fight. They had all fought in World War I and weren't going to back down now. So at first, Jack Lee was like, well, you're the people who are here to protect us, You hide down there and they're like, well, fuck that. Yeah, we'll fight. I'd be like, I'll stay down here.

Yeah, that's all right. I'll be in the salon if you need me. Reading old woman's days. Think I got time for a manicure? Manipetti? Manipetti? Can you self-serve? Do they have self-service here?

Well, I'm going to do it myself. I'll take one of the old presidents with me. You can do it. Jacques Chirac. Is that who else? Jacques Chirac. Is now a manicurist. Several of the Vermeckton side, who were the Germans that have changed sides, they were killed inside the castle.

Oh man. By the SS people shooting at the castle and shelling them. Oh, so just unlucky or they, how did that happen? Basically unlucky. Right, that it just happened to knock off all the Germans. Yeah, including Major Sep Gangle. No, not Sep Gangle. It was shot in the head by a sniper.

Whoa. It almost feels like they're the ones there. after the most. Because they're basically traitors. But really, they're... Like, I reckon Traders gets a bad rap. Yeah. But in this case, it feels like...

Oh, I'm on Team Trader here. Yeah, big time. I would have traded earlier. I'm trying to save lives. Oh, you dog. You dirty dog. I want to be in the right side of history. Oh, you piece of shit.

So, Sep Gangles dead, I'm afraid. So he's the Vermarked guy that, remember, initially agreed to help the castle in the first place. Yeah. So without him... and without Andre, they wouldn't be rescued at all. Speaking of Andre, Major John Kramer's, who's an American man who'd also been approached by Andre, early on, but had agreed to help, but he'd been sidelined with wrapping up some other fighting.

He was now preparing reinforcements for the castle. He said, yep, yep, I'll help out, and then you got distracted by something. But now he looks up ahead a few miles away and says, sees the castle is being shot at. And he's like, what's going on? We've got to get there. He had no idea what was going on inside. So he desperately tried to radio Jack Lee, his colleague, but he couldn't get onto him. He wasn't answering the radio.

So he couldn't get onto him. That was until one of the Austrian locals took him to a local town hall, which had a telephone, and he simply rang the castle. No way. The phone starts ringing out and over. Like, wow, what's that? Hello, Castle Litter. And that's how he's...

Castle Litter, Jack Lee speaking. John Kramer's like, Jack, it's Major Kramer's, I'm coming. He got onto Lee, but he didn't have... Lee didn't have great news for him. The SS hadn't yet breached the castle. But they were closing in and inside they were running out of ammunition. So they needed help fast. Yeah.

But getting into the castle wasn't that straight. Or getting to the castle for Kramer wasn't that straightforward. The extra US soldiers had to wind through local war-torn streets and through the forest. So it's not like, oh, there's the castle. I'll be there in half an hour. Yeah. We had to find a way to get to it. So inside the castle with things very desperate, Jack Lee, our general,

accepted a proposal from tennis star, Jean Barotra. Okay. Oh, I hope it brings in tennis skills. I hope it's like a tennis racket and some grenades. Yeah. I'll lob a grenade, top spin lob. I'm very accurate. Yeah.

I'll inside out forehand this grenade. He's like Hawkeye, like standing on top of a building just like shooting behind him. Like he just knows where everything is. That's him with it. He's like, I have my tennis racket. I've got a couple of aces still up my slew. His proposal, it's pretty amazing, his proposal was to leap the castle walls and then run to the extra soldiers outside and then guide them back to the castle.

Sure. Okay, the leaping part. Tell me more about that. Are we talking single bound? And the SS people are still outside the castle also. Oh, yeah. Okay. So he's going to just run through the enemy to get some help. After jumping a wall that is a castle impenetrable wall. leaping it.

Yep. Okay. He's very athletic. Hang on, when you said before about the castle walls, you said three foot, they're three foot thick. Yes. I was thinking three foot high and I was like, I could do it. I could leap that. I could do it.

Yeah, SS are like, we just can't find a weight. They can see over. It's up to their chest. They're like, oh, wow. It's so infuriating. Three foot thick, quite a thick wall, yes. Nearly a metre thick, but more than a meter tall. That's good

That is, okay, now I'm Okay, now I'm happy Because the SS can't get in as much But I'm a little worried about this tennis star Getting over that fence No, he's going to leap it You can have a big run up and just jump it POSby flop it

Rorotra, the former tennis star Now in his late 40s, but still extremely fit Quietly slipped out of the castle During a lull in the intense firing No way So he jumped off a smaller part of the wall He did jump off it

ran across 40 metres of open ground. No. Oh shit. People with, like, anti-aircraft machine guns pointed at the castle. Speaking of badass. Better go for it. He ran through 40 metres of open ground, eluded several groups of SS soldiers and then disappeared into the woods.

No way. Oh, that's wild. So he was off to try and find the incoming US soldiers. Basically, he's the castle's last hope. Imagine the adrenaline. That feels like a... one of those ones that is too risky to even attempt. Yeah.

And you'd be able to see him too. They'd all be watching him. He was wearing his tennis wits. Yeah. Back then you weren't allowed to wear colours camouflage at Wimbledon. I don't think so. I don't think so. Not in front of the queen, please.

So, yeah, and I mean the castle's there. So it must be so hard to get to if they didn't think, they'll just, they'll find it eventually. Yeah. And this isn't during the day or is it nighttime? I'm not sure if he jumped up during the day or the night. That I'm picturing the day. I was picturing night and I was like, that's amazing. But daytime is like next level balsy.

But daytime, that's when they'd least expect it. They're just running across. Oh, my God. Imagine watching from the castle your last hope. If you had been machine gun, you'd be like, oh. Yeah. But he was off. Stephen Harding, who was a US military journalist

who would go on to write a book on this fight called The Last Battle, wrote this in an article for HistoryNet.com that I will link to. it's a very great article, on Barotra being off, and inside the castle, this is what Harding writes about Lee. Quote, Lee began planning what he and his shrinking command would do if the relief force didn't show up in time. The solution was literally medieval.

The defenders and the French notables would withdraw into the castle's massive keep. They would use their few remaining rounds of ammunition, their bayonets, and if necessary, their fists, to make the SS men fight for every stairwell, Every hallway, every floor. Wow. Bad ass.

But back to my words here. The SS attackers continued to advance, sensing that they were close to victory. By the afternoon, a German anti-tank team was coming into position to blow up the fortress's main gate with rockets. It was not looking good for the people in the castle. But then, suddenly, there came fire from behind the Germans. It's behind you. War is a pantomime. Tennis, was it tennis grenades?

Yes. Is it our man? He runs, he goes and finds the Americans. He's like, You got a tennis racket? I'm going to be a tennis racket and a bag of grenades. I want to, I picture him, so the Americans are up there, and he's straddling the gun on the tank,

and he's leading him out there. Oh, mate. You're going to like that. Love this. So, firefight starts coming from behind the Germans. So behind the SS, it's confusing because there's two groups of Germans, but behind the baddies outside. Jenny's sister tank, remember we had Jenny before, this one called Bosch Buster. Love it.

Accompanied by a company of American infantry was riding into the rescue. They were later joined by troops from the 142nd Battalion, led by our tennis star, Jean Barotra, now sporting an American uniform. Yes. Bad ass. He was literally leading them to the castle. That's sick. He's not a soldier.

He's not American, but they were like, fuck it. Let's give this guy a uniform. He was number two in the world, okay? Yeah, it's like when Roger Federer would like meet the trips or something. He's an honorary uniform for you. The SS realized it was all over and many fled. But over 100 were captured. Cowards.

Very much so. Nazi Germany surrendered three days later on May 8th. Inside the country. the relieved French VIPs were quickly sent back to Paris. And this is what happened after the war. The two former PMs would return to politics. The German Wehrmacht, the people that had helped the Americans, despite the fact they'd fought with the US soldiers,

were still taken in as prisoners of war. They were put inside a POW cage, which I didn't know what that was, a POW cage, which is essentially an open field surrounded by barbed wire. so you can't escape, whilst their histories were investigated. And if they weren't war criminals or Nazi members, they were then released. Okay. So they had to do it still had to do a bit of background check on them.

Surely that these guys had helped would, you know. It would look good on your resume. Yeah, on your prison resume. Yeah. Your present may? They could have been real pragmatic bad guys who were like, if I just do one last good thing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I guess they had to check, but... Had to check. It's a good sign, I'd say. Yeah. Jean Barotra, our heroic tennis star. Crazy. Returned to professional tennis after the war. No.

Despite his age and did not retire until 1956 at the age of 58. He played until he was 58. I will say he didn't win any more grand slams after the war, but still... He kept playing. Just to keep playing. It's something like to qualify for events and stuff. Wow. That would doubt well and truly be seniors to a...

Absolutely. Mary Agnes, Charles de Gaulle's sister, was awarded with the Legion of Honor in 1975 in recognition of her work with the French resistance. Again, she was a freaking badass. Andre, our heroic handyman slash electrician, returned to Yugoslavia where he set up an electrical business in Belgrade. Did he finally get a van? I reckon he would have got a van. And he kept in contact with several former French POWs from the castle. That's nice. They were still friends.

Sep Gangal, sadly, was the one who was shot by the sniper. After the Battle of Castle Litter, Major Gangal's body was buried at a cemetery nearby in Austria. Today he is regarded as a national hero in Austria for his efforts to aid the resistance and protect Austrian citizens during the last days of the war. So as much as he's remembered for this battle in the castle, also when he was ordered to shoot people in the town that were defecting, and he said, I'm not letting that hear you. I won't do that, yep. The locals there still revere him as a hero for that. Jack Lee

for his extraordinary heroism Captain Lee was awarded the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross and was finally given his promotion to the rank of captain Sadly he struggled with PTSD after the war as many of these brave soldiers did but to finish on Jack Lee

with one more line from Stephen Harding's article quote a few months before his death in January 1973 he was asked by a reporter in Norwich how he felt about the long ago incident Lee thought for a minute and then replied, well, it was just the damnedest thing. I love an understatement.

I would say that when like I accidentally bought two things of eggs, you know, like, that's a damnedest thing. What am I like? What am I like? What am I like? He's like, I saved a bunch of people. What was the damnedest thing. Amazing.

What a story. Yeah, so the Battle of Castle Litter is one of the last of the entire World War II. Yeah. is considered one of the strangest battles of the entire war because it's probably the only engagement in which US and German troops fought on the same side. And also the fact you've got the prime ministers, the tennis player running for it,

it's just considered a very, very strange battle. Did you say what the tennis player got? He must have got some handy awards for that run. I don't remember reading about him being given any awards for that. Oh, because he wasn't a, he wasn't, maybe you have to. to be a soldier. He wasn't a soldier. He was just a French citizen. There are civilian medals and stuff, but yeah, maybe not anything relevant. Yeah, right. But far out. What an amazing effort.

Because that's like put it, yeah, that's like purple heart sort of stuff or whatever. Yeah, when he just run through enemy territory with machine guns tracing you. Hoping for the best. I hope I'm saying, I'm thinking of the right one. It might be one of the other ones. One of the famous ones. Victoria Cross. Yeah, it does have a bit of a Victoria Cross. Anyway, I bet one of it's a bit of a Victoria Cross. Anyway, I bet one of these war stories will get in contact.

Because Dave made it sound like they're just sitting waiting. For any kind of inaccuracy. So that is the battle for Castle Itter. Thanks for everyone that suggested that topic and everyone that voted on it. That is an amazing story, Dave. It's a crazy one, isn't it? I'm so happy it had, you know, relatively happy ending. There's a lot of grim stuff in there.

Yeah, sorry about that. World War II was not a nice time. No. I'm starting to think that. Yeah, so that, what were the other kind of topics you put up for the vote? Were they all war stories? No, they were all, they were interesting their own ways. And I tried to put that in the description of the three options.

But I did say, the Battle for Castle, ITER in brackets, one of the strangest battles of World War II. And a lot of people commented, yeah, I voted for that one because it sounded. It was like, why is it strange? Oh, yeah. And to be honest, that's one of the reasons that it stood out to me in Jack the Hat so people can click the link in the description. know this episode and tell us why we should do a topic and then we give you a shout out and you can tell us why we should do it like I said and if they write a cool blurb it stands out

yeah grabs your attention the strangest battle of world war two and I was like okay I'm listening yeah I'll Google I'll Google I put that on the short list so yeah well that brings us to everyone's favorite section of the show the fact quote or question section has a little jingle fact quote or question he always remembers the ding and The way to get involved in this is sign up at our Patreon at patreon.com slash do go on pod. Link in the show notes. And if you sign up to this level in particular, the Sydney-Sharmberg Deluxe Memorial, rest in peace edition level, you get to give us a factor quota or a question.

You get heaps of other things as well. You get to vote on two of the three topics, two out of every three topics, basically. We're also giving out, giving out, uploading three bonus episodes every single month now. So we've got an episode of phrasing the bar coming out each month. was our Brendan Fraser podcast, a bonus report and also a random other things. So, yeah, check it out for that. And yeah, there's heaps of other things that you can get involved at, depending on your level, including the exclusive Facebook group, which is a nice, fun corner of the internet, where everyone's very lovely and other such things.

That's right. But talking of this one, firstly, the fact quote or question section of the show is where one of the people on the Sydney-Shirebergs Memorial level get to give us a fact a quota a question. We're reading out for a week these days to make sure everyone gets their bloody turn in the sun. And this is what I think of this for people. It's like, oh, they're finally their time to shine with a fact, a quote or a question.

And I assume that's how they see it as well. I hope so too. And you also get to give yourself a title. So firstly, I'd love to thank Tom Goodall, who has given himself the title of Chief Auditor of Fun Facts as defined by Jess. I'd love to see that spreadsheet. That's a Jess. I wish people could see Jess's expression.

I'm trying to understand it. Chief Auditoriff. I think he's, I think he's, does it mean that he's going, well, Jess has called these fun facts, I'll keep them all in order or is he going, I'll put a second filtration system on top? Yeah. No, I took it as. He's just noting which facts are fun. Okay.

Which ones that fail? Yeah. I'm just thinking he's not overstepping. I think it's more of an administrative role. Love that. Great work. Tom, you're doing brilliant work out there. But know your place.

Hey? And your place is to ask a question. And that question is, you have to bring your co-hosts out for a fun day of things you love doing. What is the plan? What's your plan? I'm going to take you to Chadston, the fashion capital.

I'm going into every shop and I'm trying on everything. And you're sitting there. You're seeing as a chance to punish. I was just thinking because we had a question, was it last week, about like planning a day for each other, you know, like a nice day in isolation or something? So I feel like I've exhausted the nice ideas. So now it's like... Well, I think this is more last time it was fun things you could do that you knew were the other

people's interests. This one's fun things that are your interests that the others might enjoy. Yeah, right. Yeah, so... But I'm up for a shopping spree. I'll buy you both a little treat. Oh, I'm down. You can have a Kinder surprise if you want.

Yeah, I'll come. I don't know, that is a good question. Sorry about this, Matt, but I'm taking you for a beautiful walk with my dog and then we're going to the dog park. Okay. I mean, I don't hate dogs. I just don't fully get what, like earlier today, there's a dog at the studio. and you got down on your hands and knees to talk dog at it. It was, to me, a bit odd.

But to every, it seems like everyone else, that is normal behaviour. I was also on the ground. But I've already met that dog. It is me who is wrong. I know that. It is I. Because I'm in the minority. We're gone for a walk and then to the dog park.

That's like we're done by 10. What next? Then we're going out. We're finding a good pie. Okay. Oh, I'm in. We're going to take a pie stogram together. Well, this dog walk's been worth it.

We're going to eat the pie. And then we're going to go to Lunar Park. Oh, cool. And St. Kilda. And then... The home of... Or the old home of the St. Kilda Saints. One of the Premiership in 1960s.

And then we're going to go on the scenic railway, the roller coaster around the... Yep. The edge of the park. And then we're going to go get an ice cream. Oh, this sounds great. I'm in on that day. Lovely day. It's not dogs I don't like.

I think it's the way humans react. around dogs and to each other. I've had, I've, uh, I've, uh, house sat and minded a dog before, mound a dog. And when I was, I don't think you manned a dog. You never mound a dog.

It's just like, other weirdo dog people talk to you and, and I'm like, oh, you're a bit much. I'm just here to walk the dog. That's why we're going to the dog park. You're going to hate it. They ask you about your dog.

How old is it? Oh, great. What breed? Is he going to get any bigger? Okay. All these questions. What were the dog's first four albums? Yeah, they're real testing you out.

Oh, puppy laugh. I don't know. I think what I'm going to do with you two is, it's one or two things, and it probably depends on weather and the time of year. But I've just played a couple of games of golf with my dad over the last few weeks, and it's been lovely. So would you be up for come and play golf with me? I legit was going to ask you before, can I come play golf?

Yeah, I'm keen. Can I just drive the buggy? Yeah, of course. It's a nice walk as well. No, no. Does it matter that I'm terrible? Oh, yeah, sorry. That's contradicted wood.

Goll's a good walk, that's what I say. But I'm worried I'd be so bad. And every, like, I mean, that's just how it is. I don't play on good, you play on public courses where there's a real range of abilities. Thank you. Is it like the slow lane, the swimming pool? I think it, like, it's been busy. The two times I've played, where I normally play once a year, so I've doubled that this month.

But it's, you're waiting on every hole. It's so packed. It's not the most fun thing about. Oh, that means other people are watching you swing? No, well, no, they're probably not because they're worried about their own hacky games, you know. Anyway, so we do that. We play golf, beautiful day. And then if not, we go see the Saints play.

And then after that, one of my favourite things about golf is what they call the 19th hole. And the 19th hole is the pub after golf. Oh, thank God. I was worried about that. So we go to a beer garden and have a few celebratory drinks about our great round of golf. Love that. If you ask me this any other week, I would not have said golf, but I'm in this brief period where I'm right into golf. I've rethought mine.

I think it would have to start with brunch because I fucking love brunch. Oh, yeah. And then maybe we could have a look around NGV, go to look at the art gallery, could show you that Picasso we've talked about. You're sick. Can we do these days? Maybe Moonlight Cinema. Oh, nice. And outdoor cinema.

With snacks. It's a nice night, though. We have picked a lot of things that will probably mean we need lockdown to not be happening. This is all post-COVID world stuff. And that's why we're thinking about it. Yeah. Because we're like, oh, all those things I don't do, but I wish I could. I can't remember the last time I went to Lunar Park.

Yeah. I went to Moonlight Cinema once about eight years ago. I'm like, oh, to be back again. What did you see? Argo? I saw Amelie. Okay. Do they have to play A movies there?

I saw Mega Mind. Mega Mind was funny. And honestly, I was going, this is the only thing I'm fine. I went with friends and afterwards I was like, that was pretty bloody good. Yeah, loved it. Something about anything at the movies,

it elevates a movie. Anyway, I hope that answered that question. Yeah, I think we answered that pretty thoroughly. But yeah, this is good. I want to do all these days when we're allowed to again in a year or two. Thank you so much, Tom, for that question. The next one comes from Jennifer Welliver, who is the senior vice president of pushing the button to see what happens. Oh, an important role.

And she offers us this fact. Oh, I love it early. One of my favorite words. A smattering of my favorite collective nouns. Yes, I love collective nouns. A prickle of hedgehogs. A lounge of lizards. A business of ferrets.

Do those ferrets over there? That's the business. And a loveliness of ladybugs. No, it's not loveliness, is it? That's too cute. I love ladybugs. I love them. They're nice.

They're so cute. They've got little Pocodots on them. I love Pocodots. Yeah, do you call them? Ladybugs or Ladybirds? Yeah. They have different names. Now I don't know which one I call them.

Me either. Ladybugs, Lady Bird. I think Ladybug mostly. I think one of my favorites is more, it's a pretty big one. Murder of Crows. Yeah, it's fun. It's good. Dave, you'd know a few, wouldn't you?

Got any coming to my mum? line? No, I can't think of any of yours. Yeah, it's always hard. Put you on the spot. That's why... A pack of wolves. Oh, a pack of wolves.

Fantastic. Yeah, that's great. A pack of dogs. There's like a parliament of something that's pretty... Parliament of owls. Parliament of funk. Come on, guys. Sorry, I was busy getting it right.

Hey, what do you call... What's a collective noun for a group of white guys? A podcast. That's a tweet that everyone did for a little white guy. Well. Thank you so much, Jennifer. That's great. Love that.

A very good use. Everyone knows how this fat quote of question section works. That's a nailing of a good fact. Yeah, yeah. I enjoyed it. This next one comes from Kelly Clark, who is the practical phenomenologist. Last time she gave me the phonetic spelling,

and I said, I didn't need it. And I think Maybe the next one Yeah, all right, here we go Practical phenomenologist of the pod See? You get out of your head, you fucking nail it Get out of your own way

And Kelly's asked us a question The question is, there's a bit of writing here Let me get, let's see what this is What's something, which isn't a conspiracy theory That other people believe Which you find baffling For example, I recently discovered

That someone, I know values her things over the life well-being of a person. I discovered this when she said she would genuinely prefer to hit a stranger with her car, then risk damage to the car by me pulling on the handbrake had she failed to notice the person. What? That's a wild story? Holy shit. I don't think that's a good friend.

That's not a conspiracy theory? No, I think that's what she's saying. Not a conspiracy theory. Fuck, that is a very hard question. That is a wild example. Yes. I think we're going to battle to top that. Yeah.

Mine would be like, I don't get how people like custard. I don't really like veggie bite. So what's the question? What's something that other people believe, which you find baffling? Oh, I guess I do. It's topic. I reacted like it was very scandalous. It's not at all.

It's just quite topical at the moment because everybody's losing their minds over Hamilton. because it's come out in Disney Plus. Oh, yes. We went and saw it in London, and I thought it was very good. So good, yeah. But everyone's like, it's incredible. And I think I've missed something. Oh, right.

Yeah, and I thought the London version was awesome. I've had very little desire to watch it again. Yeah. But with everybody talking about it, I'm like, I'm going to give it a go, but I've missed something. It feels like a thing you see live as well to me. Yeah. people, I do have friends who, people here at the studio, like Beck

and Evan love it. Yeah. Life changing. But I think after saying, I went in going, I don't think I'm going to get this. And I thought it was going to be, my name's Abraham Lincoln and I'm here to say. You know,

it just seems like that's what it was going to be. And it sort of was, but it was a lot better than that. I thought it was great. Plus, we got the full VIP deluxe version of it, meeting a cast, member for dinner before going to say, holy shit.

I forget about that. Yeah, that was a great. Like, I'll remember sitting there like, what has happened to our lives? Will it always be like this from now on? No. No. Still, it was great to live that lifestyle for one night. And thanks to Stevenson, what a guy.

What an amazing guy. Oh, man. Got us hooked us up with the tickets. That was really cool. It feels like I should have one of these in my head ready to go. Dogs. Oh, what I think. Come on, mate.

It's dogs. You don't get it. Well, I think cream goes first on scones. Oh, you're fucking mad, man. And that does seem controversial. I think the AFL grand final should not be played at the MCJ every year. And no one in Victoria seems to be on board with this. It's a national competition now.

I feel like it's unfair for the grand final, no matter who's playing, to be played at the MCG, which is some teams home ground. Yeah. So in 2017, The top team in the league, the Adelaide Crows, played Richmond, the suburb where the MCG is. Crows were on top. Richmond were a few places below them.

The grand finals held in Richmond's home suburb, and they end up winning, you know, comfortably. Who knows what it would have been like if it was perhaps at the fairer ground, either a neutral ground or even if it's, anyway. See, that's a bit of a niche one, maybe. But I just, I don't get it. I've got all my friends. Friends who we talk footy, they're like, MCG is the biggest stadium in Australia. You've got to have it at the place where the most people can watch the game.

Like, surely the fairness of the game has to come before a few more people getting in to see it live. Everyone can watch it on TV. I would care more about it. I mean, it would be hard to care more about it. But I would care. It feels like the number one thing for a competition has to be fairness and then worry about money and these sort of things. But I don't know.

And this year it may well be because the MCG is possibly not going to be able to have anyone there. Yeah. Whereas Perth might be able to have 60,000. Yeah. So hopefully they try it and they like what they see. All right. I think, to be very controversial here, my thing is I cannot understand how people can go to the shops and choose a timeout chocolate bar. You've got all the options.

Wait, we've talked about this before. It doesn't make sense. Your favourite chocolate bars are the twirl. And the timeout is a twirl with a layer of flake. Oh, no, it's a, it's got biscuit in there. Oh. No, it's just, I don't hate it, but I just don't understand the decision. You're standing in the chocolate aisle.

There's 50, 50 options. So many options. Why are you going for a timeout? Yeah. Anyway, it's on special. So is this an... Even then, there's no bargain good enough that I'm choosing a time out. That's interesting.

Yeah, I, I've not had one since I was a kid. Yeah, that's right. Probably when they were released. There was a lot of buzz around. I thought their whole slogan was something like a twirl with a layer of flake or something. I think the slogan's something like, yeah, we're a bit shit, but dot, dot, dot, dot. Twirls are flakes and then covered in chocolate. Yeah, flake is what a twirl, yep.

Oh, that's what I'm thinking of, yeah, okay. But I love a flake, but they're just so messy, but twirl. Twirl? You really, yeah. It wraps up the whole bar. Oh, love a twirl. Do you want to hit just quickly a little bit of info on the twirl? The twirl, sorry, the timeout.

It was a chocolate bar manufactured by Cadbury Island. It was introduced in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1992, followed by Australian and New Zealand in 1995. Mainly sold in pairs. It consists of a ripple of milk chocolate, the twirl, between two wafers, smothered in dairy milk chocolate. The bar was originally sold under the slogan, the wafer break with a layer of flake.

Oh, okay. Oh, okay, I don't remember that, but yeah. You went around in 95? That would have been time. Chocolate bar time for you. Wasn't thinking about advertising in 95. The bar is still available in Australia. Manufactured where it can't.

That makes it sound like it's not available anywhere else. That's probably... Anyway, a bit of a mini report there at the end. We were going to eventually do a full timeout report, but no need anymore. So, thank you for that question, Kelly. Next one comes from Claire Norris. And Claire asks us, the final one we'll do today, ask her question,

but she's given herself the title of Science Consultant for the Pod. Wow, I love that. Big call. Yeah. I like how people often say vice president or junior vice president. I like just going, I'm going to be the one. And the general science too, which I do appreciate. Yeah, very much.

So Claire asks us a question. I wonder how sciencey this is going to be. If you had to pick a fictional universe, okay, i.e. Marvel, Harry Potter, etc. To live in, which one would you pick and why? Poirot. Okay.

There's a lot of death in that one. So much dead. You're taking a life in your own hands. Yeah, that's true. Unless you're being Hastings. That man will never die. There's a lot of death in all them. A lot of death in Harry Potter.

So much in Marvel. But if you're a muggle, you just sheltered from it. but I guess why I even bother. Is the muggle the ones who don't know about it? Yeah, why bother being a muggle? That's what we are now. It wouldn't be any different. Maybe we're in the Harry Potter universe.

Yes. I'd never even go Marvel, but I had some powers. But isn't there always bad guys trying to fuck up the world? Yeah, it's like there'd be so many people die every year. Every year they decide to make a movie. Aliens seem to come there and things get blown up. Yeah, it's like stop making the movies. The aliens will stop coming.

Coming. Hello. I'm trying to think of things I've been watching. X-Files, a bit of fun. Yeah, but then there's... It goes all the way to the top, though. Yeah. I hate things that go all the way to the top.

Like, I believe in the government. Harder to do these days. What do we do? There's clowns up there on Capitol Hill. You know? Hey? Making some mistakes. But, you know, that's democracy.

You can just answer the question if you want. Okay, what was it? Is it clear that I'm padding? A fictional universe you'd like to be in. Can you name some? I got trapped, I think, like Jess, in the two examples. Yeah. Well, it could be, okay.

Someone real nice. Oh, maybe, okay, I want to... Care bears. Oh, the good place. That's cool. Yeah. Because I like that. I like the idea of an afterlife.

Yeah. and it being like perfectly suited to you whatever you like doing I guess there's no spoilers but yeah I just went a perfect afterlife place with Ted Danson hanging out oh my god he's so funny in that show yeah I also I watched upload

which is a similar vaguely similar idea and that's yeah once that technology catches up yeah and it's not like a a it's all a I mean the whole show is sort of a satire about the world and how money buys you the better afterlife or whatever.

I've summed up that pretty well. Claire, how good were those answers? What have we got? Poirot, Marvel and The Good Place. Fantastic. Hopefully we can create a shared universe so we can visit each other. Nah. I'm busy.

I just want to say Poirot was a superhero. So that's all the facts, the quotes, and the questions for this week. Thank you so much to Tom, Jennifer, Kelly and Claire for getting those into us. I like to say, if you want to be involved, go to Patreon slash DoGon Pod. The other thing we like to do at this part of the show

is thank a few of our other patrons. We've signed up any level at the sign-up level or above. It's all self-explanatory once you go to the website there. And yeah, we normally thank a couple of patrons each. Yes. Just gives us a little game. Yeah, I'm struggling a little bit because it was a pretty bleak, unless we name their castle,

or what kind of, like, what kind of dwelling they live in? Okay. Does that make sense? Can you think of anything else? That's pretty good. What kind of dwelling? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm into it.

Let's do that. Let's do dwelling. Dave's filling me with confidence with his answers. Yeah, sure. I'm going to let you lead it and I'll understand what you mean. Okay, great. Well, like a castle. but other types of places you can live.

Oh, yeah. Okay, so I'll kick things off then. So I'll, I want to thank from St. Joseph in Illinois, I'm assuming, IL. Yeah, the only I state, Illinois. Cool. No, that's not right. There's three. Iowa, Indiana.

I was thinking L, L, Louisiana is the IL. Louisiana is the only L state. Okay. Idaho, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. But apart from that, there's only... There's only the four. Sorry, everybody. Well, I would love to thank Nate Price.

Candy Castle. Oh, great one. Or can I broaden it out to Food Castle? I want to have a few pie things. Food Castle. Hear me out. Food Court. Oh, Food Court.

Lives in a food court. Dave could be the jester in your food court. That would be pretty cool. That'd be awesome. Yeah. Wow, congratulations, Nate. Nate Bryce. Yeah, you could have a pie bar.

We just bathe in an apple pie. Yeah, better than bathing in like a meat pie. It burns. It burns. Oh yeah, it's very hot. No, don't do that. Yeah, actually, I don't know. Yeah, mate, but it's all, somehow it's magic and it's all great.

Yeah, it's all okay. And you can eat everything. So thank. Enjoy that, Nate. Yeah, thank you so much, Nate. I'd also love to thank from Greensboro here in Victoria

Which is my suburb of birth On my passport Get out of town There you go Mine is Matt Waverley I would love to thank Mine is Canton Matt Bradley

Matt Bradley Matt with two first names Matt Bradley Lives in a cave behind a waterfall Like the Phantom Oh That's sick

That's cool That is so sick Matt Also like Caesar In the second rebooted Pony of the Ops Which I wasn't seen No the third

Sorry third Congratulations to you, Matt, on your fully sick dwelling. That's so much better than my suggestion, which was going to be the Greensboro Plaza food court. Everyone, there's always food course with you. I'm hungry. I'm going around in circles. He lives in a bear and burrito bed wrapped in a sweet tortilla. Thank you, Matt and Nate.

Thank you, Matt and Nate. I'd love to thank if I may. From Sheffield in England. A place I'd love to do a... a live show one day. So that we could say, Mr. Sheffield! But we've been, because we've been nearby in Leeds a few times, and a bunch of Sheffield people come to those shows.

Am I thinking of the right place? Yeah, I think so. Sheffield Wednesday is the soccer team. It's a great name. And they name that, because I think they were formed on a Wednesday. They used to play on Wednesday. Or something like that. Big, fun, fact, energy from that.

I'd love to thank from Sheffield in England, Christopher Gray. Christopher Gray. One of he lives in one of those houses that's also a windmill. Oh, yes. So he lives in a windmill, you could say. Yeah, but those ones that are a house. Yeah, it's a house mill. But it's also on wheels.

Oh, wow. And it's power. So it's a, it can travel around and the car part of it is powered by the windmill. Wow. Wind powered windmill. I think I went that because it's sent out of Gray, so I was seeing Grey Nomad in a caravan. But that's pretty cool. That's great.

Oh my God. Christopher, you're welcome. You all live in a great life. And it's also a mini golf hole. It's got it all. You've really burnt a few early, if I can be honest. We've limited our future choice. Obviously, mini golf hole was going to be one of mine.

Damn it. And secondly, thank you so much, Christopher Gray. I'd also love from Misa in, I think, Arizona. Joel Montez Jr., Oh, we love a junior. Joel. Joel, Jr. What about Joel lives in a giant's beard?

Oh, okay. A giant spear? Or a giant's beard? A giant's beard. Okay, yep. Okay, we'll save giant's beard for someone else, I guess. Yeah, don't burn it. Look how big that spear is.

It's giant, you could say. The giant is so big, and his beard is so bushy. He doesn't even know that guys in there. I mean, is that a pleasant place to live? Yeah, it's full of crumbs. Oh, yummy! You eat giant chin crumbs. But like crumbs from a giant would be like a full sausage roll for us.

Oh, wow. Imagine the crumbs fall off a sausage roll but in the form of small sausage rolls. That would be perfect. That would be so nice. It's the universe I want to live in. Yeah. Where crumbs are just tiny versions of the food you're eating. Everything else is the same.

But what about something like Apple crumble where it's literally crumbs already and then it's just making smaller apple crumbles. I like it. That's fun. That's great. All in perfect ratio. Yeah. So every drop of apple crumble has a little bit of cream on top.

Yes. A little bit of crumb, a little bit of apple. Oh my God. Can I just have a couple of guys just in case I didn't get the pronunciation right? Joel Montay Jr., Joel Montez Jr. Joel Mont Jr. Joel. Oh, no.

Have we start again? It could be Joelle. No. Like the Philadelphia player. Joel M. Bede. Genuinely his name. Joelle. Well, we've covered all bases now.

The first Joelle. Hopefully. All right. I would like to bring us home now by thanking someone from York in England, another place that when we're in Leeds, they come from York. And then we're told York is very posh. Viking country. That's right.

And they've got the Viking exhibit slash museum. We've got to go there one time. We never seem to have enough time leaving Leeds to stop by York. but I would love to. Yes, we've got to go there and visit Peter Atkin. Peter Atkin lives in a life-sized doll house. Which you might think is a house, but no, no, half of it has no roof. Oh, it's got the cross-section.

And it's all plastic. It'd be so, like, the bed is plastic. Nah, no, no, no, no. Everything's uncomfortable. Nah, it's fine. Oh, cool. It's quite cozy. Oh, great.

That's all right. And he gets them marry. Barbie. Or Polly Pocket. The Dream. Peter. Living the Dream in York there. Thank you so much.

I would also like to thank from Great Britain now, from Stockport or Stockport. Ellie Durkin. Ellie Durkin. I love that name. That's an incredible name. Ellie Durkin. Durkin's a lot like Perkins. I think that's probably why I'm.

And Gurkin, which I don't know. I never eat Gurkens, but I'm hungry for one right now. I think I'm just hungry. I'll take anything. Let me eat it. Ellie Durkin. Where's Ellie Live? Fantastic name.

What about a... giant shoe. Okay. A lot of giant things. Yeah. Giant shoe. Okay. Is it old Mother Hubbard in a shoe?

That kind of. Yeah. Isn't she live in a cupboard? Someone lived in a shoe. Yeah. Someone lived in a shoe. There was an old lady who lived in a shoe. It was just an old lady.

I just assumed her name was Mother Hubbard. Right. No. Mother Durkin. Mother Ellie Durkin. Thank you so much from Stockport. Thanks for listening. Thanks for supporting the show.

Ellie also a great name, but Durkin. Bringing it home so strong. Do you reckon? In the big shoe. What kind of shoe? Bunstone boot? Oh no. R.M. Williams for you.

Yeah, sure. All right. Well done all. Thank you, Ellie, Peter, Joel, Christopher, Matt and Nate. And that pretty much brings us, does it to the end of the show? Is that how we finish? We've got a trip ditch club. Oh, my goodness.

We've got to check. These are for people. It felt wrong. We're going to check to see if anyone's in the tripditch club, which means they've been supporting the show for three years. That's right. At the shoutout level or above for three straight years. And we've created a little club where you become a life member

and you get to hang out with the other people. Inside our club, behind the Velvet Rope. It's part of live music venue. It's part bar. It's part smokers' room. It's anything you want it to be. Yeah. Really?

Oh my goodness. There are a lot of inductees this week. Great. Well, we always talk as well about food and drinks. So this week, nachos for everyone. Oh, yes, I'm so excited for that because I love nacho. I know. I know you do.

And off mic here, I'm about to eat some nachos. Yes, me too. That's why we're all talking about food. The food is a ride. We're very, very hungry. And we'd like to share our naches with you on the Trip Ditch Club. And playing live this week, Matt, do you want to know who it is? Yes, I'd love to know who it is.

None other than Puff Daddy. Oh, my God. We got Puff Daddy. We had the boss last week, and now we got... Puff Daddy. Puff Daddy. He did he. Puffy Coo's known as the CEO or something.

Isn't he's like the boss of hip hop is one of his things? Yeah, he's like an incredible businessman as well. Yeah, he ran bad boy records or something. You goddamn right, he did. Bad boy. Bad boy for life. So, yeah, we'll be enjoying the hits of Puffy. That's great.

Diddy. P. Diddy. Whatever you want to call him. I'm not sure what to call him when I'm meeting backstage. I'm going to call him P. Daddy. Well, I'm going to wait until someone else talks to him. I'm going to wait until he and.

introduces himself. Yeah. And he would because he's just a humble gentleman. Yeah. He doesn't assume I know who he is or what to call him. All right. So we've got a few. Let's go through them.

Welcome into the club. Jess, lift up that velvet rope. But it's heavy. I'll help you. Thank you. Please welcome from Denver, Colorado in America. Alex McRitchie. Alex, welcome.

I feel a McRitchie for your presence. Please. Also welcome from Crofton in maybe Maryland. Maryland, MD. There's 8M, so that always gets me. But from Crofton, MD, it's Tara Houseman. Oh, welcome to the Houseman. From Tokyo and Japan, or what I learn is actually called Nippon.

Nippon. Nippon. Why do we call countries names that aren't their names? Sorry about that. From Tokyo, it is Dan Ford. Dan Ford. I'm looking forward to hanging out with you tonight. From Esparto in California, United States.

It's our mate, Nesta, Guaraja. Oh, no. Nester, I believe. It's Giharo. Giharo. Thank you. And Nester, my night has just got Besta since you've come in. Nesta, Nestor.

This is my nickname for him. Nester, Nester, the child prodigy. And from Motherwell, in Scotland That's so funny That's terrible Because he's so sweet He's so sweet

And he's making films Great He's making it happen Love it Look good to hear From Motherwell in Scotland Scott McFarlan Oh you're gonna go to McFar in this place

mate Because you are a legend From Boraville How many are there In New South Wales It's Owen Lednor I told you there's a view. Lednor, well, let me lead you to the bar.

I can buy you a drinks, sir. Did you tell us what drinks they've got this week? Ginger beer. Alcoholic ginger beer. It's nachos and ginger beer. Love that. I'm quite into it. I love an alcoholic or non-alcoholic ginger beer.

I think I just like ginger beer. Yeah, I think you do. I think I do too. From Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the United States, Jason R. Ramserand from Brooklyn, New York. Hang on, let me decide. When he's enter this bar, I will. I would not Ramseran away because I...

And I ram... I ramsa ram away. Honestly, today you officially take the title of Pun King off my shoulders. I never felt worthy of it. And today you've proven why you are the true king. Great to have rapsaradid. Who else we got, sorry?

This one, I think, is easier for you from Brooklyn and New York in the United States. Adam King. Adam, it's great to meet you. Ah, damn. It's good to meet you. What are you, some sort of prince? The champ is here.

Yeah, Adam, what a cool guy. And finally, from Charlotte in, oh dear, North Carolina. It's something I know about North Carolina that you might not be aware of. Michael Jordan played his high school college basketball there. And as a... As he wore his college shorts, even when he played in the NBA for Chicago. So he was always wearing his blue North Carolina University shorts

underneath his Chicago Bulls red shorts. So he had to wear bigger Red Bulls shorts. I can smell my nachos, you fucker. Shut up! And it started a trend in basketball where everyone would wear bigger baggy shorts. I need to pee! If you don't think that's a fun fact,

you don't know fun facts. Somehow this week you crowbar that into our web series episodes. Keep an eye on for that. That from Charlotte, North Carolina, I'd love to welcome me. If it's Michael Jordan, that'd be so good. Kendra Mickels. If I had a Mickles for every time, I thought Kendra was great. I'd be rich.

Welcome in. So welcome that huge crew. There was a bit of a line out the front tonight. Oh, fantastic. Kendra, Adam, Jason, Owen, Scott, Nestle. Dan Tora and Alex. Thanks so much. Honestly, I cannot believe you guys would support the show for three straight years.

It's blown our humble little mind. So genuinely, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Legends, one and all. And that does really bring us to the end of this episode. Dave briefly mentioned we do have a web series going. It'll be linked in the show notes. Check it out on the stupid old channel, which is a YouTube channel.

That's right. We've got two episodes left. Yeah. And we're doing for, if you want to watch those. to, well, we have one left. One left, so you want to watch the last premiere? We'll check our social media for the exact time, but it'll probably be midnight, Friday night, end of Friday, Melbourne time.

Yeah. Yeah, but either way, watch them all, please, watch share and whatnot. We put a bit of effort in, so we suffered for our art. Now you have to as Tizum on sang or said. Now, anything else before we wrap up? I think so. Just hit up the website. Do go onpod.com.

It's got all the links to the Patreon. Our social media is, all that sort of stuff. We'd love to hear from you. Awesome. Well, until next week, I will say, later. Bye. Goodbye.

Nacho, macho man. We're going to be a nacho man. Matt's a rip at the bag open. Bye, everyone. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts. from our great mates. I mean, if you want, it's up to you.

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