They are as much a part of Austria as Mozart and the waltz, the opera ball and the New Year’s concert: the world-famous white horses of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. The Austrian National Bank minted the Lipizzaners on the 10 schilling note from 1950 and on the 5 schilling coin from 1969. Since 2022, the Lipizzaners have been inscribed on the prestigious UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Today, the Spanish Riding School is the oldest riding school in the world. This world-famous Viennese attraction welcomes around 300,000 visitors a year.
Yet 80 years ago, the “Ballet of the White Stallions” – a cultural asset that can be traced back to the 16th century – almost came to an end. In 1945, only a courageous military operation, which should never have happened, saved the Lipizzaners.
“We were so fed up with death and destruction and wanted to do something nice,” the initiator of “Operation Cowboy”, Colonel Charles Hancock Reed, would later record.
The German Reich at the end
The fact that a rescue was necessary at all is due to the turmoil of the Second World War. Second World War was due to the turmoil of the Second World War. In 1942, parts of the Spanish Riding School and significant parts of the breeding herd in Piper were evacuated to Hostau in the Sudetenland.
Three years later, during the Yalta Conference in Crimea in February 1945, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin divided Europe into their future zones of influence. Roosevelt and Josef Stalin divide Europe into their future zones of influence. The border with Czechoslovakia, which was to be re-established, became the future demarcation line between the troops of the Western Allies and the Soviets.
Today’s Hostouň is located 20 kilometers in the future Soviet sector. At that time, it was the home of the Lipizzaner breeding herd of around 350 animals – practically the entire stock of Lipizzaners suitable for breeding. There was also a whole range of other pedigree horses from other countries, totaling over 1,000 animals.
When the Soviets take Budapest, this means the end of the remaining royal Hungarian Lipizzaner horses there. They end up in the cooking pot or are worn out as draught horses in the advance against Germany.
Patton’s Third Army
George S. Patton’s Third Army was activated on August 1, 1944, after the US Army (-> current news about the US armed forces) under Omar Bradley had managed to break through from Normandy. Patton’s force will grow to between 250,000 and 300,000 men, depending on allocation. At times, he commanded six corps with up to 42 divisions. Patton’s speed through France is still unimaginable, even by today’s standards. Parts of his army, together with other units, encircle the German troops at Falaise. His 2nd Armored Division under Leclerc liberates Paris on August 19.
On September 8th, the Third Army’s top troops cross the Moselle, almost 300 kilometers east of Paris. The Third Army travels 600 kilometers through occupied France within 40 days. Then comes a forced pause: supplies can no longer keep up with the speed of the advance.
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Things only continue in November. On November 22, the Third Army takes Metz. In mid-December 1944, Patton took part in sealing off the German counterattack during the Battle of the Bulge.
In March 1945, his 9th Armored Division crossed the Rhine bridge at Remagen. On March 29, Frankfurt was captured and on April 12, Patton received orders to stop at the Mulde River, about 20 kilometers west of Chemnitz. Accidental clashes with Soviet troops were to be avoided in this way.
The Third Army subsequently swings south towards Bavaria, and Patton’s XV Corps captures Nuremberg from April 16 to 20.
Hubert Rudofsky
The stud manager in Hostau is the Czechoslovakian-born Lieutenant Colonel Hubert Rudofsky. In April 1945, the most valuable and noblest thoroughbred horses in Europe were under his care in the Sudetenland – including the world’s entire stock of Lipizzaners suitable for breeding. It is still quiet in Hostau. But that is about to change. The US army is approaching from the west, the Red Army from the east. In Hostau, so far spared from all fronts and warfare, refugees are the first sign that the peace will soon be over.
Rudofsky contacts the responsible ministry in Berlin to find out what should happen to the horses “when the enemy approaches”. Rudofsky receives the order to stay put. He has horses harnessed and inspects the area around the stud farm in a wagon. He drives up to the border and gives the order not to erect any barriers so that the refugees can get through and not get stuck in Hostau.
Walter Holters
In the course of April, Colonel Walter Holters, an air force intelligence officer, is also stationed in Hostau. His weather observation unit was stranded in the area after running out of fuel. Holters, also a horse lover, discusses with Rudofsky what to do with the horses. Rudofsky and Holters agree that the loss of the animals at the stud farm must be avoided at all costs.
Holters also knows that the end of the war is approaching and with it captivity. However, he does not want to surrender completely to fate. After secret negotiations with the US Army, a small mock battle is organized, in the course of which Holters and his men surrender.
The Second Dragoons
It is no coincidence that Holters meets cavalrymen – soldiers who are used to handling horses. After all, the frontline troops of the advancing US Army, the eyes of the army on the ground, are specifically reconnaissance cavalry units. Although these are now mechanized and therefore no longer on horseback, many of the officers in these units are trained cavalry officers – just like General George S. Patton. Before they were given motor vehicles, they served in mounted units.
The unit Colonel Holters encounters is the 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment (XII Corps), under the command of Colonel Reed.
Charles Hancock “Hank” Reed
Graduated from West Point in 1922 as 2nd Lieutenant of Cavalry, Reed subsequently became an instructor at the US Army Cavalry School in Fort Riley. In January 1943, he became the 31st colonel of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
During the Second World War, the unit suffered the lowest percentage of losses of any US formation of this size. At the same time, however, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment took more prisoners of war, captured more locations and enemy materiel, and spent more days in combat than any other US regiment in the European theater of war.
“The 2nd Armored Cavalry Group did an outstanding job in many other difficult and dangerous operations during the European campaigns. However, all our members remember with particular pride their contribution to Austrian culture and happiness – the rescue of the Lipizzaner horses at Hostau.”
Persönlichen Bericht von Colonel Charles Hancock Reed
After the little mock skirmish, air force colonel Holters meets cavalry colonel Reed. Holters tells Reed about Hostau, about the hundreds of Lipizzaners, Arabians and thoroughbreds. Reed recognizes the opportunity to make valuable spoils of war. But he also knows that he must not cross the border. According to the Yalta Treaty, Hostau belongs to the Soviets. At this point, however, the Red Army is still around 200 kilometers to the east and is preparing to conquer Prague.
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What did Patton know?
According to the historian Jindřich Marek from the Institute of Military History in Prague, there is no evidence that Patton knew about “Operation Cowboy” before it was carried out.
In contrast, the American side maintains the myth and Reed’s statement that General George S. Patton gave the order to rescue the horses by radio.
An argument can be made in both directions. Patton’s speed of advance would have been impossible to achieve if every colonel had every order signed off by the commanding army general. The key to this is “leading with orders”. The scouts in particular, and especially Colonel Reed, were obviously experts at exploiting opportunities very quickly in terms of this larger mission – often surprisingly and too quickly for the enemy.
“A good plan that is executed immediately is better than a perfect plan the following week.”
General George Smith Patton Jr.
On the other hand, “Operation Cowboy” was definitely not in line with the mission and the direction of advance at the time. It even delayed the advance, as essential elements that were supposed to enable the usual rapid movement were deployed elsewhere. Especially as the Third Army even had to turn south to avoid colliding with advancing Soviet troops. After all, Czechoslovakia became a Soviet occupation zone – and why should US boys fight for it?
In any case, Colonel Charles Hancock Reed’s personal report on the rescue of the Lipizzaner horses clearly mentions a radio request to the headquarters of the 3rd Army – as well as the reply sent by General Patton.
“Operation Cowboy”
Patton is said to have ordered over the radio: “Get them! Make it quick! You’ll get another assignment!” And if this order was given, it was at least not unusual for the mechanized cavalry. After all, speed was their specialty.
Major Robert P. Andrews became commander of the hastily assembled force. He has 325 men with machine guns on jeeps, several M8 Greyhound wheeled tanks and five M24 Chaffee light tanks at his disposal.
On On April 26 and 27, there is hectic communication across the lines, but also on the German side. Meanwhile, the cavalrymen plan their deployment. It is already clear to them that the command on the German side will ultimately not play along, will not voluntarily surrender the horses and that the horses in Hostau will therefore have to be freed and evacuated.
On April 28, the task force pushes through the German line and fights off the Waffen-SS infantry standing there. The artillery of the XII. Corps artillery fires a barrage. The column reaches the stud farm. Reed organizes vehicles to transport the pregnant mares and newborn foals from Hostau to Bavaria. He hands over command to his deputy, Captain Stewart. He only has 180 men, two tanks and two howitzer motorized vehicles at his disposal. But he quickly finds volunteers: around 400 Allied prisoners of war work at the stud farm – British, New Zealanders, French, Poles and Serbs. They all volunteered and were equipped with captured German weapons. There are also deserters from the German army and air force as well as a small group of anti-communist Cossacks from the 1st Cossack Cavalry Division, which is subordinate to the Waffen-SS.
While preparations were still being made for the evacuation, the stud was attacked twice by Waffen-SS infantry, but the attacks were repulsed.
Reed was given new tasks after the capture of Hostau. He leaves behind around 30 men under the command of First Lieutenant Bill Quinlivan and advances about 40 kilometers further east over the Eisenstein Pass. On May 7, one day before the German surrender, he finally encounters Soviet troops south of Pilsen.
Colonel Alois Podhajsky
The director of the Spanish Riding School at the time was Colonel Alois Podhajsky. The former officer of the Austrian Armed Forces of the First Republic had won the bronze medal in dressage for Austria at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Lieutenant General Walton H. Walker’s XX Corps takes St. Martin im Innkreis at the end of April/beginning of May 1945. The small Upper Austrian town is home to the dressage horses of the Spanish Riding School.
Lieutenant General Walker asks Colonel Podhajsky for a demonstration for Patton. While the Third Reich collapses all around him, Podhajsky has only the safety of the riding school and the breeding horses on his mind. And Podhajsky, who at this point knows nothing at all about “Operation Cowboy”, seizes the opportunity that presents itself to him.
Patton and the Lipizzaners
On May 7, General Patton flies with Undersecretary of War Robert P. Patterson from Third Army headquarters to Sankt Martin im Innkreis in Upper Austria. Podhajsky would later describe the event as the most important day of his life.
On this sunny Monday morning, he himself and his riders lead Patton to Arco-Zinneberg Castle. Arco-Zinneberg Castle the “Ballet of the White Stallions”.
St. Martin, Austria
In the end, Podhajsky takes his hat off to Patton and asks the general for protection for the centuries-old Spanish Riding School and for help in bringing back the breeding herd from Czechoslovakia.
Patton stands up and assures Podhajsky that he will place the Spanish Riding School under the special protection of the US Army. He then assures Podhajsky that he will do everything he can for the horses in Czechoslovakia. Robert P. Patterson also pledged the support of the USA. For Podhajsky, “this official declaration is far more than I had dreamed of”.
Patton, a lifelong horseman himself, described the demonstration that day in his diary, calling it “extremely interesting and splendidly executed”. And Patton continued:
“It struck me as rather strange that in the midst of a world at war some twenty young and middle-aged men in excellent physical condition … should spend their whole time in teaching a group of horses to shake their butts and lift their feet from their heels and reins in unison with certain signals. On the other hand, it is probably wrong to allow any highly developed art, no matter how foolish, to disappear from the earth – and which arts are foolish depends on one’s point of view. For me, the high breeding of horses is certainly more interesting than painting or music.”
The big transport
On May 15, 1945, under the protection of US troops, all the remaining horses are led from Hostau to Bavaria and from there to Mannsbach in central Germany. The march took place practically in front of the advancing Soviet troops, who did not intervene.
A written order gives the herd absolute priority on all roads in the US sector in Germany.
Austrian, Yugoslavian and Italian horses are then brought to St. Martin in Upper Austria in two transports on May 18 and 22, 1945.
The breeding herd is subsequently given a temporary home in Wimsbach (Upper Austria). Transportation to Piber is prohibited by the US occupying forces, as Piber is located in the Soviet occupation zone. In 1947, the Yugoslavian and Italian horses are returned to their homeland.
Miracle of the White Stallions
The US film studio Walt Disney brings the story of “Operation Cowboy” to cinemas in 1963. In the leading roles: Robert Taylor, Lilli Palmer and Curd Jürgens. Large parts of the film were shot in the Hermes Villa in Vienna’s Lainzer Tiergarten. The film was successful and grossed 2.5 million dollars at the North American box office.
In contrast to the real story, the film is based on a book by Colonel Podhajsky. In the film, Patton only sets “Operation Cowboy” in motion after Podhajsky’s demonstration in St. Martin, whereas in reality it had already taken place beforehand. It is not known whether this was chosen for dramaturgical reasons or is based on an erroneous tradition.
Cultural property protection and war
On June 23, 1943, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the “American Commission for the Protection and Recovery of Monuments of Art and History in War Zones”. As a result, the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (MFAA), also known as the “Monuments Men”, was set up and comprised around 300 to 400 people.
However, the rescue of the Lipizzaner horses was not included in this order; the protection order related exclusively to works of art such as paintings or sculptures.
There is probably only one answer to the question of why a rescue operation for horses – millions of which also died in this war – took place at the end of the Second World War and why very limited resources were committed to it, of which too few were available everywhere: all the people who took part in this operation in various capacities loved horses.
Further links:
- How General Patton and Some Unlikely Allies Saved Austria’s Fabled White Horses
- The Rescue of the Lipizzaner Horses – a personal account written by Colonel Charles Hancock Reed
- 2d Cavalry Group (Mecz) in WW II
- 70 years of “Operation Cowboy” – Celebration of the 2d Cavalry Regiment (Video)
- “Operation Cowboy”: A ride to the death
