A memorial plaque in the castle of the municipality of St. Martin/Innkreis will commemorate the rescue of the Lipizzaner horses by the legendary US General George Patton and the soldiers of his 3rd American Army 76 years ago. “Without Elmar Rosenauer’s initiative, the matter would probably have grown over at some point and nobody would remember who we have to thank for the preservation of an important Austrian cultural asset,” emphasized retired Colonel Alexander Barthou, who played the “master of ceremonies” at the plaque unveiling ceremony a few days ago.
This celebration should actually have taken place in the courtyard of the castle of Ruprecht Maximilian Graf von und zu Arco-Zinnenberg, but was held in the music school opposite due to bad weather. “But even there we are still on historical ground,” explained Hans Peter Hochold, the mayor of St. Martin, “because there used to be a meadow here where the Lipizzaner horses grazed.” This place was one of their first refuges in May 1945, which probably saved the horses from ending up in the cooking pots and stomachs of the Red Army, said retired colonel Elmar Rosenauer, chairman of the Upper Austrian Radetzky Comradeship. Thanks to the initiative of his association, the memory of the rescue of the animals of the Spanish Riding School will now be kept alive at least in the castle of St. Martin.
He emphasized in the presence of US Ambassador Mario Mesquita and the uniformed successors of the 2nd US Cavalry Regiment, which brought the noble stallions and mares to safety, that they were “infinitely grateful” to the Americans for saving the Lipizzaners, which are an Austrian cultural asset of extraordinary quality. General Patton had not hesitated for a second in 1945: “Wait for nothing,” he ordered: “Save them all!” This bold act was applauded in St. Martin not only by US defense attaché Erik Bauer, but also by US Colonel Joseph Ewers, the commander of today’s 2nd Cavalry Regiment. Their ancestors belonged to the 42nd US Cavalry Division, which had saved the horses from possible death. After his training at West Point and Harvard, the likeable Evers had been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Lieutenant Colonel Florian Rommel, the commanding officer of the military training area in Grafenwoehr, also sent a representative of the German Armed Forces to the ceremony in St. Martin in the Innviertel. Axel Barthou, who hosted the event with aplomb, also extended a special greeting to Erwin Kissenbauer from the Spanish Riding School and Erwin Movia from Piber Stud, as well as the district governor of Ried, Yvonne Weidenholzer, and the once very successful dressage rider Sissy Max-Theurer, who unveiled the commemorative plaque made of heavy granite.
The American guests were visibly impressed by the musical quality of the Vöcklabruck town band. The band not only played a snappy Radetzky march, but also the jauntily performed US national march “Stars and Stripes”, which must have caught the ears of our army representatives, including not only Alfred Steingreß, the head of the Rieder Panzergrenadierbataillon 13, but also Jörg Loidolt, the head of the Welser Panzerbataillon 14. At the end of the ceremony there was a shower of Radetzky medals, also for the American visitors, above all the US ambassador, who was in Upper Austria for the first time and thanked for the friendly reception. Colonel Rosenauer was also presented with a uniform hat of the cavalry regiment and a regimental badge by Colonel Joseph Ewers. The uniforms of the American guests were generally well received. “Smartly dressed US soldiers,” said Barthou, praising the garb of the “Strikers”. “Today it has become fashionable in the world to demonize the Americans,” he mused, “but we must not forget that we also owe them a lot.”
