I recently watched the 1963 Disney movie “Miracle of the White Stallions.” The movie was a fascinating and fairly accurate though condensed depiction of the saving of the Lipizzaner horses from the German SS and the Red Army at the end of World War II. It was based on one of the strangest military operations of the war.

As I have found in a number of other historic events, there was a local connection. Both Brad Freeman and James Sykes Billups played a role in the rescue of the horses. Then in 1974 the Lipizzaner Stallions performed in the Dave Lavender Coliseum at the Columbus Fairgrounds.

The Lipizzaner Stallions were and still are considered among the finest and most beautiful horses in the world. Their heritage goes back more than 400 years when they were trained and used as war horses. As World War II erupted and Germany annexed Austria, Hitler allowed the Stallions to remain in Vienna but seized most of the mares and sent them to a Nazi run stud farm in Hostau, Czechoslovakia. It apparently was Hitler’s plan to breed and develop the horses into a purely Aryan master breed of horses.

By late April of 1945, the war with Germany was all but over, but for the Lipizzaner horses the times were more dangerous than ever. There was some concern the German SS might take some action against the horses to prevent them from falling into Allied hands. However, the real ever-present fear was the rapidly advancing Red Army and the fact that the Treaty of Yalta had placed the mares’ stud farm behind what would soon be Soviet lines. When the Red Army had advanced through Poland, it had taken the Royal Hungarian Lipizzaner horses that were there and either killed and eaten them or turned them into draft horses hitched to wagons. The German officers at or a part of the Spanish Riding School knew something had to be done to protect the horses.

The rescue of the horses was accomplished by what could be called a thrown together “foreign legion.” American soldiers of Patton’s 3rd Army fought side by side with German regular army (who were American POWs), Cossack cavalry and newly freed Allied POWs against German SS troops to save the famous Lipizzaner horses of Vienna’s Spanish Riding School.

The highest-ranking German officer with the horses was a Col. Holters, a Luftwaffe officer who had wound up at the Lipizzaner farm commanded by Col. Rudofsky. Both officers knew the importance of saving what were considered the most magnificent horses in the world. Col. Alois Podhajsky headed the Spanish Riding School and was in charge of training the horses. They discussed quickly surrendering to Gen. George Patton’s American 3rd Army before the advancing Red Army arrived.

Patton and Podhajsky both had competed in equestrian events in the Olympics and had met on that stage. Patton was aware of the horses’ situation and where they were. Col. Holters secretly set out to make contact with American forces. He reached a reconnaissance squadron of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry (mechanized). Col. Charles Reed commanded the 2nd and got word to Patton. When he learned of the situation, Patton authorized a small force of 325 men from the 42nd Squadron of the 2nd Cavalry under Major Robert Andrews to cross the border into German held Czechoslovakia which was defended by German SS troops. They were to rescue the horses and liberate a small POW camp that held Allied prisoners. It became known as Operation Cowboy.

To open a hole in the German defensive position, the 177th Field Artillery Battalion of the XII Corps opened fire with a heavy artillery bombardment, driving them back from the border crossing. Col. James Sykes Billups, a Columbus native, commanded the 177th and was later honored by Austria for his part in saving the horses. (The late J.S. Billups retired in San Antonio as a highly decorated brigadier general) Major Andrews’ force crossed the border and made it to the Stud Farm and a nearby POW camp about 20 miles behind German lines. Major Andrews was directed to return across the border with about half of the U.S. troops, leaving Capt. Thomas Stewart in command at the farm.

Before the horses could be moved, a German Waffen SS regiment began moving to attack the farm. German regular army troops, who had been with the horses but were now POWs, pledged to obey U.S. commands if they were armed and could help defend the horses from the SS. Freed POWs from several Allied nations, including Britain, France, New Zealand and Poland, were also armed. Even an anticommunist Cossack cavalry company under the command of Prince Amassov joined in defending the horses. Two German SS attacks were repulsed, and about 350 horses were ridden or hauled in trucks to the safety of U.S.-occupied territory.

Later the horses were ridden by U.S. servicemen to a railroad depot to be transported by rail. I recall talking with the late Brad Freeman, of Easy Company and Band of Brothers fame and commenting, “Mr B., you were in every major battle in Europe, but did you have any part in the rescue of the Lipizzaner horses?” He smiled and said, “Well an officer came up to me and said ‘we got a bunch of horses that need riding to a railroad depot and not enough riders. You’re from Mississippi so you are bound to be a good rider.’” He said they were the prettiest white horses, and he rode one to the depot and was then assigned to be a guard on the train.

On March 7, 1974, the Lipizzaner horses performed in the Dave Lavender Coliseum at the Columbus Fairgrounds. Among the horses would have been descendants of the horses rescued in 1945.

Rufus Ward is a local historian.

Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].

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