The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe is a book by the historian Stephen Harding which tells the story of the World War II Battle for Castle Itter. Published by Da Capo Press, on May 7, 2013, it describes a mixed force of United States Army, German Wehrmacht, and Austrian resistance fighters acting together to prevent the recapture of a number of French VIP prisoners being held at Itter Castle, Austria, by an SS assault party ordered to retake the prison days after Hitler’s suicide.