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Rescuing the Lipizzaners by Don Stivers.
The 2nd U.S. Cavalry Group had been mechanized less than three years. The vivid smell of the stable and of leather tack were still in their nostrils, even in this war of gasoline fumes and dry logistics. World War II was ending. Colonel Charles Reed, commander of the 2nd, had heard about the German Remount Depot in occupied Czechoslovakia that stabled the legendary Royal Lipizzaner stallions, mares and foals. With the russians closing in on Prague, Reed knew that the famous horses would be confiscated for draft horses, or butchered for meat, or shot for revenge. He resolved to save the Lipizzaners. Captain Thomas M Stewart, acting as emissary, and accompanied by the German staff officer, rides a borrowed Lipizzaner stallion through the night to arrange the surrender of the horses. A breath away from being shot as a spy, he speaks with the German General commanding. The next day American troops skirmish their way into Hostau and Captain Nelson Cattlets A Troop secures the area around the horses. Colonel Reed arrives, and the horses are driven - wild west style - to the American lines. The magnificent breed - with bloodlines stretching back two thousand years - is saved from extinction. The Lipizzaners, trained for centuries to serve the warrior unselfishly are now saved by warriors. |
