Miracle of the White Stallions is a 1963 American adventurewar film released by Walt Disney starring Robert Taylor (playing Alois Podhajsky), Lilli Palmer, and Eddie Albert. It is based on the story of Operation Cowboy which was the evacuation of 70 Lipizzaner horses from the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and retrieval of 300 Lipizzaner horses from a breeding farm in Czechoslovakia. The prized Lipizzaner horses were Austrian national treasures in danger of being used for food supply by the advancing Soviet Army during World War II. To gain Patton's aid, Podhajsky and his team from the Spanish Riding School of Vienna perform for Patton with their Lipizzaner stallions a precision dressage exhibition and the individual "Airs Above the Ground" with the hope Patton will see the value of horses and help rescue the mares and foals in Czechoslovakia.
The film states that The Spanish Riding School performed under the direction of Colonel Alois Podhajsky.
The film credits state that the film is based on the book The Dancing White Horses of Vienna by Colonel Alois Podhajsky.
Plot
Lipizzaner horses, a breed since 1580, and the Spanish Riding School, founded in 1735, remain living Austrian treasures, though both are nearly lost during WWII. During the German occupation, Colonel Alois Podhajsky, who performed in dressage events in the 1936 Olympics and is the Riding School’s Director, becomes attached to the German Army. German headquarters replaces the Riding School’s civilian staff with military personnel. Defying orders to keep the horses at the school, Podhajsky sends 300 Lipizzaners, including breeding mares, to Hostau, Czechoslovakia, for safety, but retains 70 stallions in Vienna.
During the final desperate days of the war, German General Stryker orders the Riding School staff to return to active military service to replace heavy troop losses, although Podhajsky is ordered to keep the school operating as normal with minimal staff. Podhajsky renews his request to evacuate from Vienna the Lipizzaner stallions, threatened by bombing. General Stryker denies the request, reasoning that evacuating the school will signal to the Viennese that the situation is hopeless and the city doomed. Podhajsky leaves without returning the “Heil Hitler” salute. Appealing to General Tellheim, who is realistic about impending defeat, Podhajsky is told to stretch the interpretation of permission to “evacuate treasures” such as paintings and statues to include horses.
At the train station Podhajsky has difficulty requisitioning six railcars until he arouses the dispatcher’s sentimentality and patriotism. The train is strafed by Allied planes, and the engine is ordered off without a load. Upon learning that the stallions are on the unattached cars, however, the engineer defies orders and attaches the cars with the horses.
The Castle of St. Martins now harbors hundreds of refugees as well as the Riding School. Pilfering by refugees is a problem, with bands stealing supplies and attempting to steal horses to flee from approaching Soviets. General Tellheim arrives with news that the Hungarian Riding school, captured by Soviets on the outskirts of Vienna, were taken prisoners of war and the horses destroyed. Tellheim de-militarizes the Spanish Riding School, hoping it will fare better as a civil institution when the Allies take over.
Contravening General Tellheim, a German officer arrives with orders for Podhajsky, the highest-ranking officer in the region, to become Defense Area Commander; men of the village are armed and awaiting his instructions. Before leaving, the officer informs Podhajsky that fight is not over and attempts at surrender to the Americans will bring severe punishment. Podhajsky orders the butcher—appointed his adjutant—to order the local men to protect the village against plundering by over 300 refugees, shielding untrained old and sick men from fighting seasoned soldiers. Podhajsky burns his orders, declares he is no longer in the army, and orders his staff to shed and burn their uniforms.
The Americans set up headquarters at the castle. Podhajsky asks Colonel Reed for the US Army’s protection and to retrieve the breeding mares before the Soviets take over Czechoslovakia. The general suggests that the School give a performance for General George S. Patton, [lower-alpha 1] who himself competed in dressage. Podhajsky and his men have only a couple of days to prepare the horses for the performance. Lower-ranking American soldiers who admire the horses help with preparations.
After General Patton watches the performance, Podhajsky asks for his protection and help in retrieving the mares from Czechoslovakia. Aware of 2000 Allied prisoners of war in Czechoslovakia being used to care for horses, Patton orders that the prisoners be liberated and the horses brought along too. Colonel Reed proposes Operation Cowboy to German Captain Danhoff: If the Germans surrender themselves and their prisoners to the Americans, within 48 hours the Americans will get the Germans and their families out of Czechoslovakia, away from the Soviets. Though Danhoff accepts the terms, SS troops ambush the American troops crossing the border and a battle ensues. In the village, Captain Danhoff and his men surrender, informing Colonel Reed that an insubordinate SS officer led the unauthorized attack. The 2,000 Allied prisoners are liberated along with 1,000 horses, among them the 300 Lipizzaners.
On the Spanish Riding School’s 220th anniversary, the Lipizzaner stallions give a special performance, attended by many of the individuals who helped save them.
Gold Key: Miracle of the White Stallions (June 1963)[2][3]
Notes
↑ Patton came from a wealthy and distinguished family, riding since childhood. Commissioned into the Cavalry, he represented the United States in the 1912 Olympics in the Modern pentathlon; one of its five events includes Show jumping. He designed the M1913 Cavalry saber (famed as the Patton saber), and went on to become the Cavalry's top instructor, then the Army's first "Master of the Sword". Always a devoted rider, even during wartime, he was known until his death for wearing riding breeches and boots as his distinct personal uniform.
Trakehner is a light warmblood breed of horse, originally developed at the East Prussian state stud farm in the town of Trakehnen from which the breed takes its name. The state stud was established in 1731 and operated until 1944, when the fighting of World War II led to the annexing of East Prussia by Russia, and the town containing the stud renamed as Yasnaya Polyana.
The Hanoverian or Hannoveraner is a German breed or stud-book of warmblood sport horse. As with other German warmblood breeds, eligibility for registration depends on performance rather than ancestry.
The Lipizzan or Lipizzaner is a European breed of riding horse developed in the Habsburg Empire in the sixteenth century. It is of Baroque type, and is powerful, slow to mature and long-lived; the coat is usually gray.
Classical dressage evolved from cavalry movements and training for the battlefield, and has since developed into the competitive dressage seen today. Classical riding is the art of riding in harmony with, rather than against, the horse.
The Spanish Riding School is an Austrian institution dedicated to the preservation of classical dressage and the training of Lipizzaner horses, based in Vienna, Austria, whose performances in the Hofburg are also a tourist attraction. The leading horses and riders of the school also periodically tour and perform worldwide. It is one of the "Big Four", the most prestigious classical riding academies in the world, alongside the Cadre Noir, the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art, and the Royal Andalusian School.
Alois Podhajsky was an Austrian soldier and Equestrian, riding instructor and Olympic medal-winner in dressage. He was the director of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria and competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics and the 1948 Summer Olympics.
James Fillis was a British-born French horseman and riding master. He had a profound influence on the development of the haute école of dressage in both France and Russia. He travelled widely in Europe, and lived for about twelve years in Russia. He believed he had ridden over a hundred and fifty thousand horses in his lifetime.
Witez II was a bay Arabian stallion foaled at the Janów Podlaski Stud Farm in Poland. He spent his early years at Janów at a time when Poland was under occupation by Nazi Germany before ultimately arriving in the United States in 1945, where he lived for the remainder of his life until his death. His name came from an archaic Polish word meaning "chieftain, knight, prince and hero."
St. Martin im Innkreis is a municipality in Ried District, in the Austrian state of Upper Austria.
An Austrian Warmblood is a warmblood type of horse registered with the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Warmblutzucht in Österreich. Although the studbook is made up of jumping and dressage horses from many other countries, the mare base consists of native horses with a long history. The AWÖ keeps an open studbook, in which mares and stallions must pass rigorous inspections before becoming breeding stock.
Airs Above the Ground is a 1965 novel by Mary Stewart. The title derives from Classical dressage, in particular, the graceful Airs Above the Ground, the haute ecole movements for which special breeds of horses, in particular Lippizans, are highly trained. These trained moves were once used by the horse to aid mounted soldiers in battle.
Georg Wahl was Chief Rider at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, dressage instructor, rider and trainer. He was also known as the coach and trainer of Swiss Olympic medalist Christine Stückelberger.
The South African Lipizzaners is a riding academy that operates according to the classical model in just outside of Paarl, in the Western Cape in the Western Cape province of South Africa. In contrast to other classical riding schools, only women ride and train the 40 Lipizzaner stallions. Public performances take place every week on Sundays. There is also an affiliated stud farm that provides horses for the academy as well as preserving a valuable genetic outcross pool for European studs.
Gottlieb Polak was Chief Rider and Riding Master of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna during the 1930s, serving until his death in 1942.
Ernst Lindenbauer was Chief Rider from 1919 - 1950 at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna.
The Piber Federal Stud is a stud farm dedicated to the breeding of Lipizzan horses, located at the village of Piber, near the town of Köflach in western Styria, Austria. It was founded in 1798, began breeding Lipizzan horses in 1920, and today is the primary breeding farm that produces the stallions used by the Spanish Riding School, where the best stallions of each generation bred at Piber are brought for training and later public performance. One of Piber’s major objectives is "to uphold a substantial part of Austria’s cultural heritage and to preserve one of the best and most beautiful horse breeds in its original form."
Egon von Neindorff had a Riding Institution at Karlsruhe, Germany, where he trained horses and taught dressage. He was a teacher and his methods are the standard for the German School. One of his famous students is Erik Herbermann, author of the Dressage Formula. Von Neindorff was author of a book, The Art of Classical Horsemanship.
Pegasus is the official academic logo, symbol and mascot of the University of Central Florida (UCF) a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States.
Operation Cowboy was fought in the town of Hostau, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, on 28 April 1945, in the last days of fighting in the European theater of World War II. It is one of two known incidents during the war in which Americans and Germans of the Wehrmacht fought side by side against the Waffen-SS, the other being the Battle of Castle Itter.
Siglavy was a gray Arabian horse who became one of the foundation sires in the Lipizzan, and Shagya Arabian breeds.
References
↑ "Top Rental Features of 1963", Variety, January 8, 1964 p 71. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
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