Super idea, from a super fruitcake, Barbara thought. She was glad the world was finally rid of Adolph Hitler, since only a few days before, he had put a bullet to his head in Berlin.
The lieutenant had more to tell. "But when Vienna came under bombardment by the Allies earlier this spring, the riding school's headmaster, Colonel Alois Podhajsky, had the Lipizzaners moved. They were taken to St. Martin, a village in Upper Austria, where he hoped they could safely wait out the war. But as the Allies began advancing, food became so scarce for the Austrian refugees and townspeople of St. Martin, the Lipizzaners were in danger of being slaughtered and eaten for horse meat."
Barbara shuddered at the thought.
"At the same time, before another stable of Lipizzaners in Hungary could be evacuated to Vienna, the Soviets took their caretakers as prisoners of war. It was because they were wearing German uniforms. Then they shot fourteen of the stallions on the spot.
"Then Podhajsky learned that the Soviets had designs on the Lipizzaners. He managed to smuggle them to a village near Linz in lower Austria. But he still was afraid that unless the U.S. Army didn't move quickly to rescue the horses, the Soviets would claim them as German war booty.
"The matter was brought to General Patton because he is known to be an expert horseman and horse lover. Podhajsky asked his help in bringing the mares and foals back to Austria before the Soviets could spirit them out of Czechoslovakia and take them to Russia. Without the mares and foals, the breed in Austria would die out.
"General Patton asked to see the horses perform. He was impressed by their ballet dancing to a band playing waltzes and marches, like springing on their hind legs without their front ones touching the ground. When the colonel asked for their protection, Patton promised he would save the breed for future generations."
Barbara suddenly had a new dream. Maybe some day I'll get to Vienna and see the white horses perform! "Coffee?"
They had put out their dying cigarettes and Barbara relished the cup of strong, hot, black coffee the lieutenant poured.
He chuckled then. "I might add, confidentially, that despite his love of horses, Patton really thinks it was a waste of Hitler's fighting manpower for fifty men to have pampered and trained the horses during the war. He considers the Lipizzaners's skills a rather fatuous art form, but believes that any highly-developed art form should not become extinct. He finds the high-training of horses to be more interesting than either painting or music."