Otto Skorzeny-Germany's most famous commando

[hist2004]

Otto Skorzeny (June 12, 1908 - July 5, 1975) was a colonel in the German Waffen-SS during World War II and is considered by many as the best commando in the history of modern warfare.

Born into a middle-class Austrian family with a long history of military service, Skorzeny was a noted fencer as a student in Vienna in the 1920s. He engaged in fifteen personal duels, and on the tenth of these he received a wound that left a dramatic scar on his cheek. He joined the Austrian Nazi Party in 1931 and soon became a Nazi storm trooper. He showed aptitude as a leader of men from the very beginning, and even played a minor role in the German takeover of Austria on March 12, 1938, when he saved the Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas from being shot by Nazi roughnecks.

When the war broke out a year later, Skorzeny, then working as a civil engineer, volunteered for service in the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) but was turned down because he was over the age of 30. Failing that, he turned to the Waffen-SS, the military branch of Germany's elite storm troopers. On February 21, 1940, Skorzeny went off to war with one of its most famous units, the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler and fought with distinction in the campaigns against the Soviet Union in 1941 and 1942 before being wounded and returning to Germany in December of 1942, a winner of the Iron Cross for bravery under fire.

After Skorzeny had recovered from his wounds, a friend in the SS recommended him to the German military leadership as a possible leader of commando forces Hitler wanted to create. It was in this role, in July 1943, that he was asked personally by Hitler to rescue Benito Mussolini, the dictator of Italy and a friend of Hitler's, who had been removed from power and imprisoned by the Italian government.

Almost two months of cat-and-mouse followed, as the Italians moved Mussolini from place to place in order to frustrate any would-be rescuers. Finally, on September 12, Skorzeny led a daring glider-based assault on the Gran Sasso Hotel, high in the Apennines mountains, and rescued Mussolini with very few shots being fired. The exploit earned Skorzeny worldwide fame, promotion to major and the Knight's Cross, another major German military honor.

On July 20, 1944, Skorzeny was in Berlin when a plot against Hitler's life was hatched, with German officials attempting to seize control of the country's vital organs before the dictator recovered from his injuries. Skorzeny helped put the rebellion down in the capital, actually spending 36 hours in charge of the German army's central command center before being relieved.

In October 1944, Hitler sent Skorzeny to Hungary when he received word that the country's Regent, Miklós Horthy was secretly negotiating his country's surrender to the Red Army. This surrender would have cut off a million German troops fighting in the Balkan peninsula. Skorzeny, in another daring "snatch" operation, kidnapped Horthy's son Nicolas and forced his father to abdicate as Regent. A pro-German government was installed in Hungary and fought with Germany until that country was overrun by the Red Army.

Two months later, Skorzeny led a panzer brigade of German soldiers in the Battle of the Bulge disguised as American soldiers in an operation known as Operation Greif. A handful were captured by the Americans and spread a rumor that Skorzeny was leading a raid on Paris to kill or capture General Eisenhower; this was untrue, but the Americans believed it and Eisenhower was confined to his headquarters for weeks.

He spent the first two months of 1945 commanding regular troops in the defense of the German province of Pomerania as an acting major general. For this defense, Hitler awarded him Germany's highest military honor, the Oak Leaves to the Knight's Cross.

Skorzeny surrendered to the Allies in May and was held as a prisoner of war for more than two years before being tried as a war criminal for his actions in the Battle of the Bulge. However, he was acquitted when Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas of the SOE testified in his defense that Allied commando forces also fought in enemy uniform. Still, he continued to be held until he escaped from a prison camp on July 27, 1948.

He settled in Fascist Spain with a passport granted by its dictator, Francisco Franco and resumed his prewar occupation as an engineer. In 1952, he was finally cleared by the German government of any wrongdoing in the war, which enabled him to travel abroad. Later on, he worked as a consultant to the Egyptian President Gamel Abdel Nasser and the Argentine dictator Juan Peron, and is rumoured to have assisted several of his friends in the SS escape arrest in the years after the war.

Skorzeny died a multi-millionaire in Madrid in 1975.

Regards,
Hist2004

[hist2004]

Operation Greif
The German Army during World War II dubbed two operations Greif:
1. An anti-guerrilla operation begun on August 14, 1944 in the vicinity of Orsha and Vitebsk, USSR.

2. More famously known as Operation Greif was a special operation commanded by the notorious Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge.

This operation was the brainchild of German dictator Adolf Hitler, and consisted of using specially-trained German soldiers in captured Allied uniforms and vehicles to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied defense. A lack of transport aircraft, uniforms and English-speaking soldiers limited this operation, but the confusion it created went well beyond Hitler's, and Skorzeny's, wildest dreams.

About two dozen German soldiers, most of them in captured American army Jeeps, got through the lines in the initial confusion of December 16, 1944 and began changing signposts and creating panic among American troops they encountered.

However, some of the saboteurs were captured by the Americans. Because they were caught in American uniforms, their interrogators threatened to execute them unless they divulged their mission. Knowing they were likely to meet that fate anyway (they did), the Germans falsely told the Americans that their mission was to go to Paris to either kill or capture overall Allied commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower. They truthfully told the interrogators that Skorzeny was their commander.

The Americans had already captured some documents referring to Operation Greif--the German word greif translating to "seize" in English. Because Skorzeny was already well-known for rescuing Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and kidnapping the son of Hungarian regent Miklos Horthy, the Americans were more than willing to believe Eisenhower was his next target.

Because of the perceived threat, Eisenhower was confined to his headquarters for several days, and thousands of American MP's were put to work trying to hunt down Skorzeny's men.

Ironically, the overall mission was regarded by Skorzeny as a failure. Because a total breakthrough wasn't achieved on the first day of the battle, Skorzeny had to use most of his panzer brigade as ordinary combat troops, in German uniform.

After the war, Skorzeny was tried by the Allies as a war criminal for allowing his men to fight in enemy uniform. He was acquitted when a British commando testified in his defense that he had done the same thing.

Regards,
Hist2004

[mack pl]

In October 1944, Hitler sent Skorzeny to Hungary when he received word that the country's Regent, Miklós Horthy was secretly negotiating his country's surrender to the Red Army. This surrender would have cut off a million German troops fighting in the Balkan peninsula. Skorzeny, in another daring "snatch" operation, kidnapped Horthy's son Nicolas and forced his father to abdicate as Regent. A pro-German government was installed in Hungary and fought with Germany until that country was overrun by the Red Army.

Operation "Panzerfaust" If Im correct.

regards

[hist2004]

Yes, the operation in Hungary during Operation Panzerfaust gave him the title among the Allies of "The Most Dangerous Man in Europe".

Regards,
Hist2004

[mack pl]

Well, germans have good commandos- Brandenburg unit for example.

[KalleBalleSvartSk@lle]

A bit odd that he helped Peron, as if my meory serves me was a socialist, but on the other hand, maybe Skorzeny wasn't a die hard nazi.

[Valuk]

They had failures, too: attack on Drvar, Tito's hiding place:

http://www.eagle19.freeserve.co.uk/ss500.htm

[duck]

Weren't men of the "Brandenburg" also sent to Teheran to assassinate the complete Allied leadership during the famous 1943 conference? I remember reading about a complex and ultimately failed operation.

[chauncy republicans]

Skorzeny Was a bad mutha ****er.

[catdat]

It's nice to see "old" CIA propoganda still being touted as fact 40 years later. Comforting really that it can be so effective. Skorzeny "escaped"? LOL

[Kitsune]

"Greif" means "seize" in German? That may be true, but "Greif" means also "Griffon"...and I think that was, what was meant.

Perhaps ist should be added, that those units, who wore American uniforms had no ammunition, they were indeed forbidden to use force they had to rely on deception, only. Skorzeny did not want to break the rules of war here. This was lost on the Americans, who had them shot nonetheless.
Also the rumor that the commandos meant to kill Eisenhower, was not planted by the Germans AFAIK, it just came up somehow and contributed greatly to the spy mania of the allied troops. (Even an American General was capturd and detained for days, because he seemed "suspicious" to a guard. :lol:

Book: "Kommando" by James Lucas, gives a decent, detailed and not heroising description of German Special Units in WWII, from the Brandenburgers to the mysterious still nearly unknown KG200 (an Luftwaffe Unit, that made top secret reconnaissance and transport flights, using captured allied aircraft).

[hist2004]

Skorzeny did not want to break the rules of war here. This was lost on the Americans, who had them shot nonetheless.

Interesting comment, anyone operating out of uniform was considered a spy or saboteur (by both sides). Certainly Hitler’s
“Commando Order” which called for the immediate execution of allied commandos or Special Forces wasn’t concerned with
“the rules of war”. Nothing was lost on the Americans; they dealt with these personnel in the appropriate manner.

Regards,
Hist2004

[Kitsune]

Hitlers Commando order is an appropiate justification in any case since two wrongs make one right. Who the hell cares anyway, they were SS after all. (Actually quite a few were Ex Brandenburgers, but the Commando operations had come under SS supervision so they had to enter this organisation).
Probably the whole thing just shows the plain stupidity of Skorzeny to forbid those two deception units to carry ammuntion. No good deed goes ever unpunished.

As I understood it, the wearing of an enemy uniform does not constitute a warcrime in itself. AFAIK according to the relevant law (Haag Law for Landwar I think) only FIGHTING in a wrong uniform does. Brandenburgers for example had to wear a German uniform under the foreign one. Before entering a fight they had to take it off.
Its analogous to using a false flagg at sea, but before attacking you have to fly your true colors. This has been done by nearly all sea powers countless times.
And if this is true (the whole uniform thing was debated numerous times), the actual war crime was indeed the execution of these commandos. It was needless in any case.
Had Germans done this, woe to those who would have decided it. But since the Americans won the war no one cares anyway.

The whole Battle of the Bulge commando action was a classic example how the psycological effect can outweigh the actual damage done by far. A few bridges and a few ammo dumps were destroyed, the area was reconnoitered, An American unit of some size was "redirectet" and got lost a bit, that sums it up pretty well. But the idea of German commandos, diguised as MPs, GIs or even commanding officers, effectively paralysed the American forces. AFAIK Skorzeny was quite suprised because he had not exspected it to be that effective.

[hist2004]

Thank you for the additional information. I had been unaware that
the German weapons weren't loaded.

Regards,
Hist2004

[Kitsune]

According to the book I mentioned above, and another one I just can't find (grrrrr) this was indeed the case. It was a bit funny with the German war conduct...some did actually go to great length to do things the correct way, others didn't care. (Especially many hard core Nazis promoted the idea that war is about winning only and history is written by the victor anyway). So you got both extremes I think.
But summed up, for every warcrime committed by Americans you can find a bunch committed by Germans :( .
But a great article you posted there, nonetheless. May I ask what your source is?

[hist2004]

May I ask what your source is?

Sure, I knew who Otto Skorzeny was and then pulled up his background
on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Regards,
Hist2004

[Gordon]

As I understood it, the wearing of an enemy uniform does not constitute a warcrime in itself. AFAIK according to the relevant law (Haag Law for Landwar I think) only FIGHTING in a wrong uniform does. Brandenburgers for example had to wear a German uniform under the foreign one. Before entering a fight they had to take it off.
Its analogous to using a false flagg at sea, but before attacking you have to fly your true colors. This has been done by nearly all sea powers countless times.
And if this is true (the whole uniform thing was debated numerous times), the actual war crime was indeed the execution of these commandos. It was needless in any case.
Had Germans done this, woe to those who would have decided it. But since the Americans won the war no one cares anyway.

The Germans did execute commandos that were caught operating behind enemy lines, even though they were in allied uniform, under Hitlers commando order, as has already been stated. The majority of SAS that were caught in France were simply executed.

[Kitsune]

True. And I did not mean to defend this. Its a shame in fact. But it does not better things if the Allies would commit such crimes themselves. After all, because of Hitlers order millions of Jews were murdered, but that did not compell the US or the UK to do the same, didn't it?
So if those who are responsible for the commando order, its execution or other such warcrimes are shot, that is fair and just. But atleast some Brandenburgers or other German commandos were decent man, who conducted themselves correctly. They should not be punished for something they are not responsible for (I think).

[Gordon]

I agree. Sorry, I thought you meant that the Germans didn't execute any allied commandos, I got the wrong end of the stick.

It's a pity that the actual soldiers often have to suffer **** from the people in charge. I mean, if Hitler hadn't given his commando order then allied commandos that were captured may well not have been executed and hence the same may have then been true for the German commandos. But that's just pure and basically useless speculation .. :cantbeli:

[oldsoak]

The difficulty is in what we in our day and age consider right or just. The idea of legally putting someone to death no longer exists in the EU. Theres no way Hitler could be sentenced to death and executed in Europe now if he were discovered alive and well. If Iraqis were caught dressed as British soldiers, there would be an outcry if they were executed. These events were not considered cruel or unjust at the time of WWII. In those times solldiers disguised as the enemy would be treated as spies if caught and that meant being executed, that was just the way it was and it worked for both sides. Bad luck if you were caught.

[Delta Niner]

Hist2004,
A few of captured german commandos made a mistake of asking to fill their jeeps with petrol instead of gas and this made an american soldier suspicious and turned over to the MPs for interrogation. If this is true how did the others got captured.
Thanks for any additional info.

[hist2004]

Delta Niner-

Once the first few were discovered, the GI’s took to questioning each other about things that
only “true” Americans would know. For instance, they questioned each other about sports
trivia, or they would ask each other what city they were from and then ask about a pool hall
or pizza places that only someone from that neighborhood would know. The German operation
caused suspicion way out of proportion to the actual threat. What helped was that the number
of these English-speaking Germans was small. Plus the Americans had captured some documents
referring to this operation.

Regards,
Hist2004

[Kitsune]

The Germans had the commandos for this mission classified from A to D grade, A meaning perfect ability to pass for American, because of language skills and knowledge about the American culture (there were only a few A grades, almost all of them Ex-Brandenburgers), B meaning good command of the English language but with limited "deception ability", C was limited English speaking ability with nearly no probability to pass for American, Finally D was the ability to just understand some phrases...

Exactly this "questioning" to which American Guards resorted, was the problem: A lot of Americans questioned, did not know these things "every American would know", and were detained as "German commandos", even one General. The sheer number of detained suspects then added to the spy-mania.

[2RHPZ]

Kitsune wrote: Book: "Kommando" by James Lucas, gives a decent, detailed and not heroising description of German Special Units in WWII, from the Brandenburgers to the mysterious still nearly unknown KG200 (an Luftwaffe Unit, that made top secret reconnaissance and transport flights, using captured allied aircraft).

A Brief History

Kampfgeschwader 200 was a secret fighting force of World War 2, so secret that individual units within it were unknown to each other; so mysterious that even today, most diaries and documents dealing with it are, according to both Allied and German authorities, either "missing" or "destroyed". Yet it presented the Allies with one of the most dangerous threats of the entire war, and the unravelling of it's intricate web of operations became top priority.

Despite the disappearance of official KG200 records, some documents, orders, records of prisoner-of-war interrogations, and intelligence reports confirming the existence and operations of the unit were found. Former members of KG200 were traced, though the pictures each could, or would reveal was always limited, for personnel were deliberately kept in the dark as to the activities of their comrades. And most, even after all these years were still unwilling to talk... an attitude less surprising when one takes into account the fact that their former commanding officer, Oberstleutnant Werner Baumbach (the Luftwaffe's greatest and most decorated bomber pilot), failed to mention a single word about KG200 in the autobiography he published after the war!

Full article (http://www.kg200.com/history1.html)

Another site (http://www.2worldwar2.com/kg200.htm)

[Zenchan]

Otto Skorzeny - Germany's greatest commando leader????

I consider him much overrated ! If you are looking for a real interesting german Cdo. Force, then check out the "Division 800 z.b.V" a.k.a "the Brandenburger". :fork:

[Delta Niner]

Kitsune wrote: Book: "Kommando" by James Lucas, gives a decent, detailed and not heroising description of German Special Units in WWII, from the Brandenburgers to the mysterious still nearly unknown KG200 (an Luftwaffe Unit, that made top secret reconnaissance and transport flights, using captured allied aircraft).

A Brief History

Kampfgeschwader 200 was a secret fighting force of World War 2, so secret that individual units within it were unknown to each other; so mysterious that even today, most diaries and documents dealing with it are, according to both Allied and German authorities, either "missing" or "destroyed". Yet it presented the Allies with one of the most dangerous threats of the entire war, and the unravelling of it's intricate web of operations became top priority.

Despite the disappearance of official KG200 records, some documents, orders, records of prisoner-of-war interrogations, and intelligence reports confirming the existence and operations of the unit were found. Former members of KG200 were traced, though the pictures each could, or would reveal was always limited, for personnel were deliberately kept in the dark as to the activities of their comrades. And most, even after all these years were still unwilling to talk... an attitude less surprising when one takes into account the fact that their former commanding officer, Oberstleutnant Werner Baumbach (the Luftwaffe's greatest and most decorated bomber pilot), failed to mention a single word about KG200 in the autobiography he published after the war!

Full article (http://www.kg200.com/history1.html)

Another site (http://www.2worldwar2.com/kg200.htm)

CAG 147,
Sir, This is a nice info. It is the first time that I heard that the Germans used Allied planes actively on clandestine combat operations. One question, does the Allies have a similar force like the KG200?
Thanks & Regards,
Delta Niner

[Zapp Brannigan]

Otto Skorzeny - Germany's greatest commando leader????

I consider him much overrated ! If you are looking for a real interesting german Cdo. Force, then check out the "Division 800 z.b.V" a.k.a "the Brandenburger". :fork:Skorzeny is highly overrated. His main skill was his own self-promotion.

The Lucas book is crap, as is Kurowski's book on the Brandenburgers.

BTW, there was no such thing as "Division 800 z.b.V"

The unit was originally formed as the Baulehr-Kompanie z.b.V. 800 in October 1939. Calling it a Bau-Lehr ("Construction Training") unit was a way of explaining away the high proportion of experienced demolitions men recruited for it. "z.b.V." means "for special purposes".

A few months later, in Dec. 1939, it was expanded to battalion size as the Baulehr-Bataillon z.b.V. 800. It undertook a series of commando operations in the invasions of Norway, the Low Countries and France, including an operation in the pre-dawn hours of May 10, 1940 where a number of Brandenburgers wearing stolen Dutch border police greatcoats escorted a larger number of their comrades as "prisoners" across the Gennep bridge. Upon reaching the other side, they threw off the Dutch coats and seized the key bridge without firing a shot.

On May 15, 1940, the Army high command issued orders for the unit's expansion to regimental size, renaming it the Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800. It trained for various operations, including the planned seizure of Gibraltar, and undertook a number of successful operations in the invasions of Yugoslavia and Greece. In the invasion of Russia, Brandenburgers were attached to various units to spearhead a number of operations. They seized vital targets before retreating Soviet forces could destroy them, often by sneaking into Soviet columns in captured vehicles wearing Soviet greatcoats over their uniforms.

In late 1942, the unit was redesignated the Sonderverband Brandenburg ("Special Unit Brandenburg") and on 1 November 1942, orders were issued to make it a division. The division was officially born on April 1, 1943, under the name Division Brandenburg. According to the OKW orders I have on my desk, it was to have 3 regiments of three battalions, and a 4th regiment with two regular battalions, one tropical battalion (which had been fighting in North Africa since 1942), an airborne company and a mountain and inland waters company. There was also a coastal hunter battalion (Küstenjägerabteilung), modeled after the British SBS, a training regiment and a signal battalion.

In 1943, the Brandenburgers saw action in Tunisia, Russia, the Balkans, Italy and the Greek Islands. Probably the greatest operation was the recapture of the Dodecanese Islands after the Italians changed sides. In one operation, a regular Luftwaffe airborne battalion, a Brandenburg airborne company and a Brandenburg Küstenjäger company took Leros in an airborne and seaborne operation. At a cost of 70 Germans killed, they took almost 10,000 Italian and British prisoners.

By 1944, most of the special operations mission had been taken over by Skorzeny's SS organization (Skorzeny's ablest deputy, Adrian von Foelkersam, had won the Knight's Cross as a Brandenburger in the Caucasus before transferring to the Waffen SS). In September 1944, the division was reorganized as the Panzergrenadier-Division Brandenburg. For the rest of the war, it primarily fought as a conventional division.

[Kitsune]

Skorzeny is highly overrated. I agree. In some cases a legend is created around some men, that lets them seem more important than they really were. In Skorzeny's case this myth was largely created by the Americans, not by him. He was a very impressive character, nonetheless, but "most dangerous man of Europe" is a gross over-exaggeration.


The Lucas book is crap[...] I do not agree. It gives a decent overview about German Special Operation units of the WWII era.


The unit was originally formed as the Baulehr-Kompanie z.b.V. 800 in October 1939. Calling it a Bau-Lehr ("Construction Training") unit was a way of explaining away the high proportion of experienced demolitions men recruited for it. "z.b.V." means "for special purposes".

To get things straight: The "Brandenburgers" were created as a Special Operations unit, that was to be meant to infiltrate an enemy territory, for sabotage, reconnaisance, deception, assassination...stuff like this. Names like "Bau-Lehr Kompanie", "z.b.V" and such were just designations. The "Brandenburgers" were top secret, but since even such a unit has some requirements for supplies, men, bureaucratic stuff...they were given these designations to hide them within the Wehrmacht apparatus.