Otto Skorzen1

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Otto Skorzeny"The most dangerous man in Europe"

Otto Skorzeny, Hitler's commando leader in World War 2, became knon to the orld in September !#$,hen %erman radio broadcasts hailed the pre&iously unknon Skorzeny as "The most dangerous man in

Europe" or his key role in the daring airborne raid to rescue the ousted (talian dictator )enito *ussolini+

(t as Skorzeny's !st success as a commando leader+ With the successes that olloed, allied media also

began calling Skorzeny "The most dangerous man in Europe"+

The unusual making o a commando leaderThe son o an ustrian ci&il engineer, until World War 2 began Skorzeny -!./0!13 li&ed and orked as an

engineer in 4ienna, ustria+ (n !$! Skorzeny 5oined the ustrian branch o the 6azi 7arty, and remained a

loyal 6azi or the rest o his lie+

There ere three seemingly unimportant details in Skorzeny's pre0ar lie hich became important later8

(n !$# Skorzeny and his ie spent their honeymoon in (taly+

On *arch !2, !$/, hen 6azi %ermany anne9ed ustria, Skorzeny demonstrated leadership and cold5udgement by sa&ing the ustrian president Wilhelm *iklas rom being murdered by other ustrian 6azis+

Ernst :altenbrunner, then the head o the ustrian branch o the 6azi SS, kne Skorzeny and kne o his

action in sa&ing *iklas+When World War 2 started in !$, Skorzeny as immediately recruited, but in the irst $ !;2 years o the

ar his military career path shoed no sign that he ould become a commando leader in the to years that

olloed+

(nitially assigned to an ir


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ll that talking e&entually paid o, hen in pril !#$ Skorzeny as summoned to the Waen SS

head@uarters and as told that the Waen SS as looking or "a technically trained oicer to carry out

special duties"+ Skorzeny accepted immediately, and as promoted to ?aptain, as the commander o arecently established Waen SS unit named SS Special Anit


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Skorzeny began training his men or their intended special missions, repeatedly telling them that in theirspecial type o arare behind enemy lines, not shooting, as much as possible, should be their most important

guideline+ He intended to impose olloing that guideline in uture action by "running ahead o my men, and

not iring my on gun"+Operation Oak to ind and rescue *ussolini

On Culy 2D, !#$, Skorzeny and his unit ere ully ready or action, hen Hitler learned that his political and

military ally and riend )enito *ussolini, the


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ter meeting ith Student in "Wolsschanze" that night, Skorzeny phoned his deputy, :arl >adl, and told

him that they ere gi&en a mission that can not be discussed o&er the phone, and asked him to prepare, by

dan, a &ery long list o e&ery kind o special e@uipment imaginable, rom guns and e9plosi&es to black haircolor and monk robes+ >adl as also instructed to select orty o ome, ho intercepted a seemingly unimportant (talian police radio transmission

reerring to security preparations around %ran Sasso, the highest mountain in the (talian pennines+

:appler immediately guessed that *ussolini is held in the ski hotel at the top o %ran Sasso, that as only

accessible by cable car rom the &alley belo+ ome+

Skorzeny le again in a bomber, this time o&er %ran Sasso, and took pictures o it ith a plain handheldcamera+ When he returned, an attack plan as @uickly designed by %eneral Student, Harald *ors -one o

Student's paratrooper battalion commanders3, and Skorzeny+ The plan as simple, but not easy8Tel&e =


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=espite serious diiculties beore and ater it, the raid, on September !2, !#$, as a complete success+ e (talians and %ermans ere in5ured, but nobody as killed+

Skorzeny's glider as initially the 2nd in the ro, but the lead to aircrat, ith the only pilot ho kne hoto na&igate to %ran Sasso, had to abandon the lead, and Skorzeny's to pilot suddenly ound himsel leading,

but ithout a map+ Skorzeny then used his knie to cut a small indo in the glider's bottom, that as enough

or him to successully na&igate to %ran Sasso, based on his memory o the light path rom his aerial photolight a day earlier, and by passing na&igation instructions to the glider pilot in ront o him, ho relayed them

by cable to the to aircrat's pilot+

Once on the ground, ater landing near the ski hotel, Skorzeny ran orard, pushing %eneral Soleti in ront ohim, looking or a door, hen he sa *ussolini looking at him rom a 2nd loor indo+ This as helpul,

since he no kne e9actly here to go+ Skorzeny shouted to *ussolini to get inside, to a&oid being hit by

possible shots, and then charged into the hotel+ The surprised (talian guards ere urther conused by %eneralSoleti ho shouted at them to a&oid shooting, and less than a minute later Skorzeny broke into *ussolini's

room and disarmed his to guards, as to more o his men came in rom the indo ater climbing the all+

Once *ussolini as secured in his room, Skorzeny saluted him and declared that he as sent by dol Hitlerto release him+

Within a e minutes, all the (talian guards in the ski hotel and the upper cable car station ere disarmedithout a single shot being ired+ t the same time the %ermans took o&er the loer cable car station ater a

short ire ight, and by the time o the last glider landing, the one that crashed, *ussolini as already out o

the hotel, aiting or the Stork light aircrat that ill ly him to saety+

The Stork, a small to seater light aircrat, as lon by ?aptain Heinrich %erlach, %eneral Student's

personal pilot+ ter %erlach landed, the big Skorzeny insisted to also board the tiny to seater aircrat, and

placed himsel in the small cargo bay behind *ussolini's seat+ Skorzeny later e9plained this action in sayingthat he as not illing to risk a situation in hich ater a successul rescue he ill ace Hitler only to report

that *ussolini as rescued but then crashed on the slopes o the %ran Sasso+ He preerred to die in such a

crash too+

?aptain %erlach, the pilot, had his on doubts about the chances o a successul takeo, since in addition toha&ing an incredibly short and rocky "runay" that ended in an abyss, that runay as also cut in the middle

by a deep ditch that as not seen in the aerial photos that Skorzeny took a day earlier+

With *ussolini and Skorzeny onboard, %erlach told the paratroopers to hold the small aircrat in place hile

he increased the engine's poer to the ma9imum, and then signalled them to let go, and the small aircrat ranorard+ When he reached the ditch, %erlach pulled the stick to raise the aircrat a e inches in the air beore

it descended back to the ground ater the ditch, and gained a little more speed beore it ell don to the abyss

at the end o the runay+ With ner&es o steel, %erlach let the small aircrat di&e don 5ust o&er the steepmountain slope, and then sloly pulled the stick to le&el in the &alley belo, keeping the aircrat at tree top

le&el to e&ade possible enemy ighters+ He didn't tell his to passengers that the engine as damaged in the

bumpy takeo and as not ully unctional+

They landed in a %erman controlled air base near >ome, here *ussolini and Skorzeny immediately

transerred to a %erman bomber that le them to 4ienna, and rom there *ussolini as lon to meet Hitler

in "Wolsschanze" that same day+

There ere ell deser&ed honors or all the key players+ Skorzeny as promoted to *a5or and as aarded

the :nights ?ross, and became amous+ :appler, the %erman police attache, as also both promoted anddecorated+ ?aptain %erlach, the Stork 7ilot, as aarded the :nights ?ross or perorming one o the most


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diicult takeos in the history o a&iation+ Others among the pilots, paratroopers, intelligence personnel, andSkorzeny's deputy, ere either promoted or decorated+

The most complete and ully detailed report o Operation Oak, including a ull background, can be ound in%reg nnussek's book "Hitler's >aid To Sa&e *ussolini" -=a ?apo 7ress, 2..3, hich reads almost like a

Tom ?lancy iction book, but is entirely documentary+

Skorzeny in !##eser&e rmy head@uarters building, here the rebel leaders here

already arrested and some already e9ecuted+ Skorzeny took control there, stopped the e9ecutions, transerred

the remaining arrested rebels to a %EST7O prison, and then remained in the >eser&e rmy head@uarters asacting commander or the ne9t $D hours until relie&ed+ Since then, Hitler trusted and appreciated Skorzeny

e&en more+

Three months later, the army's )randenburg >egiment as dismantled, and most o its men, oreign languagespeakers specialized in ighting behind enemy lines disguised as enemy soldiers, ere transerred to

Skorzeny's e9panding unit, here they played a key role in its last special operation+

(n October !##, hen *iklos Horthy, the Hungarian dictator and Hitler's ally, as secretly negotiating a

surrender to >ussia, Hitler sent Skorzeny's unit to orce Horthy to stop+ Skorzeny's men kidnapped Horthy's

son and transerred him by plane to %ermany+ When that ailed to con&ince Horthy to stop, Skorzeny's menent to the guarded citadel here Horthy as, and ith a combination o ords and gunire, Skorzeny took

o&er the citadel, and replaced Horthy ith a ne pro0%erman prime minister+

Operation %rei -%riin3)ack rom Hungary, Hitler promoted Skorzeny to Bieutenant ?olonel and ga&e him a ne mission+ s part o

the planned %erman oensi&e in the rdennes in the last days o !## -"The )attle o the )ulge"3, Hitler

suggested that Skorzeny's English speaking men ill iniltrate behind llied lines dressed and e@uipped as

merican soldiers, in order to create mass conusion in The llies side in support o the %erman attack+ (naddition to captured allied Ceeps, the %ermans used 7anther tanks and other %erman &ehicles repainted and

modiied to look like llied &ehicles+


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Hitler's idea as successul+ (n addition to the direct damage caused by the actions o Skorzeny's phonymerican soldiers, hich posed mostly as merican military policemen, the nes and rumors o their acti&ity

spread rapidly among llied units and caused a reaction that as much more damaging+ Traic o llied

oicers o all ranks and o reinorcements and supplies, as seriously sloed don by the sudden need torepeatedly stop at checkpoint ater checkpoint and identiy as genuine mericans, and not 5ust by presenting

identiication papers but also by ha&ing to anser merican Tri&ia @uestions, because o the ob&ious

suspicion that the disguised %ermans also carry phony merican papers+

When some o Skorzeny's soldiers ere captured, they told their interrogators that their mission as to reach

7aris and assassinate the llied supreme commander, %eneral Eisenhoer+ This as a lie, but they also said

that their commander as Skorzeny, hich as true, and since Skorzeny's record ith regard to oreignleaders as ell knon, it as immediately belie&ed that Skorzeny as trying to get to Eisenhoer, and as a

result Eisenhoer as conined to his oice or a long time, massi&ely guarded+

Skorzeny considered Operation %rei a ailure+ )ecause o delays, only a small number o his men actually

iniltrated behind the llied lines, and the rest, most o his unit, had to ight as regular soldiers+

The end o the ar(n

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Otto Skorzen1