Germany. Heer - Skorzenys special missions: the memoirs of Hitlers most daring commando

Skorzenys Special Missions: The Memoirs of Hitlers
Most Daring Commando

A Greenhill Book

This edition published in 2011 by
Frontline Books, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Limited,
47 Church Street, Barnsley, S. Yorkshire, S70 2AS
www.frontline-books.com, email info@frontline-books.com

Copyright Otto Skorzeny, 1957
Foreword Charles Messenger, 2006

ISBN 978-1-84832-533-3

First published in Great Britain by Robert Hale Limited in 1957. Greenhill
Books published a hardback edition in 1997. A paperback edition, with a
new foreword by Charles Messenger, was released by Greenhill in 2006.
This is the first edition to be published by Frontline Books, and includes the
additional material from the 2006 paperback edition.

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Printed in the United States

between pages 96 and 97

O tto Skorzeny was one of the more colourful characters of the Third Reich and became a darling of the Nazi propaganda machine. He is best known for the part he played in the dramatic rescue of Mussolini from incarceration in a hotel in the Abruzzi mountains, but he also took part in a number of other daring special forces operations. Originally published in 1957, this is an account of his war.

Austrian-born like Hitler, Skorzeny experienced the turbulence in that country of the early 1930s. A believer in Anschluss, he joined the Nazi Party in 1930, but says nothing about the assassination of Chancellor Dollfuss as a result of an abortive Nazi plot to bring about union with Germany four years later, although it is difficult to believe that he was not in some way involved. When Anschluss did occur in March 1938, Skorzenys role in helping to prevent bloodshed came to the attention of Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the newly appointed German governor of Austria. But, when war came, he was turned down by the Luftwaffe as being too old to become a pilot and had to content himself as a trainee Waffen-SS engineer officer instead. Skorzeny saw service with the SS Das Reich Division in France, the Balkans and the invasion of Russia before being evacuated sick with colic at the end of 1941.

It was not until spring 1943, after a period of home service, that Skorzeny entered the field that would make him famous. He joined Section 6 of the RSHA, which was its foreign department, covering not just intelligence, but special operations as well. Here he experienced the bureaucratic frustrations and jealousy which characterised so much of the Nazi government system. In the midst of this he turned to studying British special operations, notably those employing commandos, and the activities of SOE, and began to formulate his own concepts. This was helped in that he was allowed to form his own special forces unit, thanks to an extent to the head of the RSHA, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, whom Skorzeny had known in Vienna. It was, however, the order to report to Hitlers field headquarters at Rastenburg, East Prussia, on 26 July 1943, which radically changed his life.

Skorzenys account of the problems in tracking down Mussolini in the aftermath of his arrest and the operation to spring him from the Albergo Campo Imperatore Hotel is fascinating and it was undoubtedly one of the most spectacular feats of the war. While he states that he was able to obtain decorations for all his men, Skorzeny does not allude to the bitterness that General Kurt Student and his paratroopers, who played a vital part, felt at being ignored in the aftermath. Notwithstanding, Skorzeny was now famous in Germany and personally known to Hitler. He did not, however, ignore his engineering background and became involved in special-weapons developments for all three services, including a piloted VI, which brought him into contact with that renowned aviatrix Hanna Reitsch. Few of these projects came to fruition, an indication of the increasing muddle surrounding German weapons procurement.

Skorzenys role in the immediate aftermath of the failed attempt on Hitlers life on 20 July 1944 did him no harm in the eyes of the authorities. It is interesting to note his ambivalent attitude towards the plotters, although it is possible to read between the lines that he did consider that they were betraying the fighting man at the front. He was then summoned by Hitler once more to undertake an operation as equally audacious as the rescue of Mussolini. This was to keep Hungary in the war. Skorzeny first kidnapped Admiral Horthys son and brought him back to Berlin. When this did not work, Skorzeny then stormed the Budapest citadel in which the Hungarian Regent was residing. Hungary was therefore forced to remain on the German side until overrun by the Russians. No sooner had he completed this than he was given another task, one which was to be his most controversial operation of the war.

Operation Greif, the attempt by Skorzenys 150 Panzer Brigade to seize the bridges over the Meuse during the December 1944 Ardennes counter-offensive, has been related many times. His use of men dressed in US Army uniforms was strictly against the laws of war and it was this that caused his appearance as a defendant in a war crimes trial in 1947. Conviction seemed certain until his defence produced an unusual witness, Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas, one of SOEs most highly decorated agents. Although he had suffered at the hands of the Gestapo and in Buchenwald, Yeo-Thomas stated that the Allies had used similar tactics during the war. On the strength of his testimony, Skorzeny and his fellow defendants were acquitted. Yet, he remained a prisoner while other nations investigated possible war crimes against him.

The last part of Skorzenys life, apart from his escape from Darmstadt internment camp in July 1948, which is still the matter of some debate as to whether the Americans or former SS men arranged it, is not covered by this book and is shrouded in a certain amount of mystery. It is known that he spent time in Argentina advising President Peron (some say he became Eva Perons lover) and in Egypt, and that he settled in Francos Spain, a haven for many former Nazis, where he ran an import-export business. It is, however, generally accepted that he was the prime mover, if not the founder, of ODESSA, the secret organisation dedicated to spiriting those wanted by the Allies for war crimes to South America. Post-war life for Otto Skorzeny was still therefore packed with excitement. Even so, he died peacefully in his bed in Madrid from cancer of the spine on 7 July 1975.

Skorzeny was a larger-than-life if controversial character, who clearly had a zest for life and was a man of much charm. Luck was always on his side and he took full advantage of this. Whatever one might think of him audacious commando or ruthless and fanatical criminal his memoirs provide a most entertaining account of a man of action.