by H. H. Noorden
Otto Skorzeny was born on June 12, 1908 in Vienna.
After his final examination, he studied engine-building at the technical
University of Vienna and became an engineer in 1931. In this period, he was
among other things politically educated through the membership in a student’s
corps and his struggle for the union of Germany and Austria. In 1932, he became
a member of the NSDAP, which was however banned in 1933. After Austria had
become a part of the German Reich in March 1938, Skorzeny became a member of
the SS. From September 1939, Skorzeny was trained with the Leibstandarte SS
Adolf Hitler in Berlin. He took part in the campaign in the west in the ranks
of the regiment Germania and on January 30, 1941 he was promoted to
SS-Untersturmführer. After he had marched into Serbia with the German troops in
April 1941, he took part in the campaign in the east in the ranks of the SS
division Das Reich. He was decorated with the Iron Cross and fought east of
Kiev against encircled Soviet formations. After that, he advanced with his
division on Moscow.
April 1943, a new task was offered to Skorzeny. For
the special course of instruction Oranienburg of the Waffen-SS, a new chief was
needed, who at the same time had to build up in Friedrichsthal near Oranienburg
a school to train agents to carry out operations behind the enemy lines.
Skorzeny accepted both missions and was detached as a reserve
SS-Obersturmführer to Amt IV, SD-Ausland (external intelligence service) of the
Reichssicherheitshauptamt (RSHA). Together with his adjutant,
SS-Obersturmführer Karl Radl, he recruited suitable soldiers for the new unit
and studied thoroughly all reports on training and operating commando troops.
Some tasks of the commando troop were: infantry and pioneer training, handling
grenade launchers, light artillery and tanks, chauffeur training for motorbike,
cart, motor boat and locomotive, as well as sport and horse exercises. Soon, an
important mission would have to be carried out.
On July 25, 1943, Benito Mussolini was - as a result
of a conspiracy contrived by the high ranking functionaries of the Fascist
Party - deposed, arrested and brought to an unknown place. Skorzeny was
thereupon, together with five other officers, summoned to the
Führerhauptquartier. The Führer chose him for a mission, which he discussed
with him confidentially. He was convinced that Italy, under a government
appointed by the king, would soon end the war and extradite the Duce to the
Allies. Skorzeny’s mission was to discover where Mussolini was detained and
liberate him. The operation would have to be prepared and carried out in
complete secrecy.
After he had held a consultation with General Student,
Skorzeny gave to Berlin - from the Führerhauptquartier - his instructions for
the formation of an Einsatzgruppe. Before daybreak, almost forty men had to be
equipped with tropical uniforms, civilian clothes, weapons, explosives, radio
receivers, parachutes and new pay-books in order to conceal the presence of
members of the Waffen SS in Italy. Thanks to the police attaché at the German
Embassy in Rome, SS–Sturmführer Herbert Kappler, Mussolini’s ever changing
places of detainment could be discovered. One of the places where Mussolini was
detained was the coast fortress Maddalena, north of Sardinia. Skorzeny made
preparations to liberate Mussolini through an unexpected attack of soldiers,
who would have to be brought to the island by motor torpedo boats and overcome
the Italian guards. The operation, which was to be carried out on August 28,
1943, however, had to be canceled, because the new Italian government
apparently knew about the planed operation and consequently had Mussolini taken
away at the last moment. Later, it appeared that the head of the Abwehr,
Admiral Canaris, who was nothing else but a cowardly traitor, had also betrayed
the operation that had been planned for August 28, 1943.
Fortunately, the new place where Mussolini was kept in
prison could soon be located. It was the Sport Hotel on the Gran Sasso in the
Abruzzen mountains, about 2000 meters elevation. On September 8, 1943, Skorzeny
and Radl flew over the area and took photographs of the Gran Sasso. Shortly
after, the disarmament of the Italians by German troops could be carried out.
Because after the capitulation of the Italian army the extradition of Mussolini
to the Allied could be expected, one had to try to liberate him as soon as
possible. An attack on the hotel was only possible with paratroopers in gliders.
On short notice, twelve such aircraft were ordered from Southern France to
Italy. The aircraft could transport nine men in addition to the pilot. Skorzeny
chose a pasture around the hotel as the landing place. At the same time, a
battalion of paratroopers had to occupy the ground station of a cable railway
in the valley leading to the hotel. Karl Radl had the idea to have the
Carabiniere General Soleti, who was known to the guards, accompany them and let
him give the order not to shoot at German soldiers.
On September 12 the operation could start. General
Student took his leave of 17 men of the Waffen SS and 90 paratroopers at the
airport Pratica di Mare. Once above the landing area, Skorzeny noticed,
however, that the surface he had taken for a pasture was in reality a ski run.
It was hence not possible to land there. Skorenzy now ordered the pilot to land
in nose-dive as close to the hotel as possible. His glider came to a standstill
only 15 meters from the building. Skorzeny, the men from his aircraft and
Carabiniere General Soleti ran to the hotel as fast as possible. Karl Radl, who
landed with his glider just after Skorzeny, described this moment in his book „Befreier
fallen vom Himmel“:
Skorzeny and his men move in the direction of the
hotel. There’s an Italian guard there. General Soleti calls out to him: „Don’t
shoot! Don’t shoot!“ We leave the guard and go into the hotel. A door flies
open. It is the radio room. An Italian soldier sits behind the radio. We snatch
him from his chair. One, two blows with the butt of the submachine gun and the
radio is out of order. That’s that. They can not call for help anymore. No
door, however, leaders out of this cellar. Back outside. We go around the
corner of the addition. Another guard. „Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!“, the general
calls. This guard, too, does not shoot. There, a concrete wall two meters high.
Skorzeny clumbs over it on the shoulders of his men. The others climb the wall
the same way. They stand on the terrace in front of the façade of the house and
walk to the main entrance.
Then my aircraft starts to descend. Perhaps one minute
has passed. It is a matter of seconds. My machine plops down, is lifted up
once, is flung another fifty meters, and finally lands about 100 meters from
the hotel. We run to the chief’s assistance. He now sees the Duce at the
window. „Duce, get away from the window, away from the window!“, Skorzeny
shouts. He apparently fears the Duce could be accidently shot. We approach the
hotel. Before I reach the entrance, Skorenzy and Schwerdt have gained access,
have cleared a way through the carabinieri without using their weapons. The
carabinieri are very upset and want to leave the hotel. They must have just had
their afternoon rest. Some are carrying their submachine guns and some are
unarmed. They see their general, whom many knew, and no one shoots. Skorzeny
and Schwerdt run upstairs into the completely unknown hotel.
Skorzeny opens a door on the second floor. It is the
right one. Inside the room stands Mussolini. With him are two officers and a
man in civilian clothes. They rush outside. Then they are alone. Then the NCOs
Gföller and Gläsnert turn up in the doorway. When I arrive, Skorzeny simply
reports: „Duce, the Führer sends us to liberate you!“ Mussolini is very moved.
He only answers: „I knew that the Führer would not let me down.“ He shakes
hands with Sorzeny, embraces him, kisses him on the cheeks. The same happens to
me, Schwerdt and Wartger.
The Italian commander of the hotel capitulates. Soon a
Frieseler Storch lands to bring Mussolini and Skorzeny from the Gran Sasso to
an airfield from where they fly to Vienna. There, Skorzeny telephones the
Führer, who tells him, „Skorzeny, you have carried out a military operation to
a successful conclusion which will become part of history. You have given me
back my friend Mussolini. I award you the Knight’s Cross and promote you to
SS-Sturmbannführer. I congratulate you.“
During the following months, Skorzeny was very busy
with the reinforcement of his commando troops and the development of new
weapons for their operations. His special formation was transformed into
Jagdverband Mitte with five battalions, an instruction battalion and other
units. By chance, he had to fulfill another unexpected mission on July 20,
1944. On that day, Colonel Stauffenberg made an attempt to assassinate Adolf
Hitler and other functionaries by having a bomb explode during a meeting
concerning the military situation in the Führerhauptquartier. After the
elimination of the Führer, the reserve troops would have to take over power.
The attempt failed, however, and Adolf Hitler was only slightly injured. On
July 20, 1944. Skorzeny had just arrived by train from Berlin in Vienna when he
learned that troops, already alarmed by the conspirators, were advancing on
Berlin. Skorzeny, together with a company of soldiers, marched on the quarters
of the commander of the reserve troops, where officers of the army had already
arrested the conspirators and shot some of them. Meanwhile, the commander of
the reserve troops was liberated, yet relieved of his command. Skorzeny
thereupon asked the officers to continue their duties, while he took care of
the functioning of the army unit, competent for armament, supply and reserve.
In September 1944 Skorzeny received new orders form
the Führer. The Hungarian regent Horthy had made contact with both the western
Allies and the Soviets and prepared the capitulation of his country. It was
Skorzeny’s task to prevent this. He concentrated his units in the surroundings
of Vienna, completed their equipment with new material and vehicles and made
his way as a civilian to Budapest. For five weeks he oriented himself to the
local circumstances. It appeared that as plenipotentiary of Horthy his son
Niklas had gotten in touch with the Soviets through the Yugoslavian partisan
leader Tito. A couple of hours later, the Hungarian radio proclaimed that
Horthy had reached an armistice agreement with the Soviets. Skorzeny then
ordered the occupation of the castle of Budapest, where Horthy as regent had his
seat, on the morning of October 16, 1944. Around midnight some of his troops
encircled the mountain on which the castle was situated. The others were
assembled in a route column by Skorzeny; he wanted to make the impression that
their advance toward the castle was an agreed measure. The plan succeeded. The
Hungarian guns remained silent and the Hungarian general capitulated. The next
day the Hungarian army took an oath to a new government that continued to fight
against the Soviets on Germany’s side. A considerable danger for the German
troops had been averted, thanks to Skorzeny and his men. When Skorzeny
described the operation in Budapest to the Führer, the latter told him: „You
have done very well, my dear Skorzeny. I promote you to SS-Obersturmführer as
of October 16, 1944 and award you with the German Cross in Gold“. Then he
informed Skorzeny about his next mission.
In the west, the advance of the English and Americans
troops had been stopped at the frontier. The Führer planned a new offensive,
which would start in the area between Aachen and Luxemburg, then lead through
the Ardennes up to the Channel coast in order to destroy the enemy forces north
of the line Bastogne-Brüssels-Antwerp as well as denying the Antwerp port to
the Allies. Skorzeny’s task was to take possession of the Meuse bridges between
Liège and Namur, with soldiers in English and American uniforms, and to prevent
them from being blown up. Besides, small commando units in enemy uniform would,
behind American lines, give false orders, jam communications, lead Allied
troops astray and cause confusion in their ranks. This operation was certainly
effective. Soon, useful reports came in about the situation behind the American
lines. For example, the leader of one unit sent an American tank regiment in
the wrong direction, destroyed telephone lines and removed road signs. Even
more effective, however, was the confusion and sabotage hysteria that broke out
behind the American lines.
After the collapse of the eastern front, Skorzeny and
his men were ordered to form and hold a bridgehead east of the Oder, near
Schwedt, which was intended for future operations against the Red Army.
Skorzeny secured the area as ordered and supplemented his four battalions with
returning German soldiers, thereby creating the nucleus of the division
Schwedt. He also rescued many refugees safely across the Oder. On February 28,
1945 the Führer told him: „Skorzeny, I have to thank you for your achievements
on the Oder front. Your bridgehead was the only bright spot for days. I award
you the Oak Leaves of the Knight’s Cross and will personally hand it to you
within a few days. Then you must tell me about your experiences.“
At the
end of the war Skorzeny, who had been promoted to SS-Standartenführer on April
20, 1945, was taken into American captivity near Salzburg. In 1947 he was
indicted in Dachau for operations with soldiers in enemy uniforms, but
acquitted. Until July 1948, he waited in the camp at Darmstadt for his
so-called de-nazification hearing, which was, however, postponed time and time
again in order to keep him in prison for as long as possible. Therefore, he
chose to liberate himself. He stayed in Germany and France for two more years
and went to Spain in 1951, were he worked successfully as an engineer. He also
assisted with the formation of the Egyptian intelligence service under the name
Moukhabarat. An incurable lung disease brought him to Heidelberg in 1975 for
medical treatment. There, Hans-Ulrich Rudel and Waldemar Schütz were his last
comrades, visiting him before his return to Spain eight days before his death.
Otto Skorenzy told them on this occasion about his visit in the
Führerhauptquartuer in the autumn of 1944, when the Führer was ill and received
him at his bed. The Führer told him that day that Germany had not built the
atom bomb, because he did not want to take the responsibility for mankind being
destroyed by such a „Teufelswerk“. On July 5, 1975, Otto Skorzeny died in
Madrid. His urn was interred in Vienna.
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