Today I will write about one of the most controversial personas during and after 2nd world war. The man who is one of the first to introduce the term of "commando" in full details,defining commandos modus operandi. His name is Otto Skorzeny, colonel of Waffen SS division and Hitler's personal Tom Cruise.

Back In The Days...

Graduated as engineer, afterwards joining newly formed NSDAP (nazi party) to become supporter to the regime.
Soon, his war path will begin.He took part in attacks against Poland, fought in France, Belgium, Netherland and finally Russia... until he got dysentery and was forced to go back and recover.

In 1942, Skorzeny came back in army to participate in establishing commando battalion Friedental, the most elite unite in the whole army. To become a member criteria was way higher than you can imagine. They had to speak at least 1 foreign language, drive cars, trucks and even trains. Candidates had to score with high efficiency IQ tests, wouldn't even be considered relevant unless they didn't have at least 120 points. Moreover, their physical sharpness had to be so high that is hard to perceive what they had to go through...

The Saving Operation

The unit passed through dozens of combat operations, but one of them was absolutely stunning. Skorzeny personally didn't respect Benito Mussolini, he got order to save Fascists leader from Allied Troops, which were stationary in the hotel Campo Imperatore, on a mountain range Gran Saso d'Italia. The commander and the operation chief was Skorzeny himself. Even though the failure was inevitable, Skorzeny managed to perform the unthinkable.
He saved Mussolini without single bullet fired and anyone injured! Consider the facts they had to climb up and disappear without being seen, otherwise they would have a problem. According to the Geneva convention there is no specific codex for captured commandos and special units that operate behind the enemy lines. It means they could do whatever they wanted without being accused for war crimes or crimes against humanity.

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Next operation is called "Konjićev skok", the main goal of operation was to capture Partisans main leader Josip Broz Tito and demoralize their units. Operation failed because General Rendulić wanted to take all the credits for himself and didn't listen what Skorzeny had to say, if he did maybe the history would be different...

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In October 1944, Hitler sent Skorzeny to Hungary after receiving word that Hungary's regent, Admiral Miklós Horthy, was secretly negotiating with the Red Army. The surrender of Hungary would have cut off the million German troops still fighting in the Balkan peninsula.

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Skorzeny, in an Operation Panzerfau also known as Operation Eisenfaust, kidnapped Horthy's son Miklós Horthy Junior and forced his father to resign as head of state. A pro-Nazi government under dictator Ferenc Szálasi was then installed in Hungary to support Nazi regime. In April 1945, after German and Hungarian forces had already been driven out of Hungary, Szálasi and his Arrow Cross Party-based forces continued the fight in Austria and Slovakia. The success of the operation earned Skorzeny promotion to Obersturmbannführer.
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The last operation with glorious Friedenthal was during the German offence in Ardennes, 1944. Their primary mission was to infiltrate American troops, misinform them and sabotage communication centers and fuel storage. The panic they spread speaks for itself, Skorzeny's men almost captured general Eisenhower, the future president of US.
After war was over in 1945., Skorzeny and his men surrendered to Americans and were accused for war crimes. He never got convicted cause he followed Geneva convention and rules on wounded soldiers and civilians , which was acknowledged later by Americans themselves.

After war, various authors connected him with the ODESSA organization, concealing Eichmann and Bormanna along with Egyptian secret service, the Palestinians and US secret service of the CIA.

Colonel Otto Skorzeny died of lung cancer in 1975. and was buried with all military honors. Overall, impressive 15 000 people gathered to say last goodbye to the "most dangerous man of europe".

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ONE MORE THING

In 1963, United Kingdom was a robbery train (Great Robbery Train) that carried millions of pounds. Ronnie Biggs and his team got busted. Moments like train stoppage operation and staff disability (no one killed or wounded) was very similar to known methods from Skorzeny. When journalists asked him about it few months before dying, he knew anything about it and had anything to do with it, he just laughed and said, "Yes, yes, yes ... Next question, gentlemen."