In a war of nations unprecedented in its sheer scale and volume of manpower,
when one actually takes the time to zoom in, there are simply thousands of small untold stories
that make you say, ‘that really happened?’. Well it did really happen, and in today’s video,
we’re taking a look at Otto Skorzeny, a man with quite an illustrious career to say the least.
Born 12th of June 1908 in Vienna, Austria, Skorzeny’s middle class family was bridled by a
long an honourable history of military service, and the young Otto Skorzeny was no different.
Although by historical reports, he wasn’t a particularly brutal, racist or menacing person,
and he himself was of Polish descent, Skorzeny still opted to join the Nazi Party in 1931, as
it’s likely he just wanted a war to fight before he got too old, and a war he did indeed fight.
Fact(I don’t say this but add it into the video as a quick side thing):
Otto Skorzeny got his scar from Fencing at the University of
Vienna. A common occurrence known in academic fencing as a ‘Schmiss’
His military career effectively started in 1938 with the Anschluss,
and when the Austrian president Wilhelm Miklas initially resisted the invasion politically,
he was placed under house arrest, only saved from mistreatment by Skorzeny, who used his influence
and charisma to charm the Nazi party into allowing the man to simply retire from politics.
As the war progressed and the German war machine was gaining more and more momentum by the day,
Skorzeny initially decided he wanted to volunteer for the Luftwaffe, however he was deemed too
tall (6’4”) and too old for the role. With that, Otto Skorzeny briefly joined Leibstandarte SS
Adolf Hitler and acted as a personal bodyguard for the man, before eventually being transferred to
the Eastern Front in 1941 at the start of the campaign, which he was more than happy to do.
Skorzeny fought in several battles in the depths of the Russian winter before in December of 1942,
after more than a year and a half of fighting, he was hit in the back of the head by shrapnel and
evacuated to the rear for treatment. Following this, he was awarded the German Iron Cross and
given a staff role in Berlin, where he started developing commando tactics for the Nazi Party.
Skorzeny, by this time around 34 years old, played a hand in developing a total of seven special
SS operations that were meant to change the course of the war, and two of them most definitely did.
When on July 25th 1943, Hitler’s friend and ally, Benito Mussolini was arrested
by his own people as a result of a vote of no confidence, Operation Oak was underway.
On September 12th 1943 after months of planning, the extremely volatile operation was underway,
and Skorzeny along with 16 other SS commando’s used gliders to traverse the rugged environment
and somehow, despite the known unreliability of gliders in WW2, landed almost exactly where their
target was and surprised the heavily armed Italian guards so much so that the position was taken
without a single shot being fired, and Mussolini hoisted out and rescued by being taken to Germany.
One of Skorzeny’s other successful operations was Operation Grief, where as many of you may know,
English speaking Germans in stolen Jeeps and uniforms infiltrated American lines to
spread confusion and chaos. This worked like a charm, and even when the Germans were captured,
they spread a rumor that Skorzeny was leading a raid on Paris to assassinate Eisenhower,
which led the American General to spend Christmas in isolation for security reasons.
As a result of this, ordered an all-out manhunt for Skorzeny, distributing wanted posters all
throughout allied territory. At the end of the operation however, 23 of the 24 English speaking
Germans were captured behind enemy lines, and 18 of them were ultimately executed for espionage.
In 1945, when Germany was beginning to crumble,
Skorzeny was promoted to major General and tasked with the defense of East Prussia.
Due to his loyalty throughout the war, Hitler awarded him the Knights Cross,
however as we all know, Germany ultimately fell and Skorzeny was sent straight to trial
Mainly arguing in the defense of Operation Grief, where prosecutors wanted to charge
him for breaching the rules of war by using deceptive methods of espionage,
he was eventually acquitted after a former British SOE agent
testified that the British had also used stolen enemy uniform’s behind enemy lines.
Skorzeny was then detained at a internment camp, however in 1948, was able to escape with the help
of 3 former SS soldiers dressed in US military police uniform. Skorzeny then hid out in a farm
in Bavaria for 5 years, until he re-ignited his fighting spirit and became a military advisor
in Egypt, recruiting other SS men to train the new Egyptian army under Mohammed Naguib.
And the icing on the cake for this video and likely what clicked it for in the first place,
was his eventual recruitment to the Israeli intelligence agency called Mossad. Initially,
Mossad had started to develop a plan to assassinate Skorzeny,
however at the last moment, decided to recruit him instead. They figured having
a man on the inside would enhance their ability to target Nazi’s.
After visiting Otto Skorzeny at his Spanish home,
who mind you was expecting to be assassinated by Mossad,
he was surprised the find them offering him a job, and for unknown reasons he accepted, ultimately
playing a large role in the death and arrests of high ranking Nazi scientists still on the hideout.
All in all, the life of Otto Skorzeny is one shrouded in mystery and questions,
so many of his motives remain unclear and he seemed to be working for both sides at once,
on the one hand helping fellow SS officers escape to Latin America but on the other hand,
killing Nazi officials hiding out on behalf of Mossad, so as per usual, let me know your thoughts
on this morally grey man, he definitely is one of the most interesting soldiers of the war.