Otto Skorzeny: Dark Legend of the Axis Powers

Otto Skorzeny is among the most devious, apocryphal characters in the World War II mythos. We’ve all heard legends and stories of top secret Nazi plans to do everything from creating silent killing squads (true) to resurrecting the dead (presumably false). One chilly tale that does have basis in fact is the biography of Herr Skorzeny.

He was born in Austria into a middle class family with a long established history of military servitude, and as a result had aspirations of military grandeur from a very young age. He attended the University of Vienna, where he became extremely fluent in both English and French. He studied fencing extensively, and at the university he became notorious for his impressive technique. During his life he engaged in fifteen duels of personal significance, the tenth of which left him with the distinctive schmiss that made him so instantly recognizable.

Skorzeny joined Austria’s Nazi Party in 1931, and the Sturmabteilung shortly thereafter. He played a minor but notable role in the Anschluss, by protecting Austrian President Wilhelm Miklas from the bullets of Nazi roughnecks. Up until the invasion of Poland in 1939, he worked as a civil engineer, but once the Nazi campaign was underway, he immediately enlisted with the Luftwaffe, but was denied entry due to his age- over 30. He then joined the Waffen-SS, and fought against Soviet troops for two years with the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. He was injured in the winter of 1942, and was forced to return to Germany in December. Skorzeny was awarded the Iron Cross for his bravery in combat, and this distinction, especially in such an elite unit, marked him as a candidate for promotion in many major operations, the first of which occurred in, September of 1943.

Unternehmen Eiche, or Operation Oak, involved the rescue of Italian Fascist Benito Mussolini. Mussolini had been overthrown and subsequently imprisoned, and was being ferried all around Italy so as to avoid such a rescue. Skorzeny was hand selected by both Adolf Hitler and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and placed in charge of a Special Forces unit for the job. He personally conducted all of the necessary reconnaissance, and by intercepting a scrambled message was able to decipher the whereabouts of his ally. The Operation itself was a daring raid using hang gliders in the Apennine Mountains, the stuff of legend, and was executed so smoothly it would have made James Bond proud. Skorzeny and his German Kommandos landed on the side of the slope, and with stunning efficiency overwhelmed the incumbent forces without a single shot fired. He has been quoted as saying, upon seeing Mussolini, “Duce, the Führer has sent me to set you free!” This success opened many doors for Skorzeny, and he gained much respect from the German army as a whole, and also received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross.