Skorzeny's Special Missions: The Memoirs of Hitler's Most Daring Commando

Otto Skorzeny, Germany’s top commando in World War II, is the most famous man in the history of special forces. This book he tells the full story of the combat operations that made him a legend. When Mussolini was imprisoned in Italy in 1943, it was Skorzeny who successfully led the daring glider rescue. Skorzeny’s talents were brought into play again in 1944 when he was sent to Budapest to stop the Hungarian regent Admiral Horthy from signing a peace treaty with Stalin. Then dubbed the most dangerous man in Europe by the Allies, he took a critical role in the Ardennes offensive with a controversial plan to raise a brigade disguised as Americans with captured Sherman tanks. His captured colleagues spread a false rumor that he was planning to assassinate Eisenhower, who was consequently confined to his headquarters for weeks. Skorzeny’s memoirs vividly depict commando action and are a classic of special forces literature.

Otto Skorzeny was born in Vienna in 1908. He joined the Austrian Nazi party in 1931. On the eve of World War II, Skorzeny was working as a civil engineer. Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939, he joined the SS and was assigned to Hitler’s elite bodyguard Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler. He died in 1975.