1908 June 12 Skorzne was born in a middle-class family in Vienna, Austria. His ancestors were Slavs and his father was an engineer. Skorzne's family was originally rich, but like most Austrians, it was devastated by the "worst period" after the end of World War I-when Austria's economy was depressed and prices soared, it was impossible to buy paper the same size as banknotes. Like many Austrian families at that time, the Skorzne family barely survived on relief supplies from the International Red Cross. Little Otto didn't taste butter until 13 years old. As an engineer, old Skorzne constantly encouraged his son, so he might as well take this adversity to exercise his body, mind and will. His mantra is "poverty will not harm people, and the most sad thing is that he can't adapt to adversity." For the growing teenagers, the father's mantra has a great influence on them.
1926, 18-year-old Skorzenei entered Vienna University to study engineering under the influence of his father. During the whole university, Skorzenei participated in 14 duels, among which 10 duels left an obvious sword wound on his left cheek, which became his most distinctive personal symbol. Later, allied soldiers. These duels brought more than just scars to Skorzne. He once recalled: "Numerous physical and mental exercises in my student days made me fearless in times of crisis. Even in a fierce war, I can keep calm and not panic ... just like a sword duel, I need to concentrate on defeating the enemy in a chaotic war. We can't waste time avoiding the enemy. We must firmly grasp the goal and then try our best to achieve it.
Join the Nazi elite
193 1 year, Skorzne, who graduated from university, joined the Austrian Nazi organization and became a stormtrooper. He 1.92 meters tall, which made him an excellent fighter in the street scuffle on the eve of the German merger. 1939 When World War II broke out, Skorzne already had his own engineering design office, which was famous in Vienna. At that time, 3 1 year-old Skorzne had experience in flying single-engine aircraft, so he wanted to be a pilot. However, after five months of training, the German Air Force rejected him on the grounds that he was too old and overweight. However, people in the air force hinted that Skorzne said he was suitable to join the ground forces. Therefore, 1 February 1940, Skorzenei signed up for the SS1Adolf Hitler division, which was called "Hitler's personal bodyguard". He stood out from thousands of applicants and was assigned to the "Moonlight Squadron" of the division (named after its commander likes night training), and signed up in the same batch of/kloc-0.
Establish Germany's first special forces
Because Skorzene often led his men to adopt cunning and unconventional fighting methods in the eastern front, it attracted the attention of some senior SS officials. At the beginning of 1942, Skorzne returned to Berlin from the hospital in Vienna and was transferred to the armory of 1 SS armored division in Leibstadt, a suburb of Berlin, to engage in technical service and maintenance. Busy and monotonous work bored the combative Skorzne, but he gritted his teeth for six months.
Soon after, the fate of Skorzne changed strangely. He received an order to report to the headquarters of the Waffen SS. At this time, the world war has entered the middle stage, and Hitler suddenly became interested in special air service. When the British army can't cope with the large-scale German army, it often sends a small group of special forces to launch varied attacks, and it always wins more occasions. Hitler likes reading the works of Karl May (/Kloc-a German writer who wrote many adventure novels in the 9th century) and worships the British guerrilla war master "Lawrence of Arabia" who made great achievements in the Arabian Peninsula during World War I. At this time, Hitler told Himmler that he also wanted to set up a team similar to the secret service, so as to complete the special tasks directly assigned by himself at any time. Moreover, Hitler insisted that this unit should be formed in the British way, and even the name completely imitated the name of the secret service "Commando".
Many members of the German High Command expressed unease about the formation of such an unorthodox army, because the officers' corps always regarded the military profession as the territory of nobles, junkers and knights, and the "sneaky destruction" of the special forces was not aboveboard enough, which was detrimental to the honor of the German army and blasphemed the military profession. Moreover, there are many such strange troops formed by Hitler's "brainwave", and they are particularly worried that such troops will become very powerful because of their direct contact with Hitler. Finally, the standard put forward by the high command is simple: firstly, a commander with courage, vitality and technical foundation is needed, but secondly, this person must be a mediocre person with simple mind and easy to be dominated. He must have no political ambition and not become another prince of the Third Reich like Himmler, who climbed from a nobody to the head of the SS. Due to the recommendation of a friend in the SS, Skorzne, who is working as a maintenance worker in the garage, attracted the attention of the upper class. 1943 April 18, he was promoted to captain, and was appointed as the commander of the first German special forces "Friedenthal Jaggerbend" by the newly appointed head of the SS Reich General Security Service (RSHA) and his Austrian compatriot Kalden Bronner.
The Last Full Measure
1944 65438+February 3 1, Skorzne was recalled to Berlin. 150 armored brigade has been disbanded, and the veterans of Fredden's Tarr army are now dead and scattered. Skorzne clearly realized that the special forces' days of our lives has become a thing of the past, and the end of the Third Reich is approaching step by step with the arrival of spring. For Skorzne, the task carefully planned in advance and carried out by several brave experts like Mussolini's rescue is gone forever, and it has been replaced by a life-and-death struggle like an egg hitting a stone: a brave but untrained young soldier carries out a suicide mission, and everyone with a discerning eye can see that the situation has deteriorated to the extreme.
1945 65438+1On the evening of October 30th, Himmler summoned Skorzny to the front headquarters on the outskirts of Berlin, and ordered him to go to the front to assemble all the troops to form two armies, and then advance to the Oder River, where he established a bridgehead to resist the Soviet attack. Scholz couldn't help smiling bitterly. Where will the so-called two armies assemble their troops? This is just Himmler's fantasy. Since then, Himmler has been calling to urge: "Have the troops started to assemble? I have reported to the Fuehrer that your Excellency has started fighting ... Why? Haven't you left yet? ..... "In the end, Skorz assembled more than 1 000 troops and went to Schwedt, a medieval town on the Oder River, where he built a bridgehead. He set up a military police line in the west of the town, gathered the ragged soldiers who fled west on foot, and equipped them to be incorporated into Skorzne's troops. There are all kinds of troops in Skorz, including wounded soldiers, old people who have received military training, young cadets and several noble officers in East Prussia. He gradually assembled four brigades, requisitioned several 75mm field guns from the military factory 50 kilometers away from the city, and found some machine guns from there by high-pressure means. Scared, Skorzne collected all the local 88mm anti-aircraft guns, loaded them on trucks and used them as "self-propelled guns". A few days later, Air Force Commander Goering suddenly called him and promised to send 600 elite soldiers from his "Hermann G?ring" division to Schwedt to help Skorzne hold the bridgehead.
1On February 7, 945, the Soviet troops on the Eastern Front launched an avalanche offensive. Due to force majeure, Skorzne ordered the withdrawal of the outpost in Hedong. As a result, the high command was furious and called Skorzne to Himmler Station in Prenzlau to listen to the latter's reprimand. In Brunzlaw, Himmler's adjutant said in a very cold tone that Himmler was extremely indignant because Skorzne did not keep the agreed time. Skorzne also suppressed his anger, gulped down the beer sent by the soldiers and waited angrily for Himmler to appear.
As soon as Himmler appeared, he swore at Skorzne. His hands trembled with anger and his face was as white as a sheet. Barry uttered a series of words with that mouth, such as "disobeying orders", "lowering rank" and "military trial". Skorzne waited patiently for him to finish, and then said slowly, "I ordered the defenders of the outpost to retreat." So far, the defenders of Schwedt have received stupid instructions from the high command more than once, but the supplies have not arrived yet! "While speaking, Scholz shouted at Himmler. This sudden counterattack softened Himmler's tough attitude, and he quickly calmed down and hosted a banquet for Skorzne, who was about to be sent to a military court a few minutes ago. Himmler not only did not demote him, but also promised to give him an assault gun at dinner and supply all the materials needed by Skorzne.
Although the war situation is getting worse, Skorzny still has a bright day, because the British BBC broadcast that he was promoted to major general and was quite popular with Nazi politicians. Skorzne thinks that since he has started to command a division's troops, he should also be promoted to this rank. However, he doesn't know how to climb this goal. On the contrary, the BBC showed him a way. It said on the radio: "SS Lieutenant Colonel Skorzny, who is famous for saving Mussolini, has been promoted to Major General and appointed as Berlin's Minister of Defence. Because of this promotion, he became the most powerful figure in Berlin. It is believed that he is currently conducting a manhunt in Berlin to clean up unreliable elements ... "
The most intriguing thing is that shortly after the BBC broadcast this news, Hitler actually began to consider appointing Skorzne as the commander of the Berlin city defense. Now he is possessed, trusting Skorzne and thinking that he is the most suitable for this position, but the staff around Hitler stopped this idea in time.
end
On March 7th, 1945, the U.S. military accidentally seized the Ludendorff Bridge in the Remagen area of the Rhine River before blowing it up. In order to save the day, Hitler ordered Jodl to send frogmen to blow up the bridge in Skorzne. Skorzne immediately protested to Jodl, because he did the same job in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a few months ago and blew up a bridge across the Maas River, which caused heavy losses. At that time, it was early spring, and the water in the Rhine was below zero. The US military also learned the lesson of Nijmegen and set up a bridgehead several kilometers upstream, so that German frogmen could not dive into the water. Later, Skorzne wrote: "This is the first time I refused an order." But in the end, he promised Jodl that he could give it a try.
As a result, Skorzne's expectation has completely become a reality. Several frogmen swam into the swift and cold river and never surfaced again. The other frogmen were found by US searchlights on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and they surrendered. A few days later, the ludendorff Bridge itself collapsed, but this was the result of a bombing before the German engineers retreated, and it had nothing to do with Skorz's frogman troops.
Soon after, Skorzne was called to the Fuehrer's base camp. This time, he found that Hitler was getting more and more divorced from reality. When Hitler met his beloved commander, he said, "Dear Skorzne, you did a good job on the Oder River. I haven't thanked you! " ..... I can hear a lot of news every day, but the news that can comfort me always comes from your front. I will give you the Oak Leaf Knight Cross and put it on you myself! ..... About the last task, you can explain it to me slowly, and I will rely on you in the future, so be careful! "Say that finish, Hitler stood up slowly, hunched his back, as if he were an old man riddled with diseases. Skorzne has not seen Hitler since this summons.
Shortly thereafter, Skorzne went to South Germany and Austria alone to report the general situation there and was ordered to strengthen the forces of the "mountain fortress". The "mountain fortress" is a castle in the air that the Germans finally imagined, and a small group of stubborn Nazis decided to use it as their last resistance base. Passing through Vienna, he decided to see his hometown again. At this time, the road near Vienna was already crowded with refugees and soldiers fleeing to the west, and Skorzne frantically honked his horn, trying to make a passage in the crowd. Suddenly, he found a healthy sergeant rushing past a carriage full of furniture and parcels, and a group of injured soldiers were walking around. Skorzne suddenly stopped the car and stopped the carriage, but the sergeant who was driving the carriage was indifferent, so Skorzne took him out of the car, drew his bow left and right, slapped him twice and shouted, "Put everything in the car down!" Make room for the wounded! "The sergeant obediently obeyed the command under the roar of Skorz. In order to make him obey orders completely, Skorzne disarmed him, handed his pistol to an injured soldier and said, "Look at him! Let him be as full of wounded soldiers as possible! "
Seeing this, Skorzne realized that the Eastern Front was finished. He wrote in "The Future": "Under this earth-shaking upheaval, human beings have exposed their selfish weaknesses in order to maintain their own lives ..."
When he finally arrived in Vienna, it was dusk. At this time, it was rumored that Soviet troops had entered Vienna. Skorzne came to his mother's residence and was greeted by debris and inclined beams and columns everywhere. Neighbors said that Mrs. Skorzne and her family were evacuated two days ago. He came to his brother's house again, and the situation was similar. Finally, Skorzne came to the factory where he had been working and found that the factory was still working hard. He stopped two elderly policemen near Narrenturm in the city center and asked about the situation. One of the gray-haired policemen replied, "Lieutenant Colonel, we are the last defense team in Vienna!" " At the headquarters of the Yugoslav capital, Skorzne accidentally met Baldur von Shiraz, the leader of Nazi youth movement and commander of the Yugoslav capital. He was disappointed to find that Schirach could do nothing but shout slogans, so he left Vienna for the Alps in a hurry.
In the Alps, Skorzne and Radel, who came from Berlin, spent a few days looking for the "national fortress" where Hitler and Goebbels had been blowing cowhide for a long time, but only found wagons and trucks carrying goods, one or two reinforced concrete fortifications, and already rusty arsenal machines. They couldn't believe their eyes anyway. Skorzne was very sad and thought it was all over.
Now Skorzne must consider his future. A familiar air force pilot tried to take him to Spain, but was rejected. Skorzne refused to abandon his men and run for his life alone. He dismissed his people, especially volunteers from Belgium and Holland, and gave them some dollars and jewels from Berlin as their living expenses. Then he and Radel and others hid in a ski hut in the mountains, waiting for the end of the war.