Otto Skorzeny
On October 21,
Otto Skorzeny reported to the Wolf's Lair following his latest successful commando
mission, the seizure of the government quarter in Budapest. The Fuehrer greeted
him warmly, awarded him the German Cross in Gold, and promoted him to SS
lieutenant colonel. Hitler, obviously delighted, listened intently as Skorzeny
described the operation in detail. When he finished his story and prepared to
leave, Hitler said, "Don't go, Skorzeny. I have perhaps the most important
job of your life for you. . . . In December, Germany will start a great
offensive which may well decide her fate." He noted that "the world
thinks Germany is finished, with only the day and hour of the funeral to be
named. I am going to show them how wrong they are. The corpse will rise and
hurl itself at the West." Then, with great relish, he described Watch on
the Rhine to the tall Austrian in considerable detail, concluding by saying,
"One of the most important tasks in this offensive will be entrusted to
you and the units under your command, which will have to seize one or more of
the bridges over the Meuse between Liege and Namur." To accomplish this
task, Skorzeny and his men would wear captured American uniforms and would be
equipped with captured American vehicles. At the same time, several groups of
small commandos, also under Skorzeny, would infiltrate American lines,
disrupting their communications and spreading fear and confusion wherever and
whenever possible. Hitler told Skorzeny that his preparations were to be
completed by December 2; the details he was to discuss with General Jodl, the
chief of operations at OKW.
Because the time involved was so short, Skorzeny tried to
protest, but Hitler brushed his objections aside. "I know that the time is
very, very short, but you must do all that is humanly possible. . . . I forbid
you to pass beyond the front line in person. In no circumstances must you let
yourself be taken prisoner!"
Skorzeny was then taken to Colonel General Heinz Guderian,
the chief of staff of OKH, and later to Jodl. 9 His large unit, which was to
seize the Meuse River bridges at Engis, Amay, and Huy, was designated the 150th
Panzer Brigade; his small commando company was called Einheit Steilau. They
were located at Friedental, a training base near Berlin, which was turned over
to Skorzeny. Security around Friedental was excellent. It was cut off from the
outside world and was guarded by Ukrainians who could not speak German. Once at
Friedental, a member of Skorzeny's operation (codenamed "Greif,"
after a mythical bird) could not leave the base or even be hospitalized for any
reason.
The 150th Panzer was a fairly standard armored brigade of
about 3,300 men and consisted of two tank companies, three panzer grenadier
battalions, and three panzer reconnaissance companies, as well as flak,
engineer, and support units. It was surprisingly short of captured American
equipment, probably because the combat units that had it were reluctant to give
it up. Skorzeny asked for 20 Sherman tanks but received only 2 (1 of which had
a blown engine that could not be repaired). He asked for 30 American armored
cars but got only 6. He asked for jeeps and got none at all-the German feldgrau
liked their captured jeeps. He sent out foraging parties, however, and they
located and seized 15 jeeps.
When he inspected Einheit Steilau units, Skorzeny was
surprised and disturbed by the shortage of volunteers who were fluent in
American slang. He found only 10, and they were mostly ex-sailors who had spent
some time in America. Another 30 to 40 spoke English fairly well, and about 150
could speak some English with difficulty. Skorzeny divided his commando company
into nine teams and instructed them to speak as little as possible. He also set
up an ad hoc "School for Americans," in which the commandos were
taught American habits, slang, and folkways. They also had to learn behavior
modification. When an officer entered a room, the Germans habitually snapped to
attention-unlike the American GIs. The Germans did not slouch like American
soldiers and went to parade rest when told to relax, unlike the Americans, who
actually relaxed. It took some effort to teach them how to behave like
Americans. They were also taught how to spread fear and panic behind enemy
lines.
Skorzeny also discovered that a strong hint concerning
Operation Greif had already been leaked. The Wehrmacht sent a memo to all
units, calling for volunteers who were fluent in English. They were to report
to Friedental, where they would be incorporated into Skorzeny's commandos! This
memo had received such widespread distribution that there was no hope that the
enemy would not see it. This was a terrible security breach. Skorzeny feared
the secret had been hopelessly compromised and even considered asking that the
entire mission be scrubbed.
Enemy intelligence had, in fact, seen the memo. Fortunately
for Skorzeny and his men, they ignored it.
#
On December 17 1944, Manteuffel, Dietrich, and a group of
their officers met at Manderfeld, the headquarters of the I SS Panzer Corps
(and the former command post of the U. S. 14th Cavalry Group). They decided to
abandon the idea of driving to the Meuse in one fell swoop. Operation Greif,
Skorzeny's reckless thrust to the river, was cancelled, because the mass panic
it needed to succeed simply was not present. Skorzeny therefore recommended
that Dietrich renounce his original plan of using the 150th Panzer to seize the
Meuse crossing and employ the brigade as a regular tank unit. Dietrich agreed.
The most important part of Operation Greif was over before it had begun.
In the other part of Operation Greif, the commando teams of
the Einheit Steilau were almost unbelievably successful in spreading confusion,
fear, and panic in the American rear. Skorzeny estimated that six to eight of
his nine teams successfully made their way behind U. S. lines, and they did
damage out of all proportion to their numbers. One team switched road signs and
sent an entire American regiment rushing in the wrong direction. Others blocked
off key road junctions and thoroughly disrupted traffic simply by using white
tape--the engineers' standard warning for minefields. One team member told an
American officer such a horrifying tale of German successes just down the road
that he abandoned the town he was holding. Two groups were caught: one after it
had reached the Meuse, the other near Liege. Even then they continued to do
damage. Under interrogation, one member "revealed" that Skorzeny and
a special commando party were on their way to Paris. There they would
rendezvous at the famous Cafe de la Paix and proceed to SHAEF Headquarters at
Versailles, where they would assassinate Dwight D. Eisenhower himself! General
Eisenhower was virtually held prisoner by his own security people for the next
few days while they tried to chase down Skorzeny, who was not even in the same
country as Ike.
Elsewhere, the Americans developed their own code system, by
which they asked questions no German was likely to know, such as who won the
World Series, what was the name of Mickey Mouse's girlfriend, or what was the
name of Li'l Abner's hometown. One American brigadier general (Bruce C. Clarke)
incorrectly stated that the Chicago Cubs baseball team was in the American
League and was held in custody for five hours. The American Military Police
(MPs) who held him ignored his pleas, informing him that only a Kraut would
make a mistake like that!
Not even British Field Marshal Montgomery was exempt from
the new system. He was halted by an U. S. guard, but arrogantly told the young
man that he would not put up with such nonsense, and ordered his driver to
proceed, regardless of what the guard said. As his car began to speed away, the
angry guard opened fire and shot out his tires. Naturally, General Eisenhower
got a great deal of pleasure from the incident and even went so far as to
proclaim that this was the best thing for which Skorzeny had ever been
responsible.
The captured commandos, of course, were executed as spies.
Before their executions, one team had a last request. They wanted to hear a
group of captured German nurses, who were being held in a nearby cell, sing
Christmas carols. The request was granted. They were shot the next day. Their
last words (spoken by Gunter Billing) were "Es lebe unser Fuehrer, Adolf
Hitler" (Long live our Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler).
#
Infiltration Group - Einheit Steilau
40 US Army Jeeps with English-speaking SS troops dressed in
US Army uniforms. (Circa 120 men)
According to Gerald Astor-A Blood Dimmed Tide,
Greif units had following identifying measures:
-Pink or blue scarves
-Second button of the blouse unbuttoned
-If they were challenged by day, Greif men would tap his
helmet twice. In night blue torch in the left hand issued a challenge, while
red torch in the right affirmed his belonging to German side
-In Jeeps they had C, D, X, Y or Z letters in hood
-In tanks they did keep their guns pointed to 9 o'clock when
not in action.
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