Customer Reviews

My Commando Operations: The Memoirs of Hitler's Most Daring Commando (Schiffer Military History)

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Skorzeny lays down the way proffesional soldiers felt after the defeat of their country in WW II. This book follows his rise from artillery officer to top leader of the Commando service, and tells many of the secrets to their success. He talks about the intelligence war and the failures of German strategic intelligence, as well as many of the successes of the allied effort. While the translation is less than perfect, it gives the feel of sitting down and talking with Skorzeny as he reviews the dark years of the war and the atrocities commited by both sides. A story of undaunted courage and limitless valor, a must read for any serious student of WW II or military intelligence.

Otto Skorzeny was a daring man with an open mind and a firm believer of Hitler. In his meteoric military carreer he was helped a lot by his appearance (he was a scar-faced giant), his audacity and a good dose of luck. In this book he speaks about everything and everyone, presenting in essence a consice history of World War II in Europe and his impressions of the many Nazi and foreign officials he met. He was a member of the Waffen SS and he takes pride in it, saying that he fought always with honor. He tries really hard to destroy the many myths built around his name and proves that his post-war years were really uneventful- at least as far as commmando raids are concerned. The famous kidnapping of Mussolini takes only a few chapters but there are also some very interesting war episodes for the reader. I personally found Adrian Foelkersam's operation in Maikop far more daring and dangerous (bordering on the unbelievable, for which Foelkersam received his Knight's Cross) than Skorzeny's raid at Gran Sasso. Skorzeny does not deny that he is an admirer of Hitler and expresses his belief that Germany lost the war because of high treason. It seems that for every defeat a traitor was responsible, passing top secret information to the Russians or the Western Allies. According to Skorzeny Hitler was misinformed and misguided by his Generals, who hind the truth from him in many cases. There is room in the book also for the defeats and the bad times of the commando operations. Overall this is a very interesting book from an officer who came to be known like "the most dangerous man in Europe". A few daredevils like Skorzeny and his commandos could give an awful time to every opponent, even under today's standards!

Skorzeny lay's it out the way it happened with no excuses. He examines in detail how his personality and character shaped the conception and formation of German special forces. Furthermore, Skorzeny, again with no apology, discusses the German/Nazi mindset during that period. This book is a valuable asset to any serious-minded military officer's library, and likewise to the more realistic (and less idealistic) student of history.

Otto Skorzeny's memoir is full of realities. It brings a new view at the WWII German soldier. Some of them were not killer Nazis at all. Skorzeny was a professional soldier, dedicated to his country and people. The book is quite estonishing and so real. Every one can get a lesson out of it. Lessons from the thin line between death and life by someone who has been in the no mans land and survived with the brains. The book is very good and a must read for young people to get an idea of being real professional.

Most books these days start out with talking of death camps on nanking, they want to make sure you dont forget and make sure you NEVER try to understand the German or Japanese view of ww2.

Ottos book is amazing, he is the most loyal and one of the bravest soldiers I have ever read about, the book is excellent about Otto Skorzenys roll during ww2 from the man himself. Alot of pictures you wont find on the internet along with TONS of info you will find nowhere else.

Otto remained loyal to the fuhrer his entire life, hes not some crazy nazi nut who wants to kill jews as other books would potray him, rather hes a man who faught for his country,believed in his leader and wanted to make his country a better place for the people. He seems to believe that alot of the nazi big shots such as Himmler were idiots and that Hitler did not lose the war, the reason the war was lost was because the soviets had an extensive spy network even in the OKW!

Great book, non of the hate germans propoganda and its told excellent.
Buy the book, its worth every penny.

I read this good book, here in Brazil.The author was the leader of commando operation, that released Benito Mussolini from prison, in 1943.Writing in 1949, Otto Skorzeny tells the true.All that he did,working for Hitler and nazi Germany, he tells us.
Some people will claims that the author, in this book, never regreted of the fact he was, a nazist.Well, he is absolutely sincere.He had conversations with Hitler?Yes, and he tells all about them.
Failures of this book are small.At first, he didn't told if he knew about extermination camps.At second, he didn't tells nothing us, about his commando operations after World War ii.To example, Skorzeny tells nothing about the salvation of Peron in Argentina.About nazi gold, I read in another book, that Skorzeny was among the men that had nazi gold, under his guard.And there's nothing about nazi gold in this book.About the three years that Skorzeny, there's a lesson of life.Famine, humiliations were his friends in prison, but he tells that for nothing in the world, he wouldn't had all that terrible experiences.

Loved the book its very straight forward, easy to read but every now and again has some translation problems. Starts with Otto Skorzeny's life before his military service to his time after the war. Includes how he become to be a member of the NAZI party, his opinion on why Rudolph Hess's flight to Scotland, the mistakes in germanies offensive both in the east and west, not to mention a surprising revelation of how much a traitor the intelligence chief CANARIS actually was!!!

"My Commando Operations" is the memoirs of Otto Skorzeny, the legendary officer of the Waffen-SS. Skorzeny is most well-known for his daring rescue of Benito Mussolini in 1943. This earned him the honor of being one of Hitler's favorite and most trusted officers. This highly detailed account takes the reader from Skorzeny's youth in Vienna, through World War II and it's aftermath. Skorzeny offers some fascinating insight into the inner-workings of the Third Reich and attempts to refute many commonly held beliefs about the war. For instance, Skorzeny attempts to dispel the view of Hitler as a poor military strategist. Instead, Skorzeny insists that Hitler was poorly informed by his Generals, and thus prevented from making accurate decisions. He speaks of Hitler as a brilliant strategist who was hindered by hesitant Generals and Soviet espionage, without which, Germany could have won the war. He also maintains an unwavering defense of the German cause in WWII, which he claims was the fight against bolshevism. Described in detail is the operation that freed Mussolini, along with several more secret operations that he undertook. He also defends the choice not to take Moscow in the fall of '41 and why Hitler decided not to invade England. Conspicuously absent is any mention of Jews or the Holocaust. He attempts to portray the SS as honorable soldiers who primarily fought a "clean war." While it is probable that he and his particular unit were not involved in "The Final Solution," I found it disturbing that he did not even acknowledge the SS's involvement in the Holocaust. Overall, I found this book to be very informative although at times I found myself questioning the sincerity of the author. If taken at face value, Skorzeny definitely comes across as a brave and honorable soldier, but I can't help but think that beneath the surface, there is much more than he is telling.

Skozeny's book is far more than an exciting retelling of his commando operations. Except perhaps for his rescue of Mussolini from Gran Sasso, he is perfunctory about most of his commando operations. Still, even reading between the lines, we can intuit much about this incredible and subtle fighting man.

He was a man with opinions, opinions that didn't necessarily change with military defeat. He'd taken an oath, "My Honor is Loyalty" and he seems to have never have broken with it. Therefore, I find the most fascinating part of Skorzeny's work his opinions about Hitler's tactics. He explains them and, even to the extent that they failed, he justifies them. This, in my opinion, is a very useful thing because most of our accounts of the Fuhrer are hugely lopsided. Skozeny, for instance, states that Hitler decided to attack the Soviet Union precisely because he thought the Russians were planning to hit him in the back while he was engaged against the English. He also says, from what he observed during the opening hours and days of Barbarossa, that the Soviets were prepared and waiting for the Germans. Rather than being rolled over in a massive defeat, they established hard points and retreated behind them, avoid annihilation of their armies.

He also explains Hitler's mistakes at Stalingrad. He says that Hitler received weak reports from von Paulus, who said he was driving the enemy before him. Then, by the time the 6th army was well engaged [stuck] in Stalingrad, he feared that withdrawal would free up the Soviets to cut off Hoth's even larger army.

He also, probably correctly, believes that the German forces were done under by treason and enemy, especially Soviet, spies. He believes, again probably correctly, that Stalin knew German plans before Wehrmacht field commanders ever heard of them. Possibly the most valuable spy during the war was the shadowy 'Werther' who must have had a very close association with Hitler and the German high command. He, through the Red Orchestra ring, succeeded in giving Soviet forces the vital information necessary to win the war.

Some people have thought Werther was none other than Martin Bormann. Skorzeny disagrees. Although he despised the slimy Bormann, he just didn't think that he had the kind of immediate knowledge that the Red high command did. Maybe one day we'll learn his name but, thus far, nobody has talked.

The information in Skorzeny's book is remarkable and probably, given his Nazi prism, accurate. He certainly doesn't tell everything, though, although, towards the end of the book, he goes on to skoff at--in detail--the numerous WWII and postwar plots that he was supposedly involved in. He especially criticizes the idea of "Der Spinne" and also denies that he a Moise Dyan are one and the same man.

The most glaring ommission in this book is his failure to mention the Holocaust. He doesn't admit it; deny it; deny his personal participation or knowledge....He just doesn't mention it. I think, at a bare minimum, Skorzeny knew about it but rather than engaging in self-serving lies, he just keeps his mouth shut. Indirectly, however, he implies something of atrocities, claiming that some erstaz 'SS' units committed crimes but again and again he claims that regular Waffen-SS soldiers were honorable men and soldaten. He himself was arrested by the Americans and spent approximately 2-3 years in prison, sometimes in solitary confinement. He was tried for his life on charges of killing American prisoners of war and fighting in American and/or English uniforms. Nothing stuck and Skorzeny was acquitted. Still...I would loved to have spoken to this fascinating man in private.

Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Really enjoyed reading this book. I don't know why it's not more well-known.