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Skorzeny's Memoirs


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:D

 

Hi everyone,

 

Just finished reading "For Germany" Otto Skorzeny's memoirs puplished by James Bender. I bought this from Kenny.

 

Although as the Editor points out Skorzeny wrote this himself so he could take whatever credit he wanted. However there is no doubt over some of his exploits eg rescue of Musso from Gran Sasso and the action in Budapest.

I was interested to find out more of his leadership in action on the Oder front in 1945.

 

Skorzeny was ready to praise the actions of his subordinates and seems to have had a genuine care for his men. What I also found fascinating was his descriptions of Hitler, Himmler, Canaris and other senior figures of the TR. Skorzeny made points on this and other matters I have read elsewhere eg he was of the opinion the German armed forces had neglected sniper training to their cost.

In the Book "Sniper on the Ostfront" this was also made clear.

 

The editor (who had communicated with Skorzeny when he was alive) points out Skorzeny of course leaves out his involement with the SD and his post war activities.

 

A very interesting book.

 

Dave. :lol:

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Hi Dave ,

 

thanks for the plug :) yes don't forget folks we can get you almost any book on the market as long as its still in print :D

 

Yes Skorzeny was some guy one of the most brilliant characters of WW2.Did you ever hear the rumour that it was actually him who masterminded "The Great Train Robbery" ? Apparently the money was for Odessa and funnily enough none of the robbers seemed to get there big share of the money.Certainly smacks of a Skorzany raid in the fact it was meticulously planned and they were dressed in military uniforms.Apparently some of the robbers admited in a book they meet him in Spain however Ronnie Biggs has always denied this, mind you, you would'nt really want to fall out with Odessa :o

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Kenny, :huh:

 

Pure Skorzeny rumour. :lol: Old Otto was quite amazed with the rumours circulating about what the allies expected him to get up to during the war. Parts of Paris were surrounded by allied soldiers in late 1944 and 45.

He could never persuade them he had not smuggled Hitler out of Germany.

 

Dave. :o

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Quite possibly so Dave that is how he got his reputation for being the most dangerous man in Europe (mind you he didn't need to rely on rumours for that his actions spoke for them self) however I did hear that Scotland Yard took it seriously enough to investigate the claims. Never say never.

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;)

 

Yes Kenny, Skorzeny certainly had the security services in awe of him. He was the first to achieve really big commando actions which by their nature could change events and influence political actions.

 

I would be interested to learn more of his post war exploits, he was seemingly very unwilling to talk openly about them.

 

Dave

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Dave,

 

one of my customers told me about the Skorzeny / Train robbery thing apparently there was a book written about it, I think it is probably out of print now.Apparently it was'nt fiction either the author interviewed some of the robbers and I think Skorzeny too,I think he said his clandestein meeting with him was one of the most nerve racking experiences of his life.

 

It would be well worth trying to chaise this book up , you should ask around I would'nt mind buying a copy too.I will try to find out the name of the book and the publisher,unfortunatly if it is out of print none of my book people will be able to get it.

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<_<

 

If this is true I wonder what big Otto got up to abroad!!!!!!!! B)

 

Has anyone else got information on this, we could link it conspicacy stories.

 

:unsure::o

 

Dave

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Is this a new book.

 

Or a reprint of 'Commando Extraordinary' by Charles Foley.

 

One to add to the conspiracy theory. Skorezeny made a post-war deal with Churchill that the British would not expend much effort to trace former SS War Criminals in return for correspondence between Churchill and Mussilini. These papers letters were sent during the war between the countries and were taken from Mussilini by Skorezeny after his rescue.

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In this connection, Piers Paul Read's The Train Robbers is of interest. [96] Read undertook to write the book more than a decade after the robbery, and long after several other books had already been published on the subject. What made these unpromising circumstances auger well, according to Read, were two things: first, he had the cooperation of most of the men who'd pulled off the robbery. Previously, only Ronald Biggs had given an account, and Biggs was considered an outsider by those who'd conceived and executed the plan. Second, and even more importantly, the gang confided important new information to Read. This was that the train robbery, and several of the subsequent escapes, had been financed and finessed by Gen. Otto Skorzeny. Among other things, this explained why it had never been possible to account for more than half of the money stolen in the robbery.

An unrepentant Nazi, Skorzeny had been Hitler's favorite commando. After the war, he'd re-established himself in Madrid as an arms-dealer and, with even greater secrecy, as the mastermind behind Die Spinne---the underground railroad that obtained forged documents and plastic surgery for war criminals and others requiring safe-havens in South America and the Middle East. As the proprietor of a de facto intelligence agency with connections throughout the world, Skorzeny made millions as a consultant to countries and organizations whose politics were compatible with his own (e.g., Nasser's Egypt and the Secret Army Organization in Algiers).

Train-robber Buster Edwards and his wife gave Read a detailed description---names, dates and places---of how Die Spinne had smuggled him from England to Germany to Mexico. [97] A woman named "Hannah Schmid," [98] whose father had served with Skorzeny in the Second World War, saw to it that he received plastic surgery and the documents necessary to travel. Edwards recuperated for nearly a month in the home of a Prussian aristocrat, "Annaliese von Lutzeberg," [99] and was then sent on his way to Mexico---but not before he'd purchased shares (under an assumed name) in a business that Skorzeny owned. [100]

While in Mexico, Edwards and two of the other train-robbers reunited with Schmid, who "proposed that they should run guns to the Peronists in Argentina; or train troops for a planned putsch in Panama..." [101] Edwards and his friends declined: it just wasn't their scene.

In checking Edwards' story, and the stories of the other robbers, Read found that every verifiable detail was confirmed. Before finishing his book, however, it was left to him to interview Ronald Biggs in Rio. Accordingly, he got on a plane.

Finding Biggs was not that difficult. He was living at Scott Johnson's apartment. What he had to say, however, was in flat contradiction to the accounts of everyone else. According to Biggs, there were no Germans.

Read was flabbergasted. Had he been hoaxed? Or was Biggs lying on behalf of what Read suspected were his Nazi protectors? Read couldn't be sure.

"At best (Biggs) wished me to disbelieve the Skorzeny connection so that he himself could break it to the world and reap the benefit; at worst he was still in the care of Skorzeny's organisation and had been told to persuade me that it did not exist.

"The more I pondered this last possibility, the more convinced I became that this was the explanation---for it still seemed inconceivable to me that June (Edwards) had invented her meeting with Skorzeny in Madrid, or could have discovered that he was a friend of the Reader's Digest editor who spoke fourteen Chinese dialects. I suddenly realised how thoughtless and foolhardy I had been to come to a country (Brazil) known to be a nest of ex-Nazis. Clearly Biggs had been saved from extradition not because of his child, but because of neo-Nazi influence in government circles. The woman who had been with him at the airport, Ulla Sopher, a German-Argentinian with blonde hair and blue eyes, was part of their network. All the strands of the story came together to form a noose around my neck." [102]

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  • 2 years later...

Ronnie Biggs done a sex pistols number called 'holiday in the sun' where they were all jumping about with a guy dressed up in all the TR uniform. and no it was not Otto. All the same a strange thing to do.

Also a punk prayer by ronnie biggs and the pistols sings about Bormann not being a bad guy.

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Yes it was in the rock and roll swindle ,he was meant to be Martin Bormann, I thought it was him until I saw the same actor in a Western the following week :D

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Can anyone find a clip of ronnie with the pistols from the great r&r swindle,it is definately in the film as i am going to watch it again tonight with a few beers :thumbsup:

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Here we go, it might not be in the film any more as there are a lot of strange edits of the film.

 

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