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PatrickS · 03-24-2015, 03:55

TR
Concerning Skorzeny and his involvement, it was more of a publicity stunt. He had been tasked with locating Mussolini, when it became apparent that Italy's fascist government would fall.

In general, the SS was trying to gain control over all things "commando" since the prime commando unit, the Brandenburgers, were part of the Abwehr (military intelligence), whose higher ranks were effectively a resistance cell. While there was no proof/ solid evidence at the time, Himmler and the majority of SS-leaders were highly suspicious of the Abwehr and formed their own commando unit under Skorzeny's command. Whilst Skorzeny was influential in gathering intelligence concerning Mussolini's whereabouts, his involvement in Eiche/ Oak was of much smaller scale. The operation was controlled by General Student and his staff and planned by Major Harald Mors, who was also the ground commander during the raid. It was essentially a paratrooper op and Skorzeny's small detachment of SS was simply granted permission to tag along.
He was however smart enough to insist on being on that Storch. Maybe he was worried about a potential crash/emergency landing and figured that Mussolini needed a security detail or he simply realised that arriving with Benito would put him on center stage. Regardless of this, he was quite simply additional weight/ an extra passenger on the Fi 156.

By the way, when it comes to the whole SS vs Abwehr story, the fact that Admiral Canaris and Reinhard Heydrich were fully aware of each others "hobbies" (being an influential member of the military resistance against the Nazis/ being the main architect of the Holocaust, whilst also being rumoured to have jewish ancestry) is rather stunning. Especially since it resulted in the bizarre situation that both men had information about each other, that would have ended their careers/ gotten them killed.
Given the fact that Canaris and Heydrich had known each other long before the war (the later Admiral was assigned to the light cruiser "Berlin" when Heydrich was a naval cadet on the vessel) and even became friends after Canaris had grown fond of Heydrich during their time on the Berlin, their relationship on its own offers enough material for a decent screenplay.

Golf
I agree. The Storch was an outstanding aircraft. Surely proved its capability during the C-53 crash in 1946.

03-24-2015, 03:55	#3
PatrickS Asset Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Baden-Württemberg (SW Germany) Posts: 26	TR Concerning Skorzeny and his involvement, it was more of a publicity stunt. He had been tasked with locating Mussolini, when it became apparent that Italy's fascist government would fall. In general, the SS was trying to gain control over all things "commando" since the prime commando unit, the Brandenburgers, were part of the Abwehr (military intelligence), whose higher ranks were effectively a resistance cell. While there was no proof/ solid evidence at the time, Himmler and the majority of SS-leaders were highly suspicious of the Abwehr and formed their own commando unit under Skorzeny's command. Whilst Skorzeny was influential in gathering intelligence concerning Mussolini's whereabouts, his involvement in Eiche/ Oak was of much smaller scale. The operation was controlled by General Student and his staff and planned by Major Harald Mors, who was also the ground commander during the raid. It was essentially a paratrooper op and Skorzeny's small detachment of SS was simply granted permission to tag along. He was however smart enough to insist on being on that Storch. Maybe he was worried about a potential crash/emergency landing and figured that Mussolini needed a security detail or he simply realised that arriving with Benito would put him on center stage. Regardless of this, he was quite simply additional weight/ an extra passenger on the Fi 156. By the way, when it comes to the whole SS vs Abwehr story, the fact that Admiral Canaris and Reinhard Heydrich were fully aware of each others "hobbies" (being an influential member of the military resistance against the Nazis/ being the main architect of the Holocaust, whilst also being rumoured to have jewish ancestry) is rather stunning. Especially since it resulted in the bizarre situation that both men had information about each other, that would have ended their careers/ gotten them killed. Given the fact that Canaris and Heydrich had known each other long before the war (the later Admiral was assigned to the light cruiser "Berlin" when Heydrich was a naval cadet on the vessel) and even became friends after Canaris had grown fond of Heydrich during their time on the Berlin, their relationship on its own offers enough material for a decent screenplay. Golf I agree. The Storch was an outstanding aircraft. Surely proved its capability during the C-53 crash in 1946.
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