Otto Skorzeny

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Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German intelligence officer and commando who served as an SS-Obersturmbannführer within the Waffen-SS during the Second World War. Over the course of the conflict, he was involved with operations including the removal from power of the Hungarian regent Miklós Horthy and the raid on Gran Sasso, which secured the liberation of Benito Mussolini from captivity. Skorzeny also commanded Operation Greif, in which German personnel infiltrated Allied positions while disguised in enemy uniforms. This led to his prosecution in 1947 before the Dachau Military Tribunal on charges of violating the 1907 Hague Convention. He was acquitted. After his escape from an internment facility in 1948, Skorzeny sought refuge on a farm in Bavaria and later resided in Salzburg and Paris before moving to Francoist Spain. In 1953, he assumed the role of military advisor to the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, and reportedly advised the...

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