Otto. Skorzner, the man with a scar on his face and known as the "No. 1 villain in Europe", is definitely a legend in his life!

On June 12, 1908, Skorzny was born into a modest family in Vienna, Austria. www.biquge.info His ancestors were Slavic and his father was an engineer. Skorzne's family was originally wealthy, but, like most Austrians, was struck by the "worst of times" after the end of World War I, when Austria's economy was sluggish, prices were skyrocketing, and paper money could not even be purchased for the same size as paper money. Like many Austrian families at the time, the Skorzny family survived on relief supplies from the International Red Cross, and little Otto did not taste butter until he was 13 years old. The elder Skorzny, an engineer, constantly encouraged his son to take advantage of adversity to exercise his mind, body and mind, and his mantra was "A life of poverty is not harmful to people, and the saddest thing is not to adapt to adversity". For the growing teenagers, this mantra from his father has had a great impact on him.

In 1926, at the age of 18, under the influence of his father, Skorzny entered the University of Vienna to study engineering, and throughout the university he participated in 14 duels, the 10th of which left an obvious sword wound on his left cheek, known as the "Scar of Honor", which also became his most characteristic personal symbol, and later the Allied soldiers gave him a graphic nickname - "Scarface". These duels brought more than just scars to Skorzner, as he once recalled: "The numerous physical and mental exercises I exercised as a student enabled me to be fearless in the face of danger, and even in the midst of a raging battle, I was able to remain calm and unfazed...... Just like in a sword duel, in a chaotic war, it is necessary to concentrate on hitting the enemy, and we must not waste time trying to dodge the enemy, but must firmly grasp the target and then slam it with all our might. ”

In 1931, after graduating from university, Skorzny joined the Austrian Nazi organization and became a stormtrooper whose 1.92-meter size made him an excellent Nazi thug in the street scuffle on the eve of the German-Austrian merger. By the time World War II broke out in 1939, Skorzny already had his own engineering office, which was well known in Vienna. Skorzner, who was 31 years old at the time, had experience flying single-engine aircraft and wanted to become a pilot, but after five months of training, the Luftwaffe rejected him on the grounds of his age and oversize. However, the Air Force people hinted that Skorzny said that he was fit to serve in the ground forces. So in February 1940, Skorzny signed up for the 1st SS "Adolf Hitler" Division, known as "Hitler's personal bodyguard", and was selected from thousands of conscripts to be assigned to the division's "Moonlight Squadron" (named after its commander's penchant for training at night). and transferred to the 2nd SS "Reich" division.

Skorzner's frequent use of cunning and unconventional methods of warfare on the Eastern Front attracted the attention of some high-ranking SS officials. In early 1942, Skorzny returned to Berlin from his hospital in Vienna and was transferred to the 1st SS Panzer Division's armory in Leibstadt, outside Berlin, where he served as a technical officer and maintenance worker. The hectic and monotonous work made the aggressive Skorzny feel bored, but he gritted his teeth and endured it for six months.

Soon after, Skorzny's fortunes took a peculiar turn when he received an order to report to the Waffen-SS headquarters. By this time the world war had entered its mid-stage, and Hitler suddenly became interested in the British special forces. The British often sent small special forces to attack in a variety of ways when they could not deal with large German forces, and there were always more occasions to win. Hitler liked to read the works of Karl May (a 19th-century German writer who wrote many adventure novels) and admired the British guerrilla master "Lawrence of Arabia" who had established miracles in the Arabian Peninsula during World War I. Moreover, Hitler insisted that this unit should be formed in the British way, and even the name was completely modeled after the name of the British special forces, "Commando".

Many members of the German High Command expressed unease about the formation of such an unorthodox force, because the officer corps had always regarded the military profession as a forbidden place for the nobles, Junkers and knights, and the special forces' "sneaky and sabotage" operations were not above board, undermined the honor of the German army, and were a desecration of the military profession. Moreover, there were quite a few such strange units formed out of Hitler's "whim", and they were particularly worried that such troops would become very powerful because of their direct contact with Hitler. The criteria put forward by the High Command were simple: first, a bold and energetic commander with a technical base, but secondly, this man must also be a simple-minded, easily dominated philistine, who must have no political ambitions and not become another prince of the Third Reich, as Himmler had climbed from a small man to the head of the SS. On the recommendation of a friend in the SS, Skorzny, who was working as a maintenance officer in the repair shop, attracted the attention of the upper echelons. On 18 April 1943, he was promoted to captain and appointed commander of the first German special unit, the "Fredenthal Unit", by the newly appointed head of the SS Reich Central Security Directorate, his Austrian compatriot Carldenblonner.

On December 31, 1944, Skorzny was recalled to Berlin. The 150th Panzer Brigade has been disbanded, the veterans of Fredenthal's unit are dead and scattered, and Skorzny is soberly aware that the glorious days of the special forces have become a thing of the past, and the end of the Third Reich is approaching step by step with the advent of spring. For Mr. Skorzner, gone are the elaborate plans of Mussolini's rescue and the deliberate work of a handful of brave specialists, replaced by desperate battles like eggs hitting stones: suicide missions by brave but untrained young soldiers, and the situation has deteriorated to the extreme.

On the night of January 30, 1945, Himmler summoned Skorzny to the front command outside Berlin and ordered him to go to the front to gather all his forces and form two corps, and then advance to the Oder line, where a bridgehead would be set up to defend against the Soviet attack. Skorzny couldn't help but smile bitterly, where will the troops of the so-called two armies be collected? This is nothing more than Himmler's fantasy. Eventually, Skorzny gathered more than 1,000 men and went to the medieval town of Schwaite on the banks of the Oder River, where he built a bridgehead. He set up a line of gendarmerie on the west side of the town, gathered the soldiers who had fled on foot in rags and on foot, and equipped them into Skorzny's unit. The Skorzny army was a wide variety of soldiers, from wounded soldiers to old men with no military training, to young cadets and a few high-spirited officers of the East Prussian nobility. Now he gradually gathered the strength of four brigades, requisitioned several 75-mm field guns from the military factory 50 kilometers from the city, and obtained some machine guns from there by high-pressure means. Skorzny, who was still lacking, collected all the 88-mm anti-aircraft guns in the area, loaded them onto trucks, and used them as "self-propelled guns". A few days later, Air Force Commander Goering suddenly called him, promising to transfer 600 elite soldiers from his "Hermann Goering" division to Schwaiter to help Skorzny hold the bridgehead.

On 7 February 1945, the Soviets on the Eastern Front launched an overwhelming offensive, and as they could not resist, Skorzny ordered the withdrawal of his outposts east of the river, which caused a thunderous attack in the High Command, and Skorzny was summoned to the Himmler garrison in Brunslau to listen to the latter's reprimand. In Brunslau, Himmler's adjutant said in a very cold tone that Himmler was extremely indignant because Skorzny did not comply with the agreed time. Skorzny also held back the fire in his belly, drank all the beer brought by the soldiers, and waited for Himmler to show up in a huff.

As soon as Himmler appeared, he yelled at Skorzny, one of his hands trembling with anger, and his already pale face was as white as a piece of paper. That mouth uttered a long list of words such as "disobedience to orders", "demotion of ranks", and "military trial". Skorzny waited patiently for him to finish, and then said slowly: "I ordered the retreat of the defenders of the outpost. So far, Schwedt's defenders have more than once received stupid orders from the High Command, and not a single kilogram of supplies have arrived! As he spoke, Skorzner roared at Himmler. This sudden counterattack softened Himmler's hard-line attitude, and he quickly calmed down and gave Skorzny, who had been about to be court-martialed a few minutes earlier, to dinner. Himmler not only did not demote him, but promised to give him an assault gun and supply Skorzny with all the supplies he needed at dinner.

Despite the deterioration of the war, Skorzny still had a good time, as the BBC broadcast that he had been promoted to major general and was favored by the Nazi regime. Skorzny thought to himself that since he had already begun to command a divisional unit, he should also be promoted to this rank. But he didn't know how to climb up to that goal, but the BBC showed him the way, saying on its radio: "SS Lieutenant Colonel Skorzny, who is famous for rescuing Mussolini, has now been promoted to major general and appointed head of Berlin's defense." As a result of this promotion, he has become one of the most powerful figures in Berlin, and it is believed that he is currently conducting a manhunt in the city to clean up unreliable ......"

The most intriguing thing is that shortly after the BBC broadcast the news, Hitler actually began to consider appointing Skorzny as the commander of the Berlin city defense. Now he trusted Skorzner as if he were obsessed with it, believing him to be the best fit for the post, but Hitler's staff officers stopped the idea in time.

On March 7, 1945, the U.S. military unexpectedly seized the Ludendorff Bridge in the Remagen area of the Rhine, which had not had time to be blown up. In order to salvage the situation, Hitler secretly ordered Jodl to send frogmen to blow up the bridge. Skorzny immediately protested to Jodl because he had done the same job in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, a few months earlier, to blow up a bridge across the Maas River, which resulted in heavy losses. It was early spring, the Rhine was only above and below zero, and the American army had learned the lesson of Nijmegen and set up a bridgehead a few kilometers upstream, so that the German frogmen could not sneak into the water. Later, Skorzny wrote: "This is the first time I have refused an order. Eventually, though, he promised Yodel that he could give it a try.

As a result, Skorzny's prediction came true. Several frogmen swam into the turbulent and icy river and never resurfaced, while others were spotted by the US military searchlights on both sides of the river and obediently raised their hands in surrender. The Ludendorff Bridge itself collapsed a few days later, but it was the result of a bombing before the German sappers retreated, and had nothing to do with the frogmen in Skorzny.

Soon after, Skorzny was summoned to the Führer's base camp again, and this time he found that Hitler's detachment from reality was becoming more and more serious. When Hitler saw his beloved commander, he said: "Dear Skorzny, you have done a good job on the Oder, and I still haven't thanked you yet!" …… I hear a lot of news every day, but the news that comforts me always comes from your front. I'm going to give you the Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves, and I'm going to wear it with my own hands! …… You can explain to me about the last mission, and I will continue to rely on you in the future, so that I can do it myself! With that, Hitler slowly stood up, hunched his back, as if he were an old man with all kinds of illnesses. Skorzny had not seen Hitler again since this summons.

Soon after, Skorzny traveled to South Germany and Austria alone, reporting on the general situation and reinforcing the forces of the "Alpine Fortress". The "Alpine Fortress" was the last fantasy of the Germans, and a small group of die-hard Nazis decided to use it as a base for their last stubborn resistance. Passing through Vienna, he decided to take another look at his hometown. By this time, the roads near Vienna were already crowded with refugees and soldiers fleeing westward, and Skorzny honked his horn wildly, trying to make a way through the crowd. Suddenly, he noticed a healthy sergeant swaggering by with furniture and packages on it, surrounded by a group of wounded soldiers on foot, Skorzny stopped the carriage and stopped the carriage, but the sergeant who was driving the carriage was indifferent, so Skorzny took him out of the carriage, gave him two slaps with his bow left and right, and yelled: "Throw everything on the cart!" Make room for the wounded! At Skorzny's shouting, the sergeant obediently obeyed the order. In order for him to fully comply with the order, Skorzny disarmed him, handed his pistol to a wounded soldier, and instructed: "Keep an eye on him!" Let him load as many wounded soldiers as possible! ”

Seeing this, Skorzny realized that the Eastern Front was finished. He later wrote: "In the midst of this earth-shaking upheaval, the selfish weakness of mankind in order to preserve its own life has been exposed......

When he finally arrived in Vienna, it was already dusk, and rumors spread that the Soviet army had entered the city. Skorzny arrived at his mother's house, where he was greeted by the debris and leaning pillars. Neighbors said Mrs. Skorzny and her family had been evacuated two days earlier. He went to his brother's house again, and the situation was much the same. Eventually, Skorzny went to the factory where he had been working and found that it was still working at full capacity. He stopped two elderly policemen near the city center and asked about the battle, to which one of the gray-haired policemen replied: "Your Excellency, we are the last defense of Vienna!" At the Vienna City Defense Command, Skorzny unexpectedly met the city defense commander, Schrach, who had been the leader of the Nazi youth movement. Disillusioned to find that Schirach could do nothing but shout empty slogans, he hurried out of Vienna for the Alps, on April 11.

In the Alps, Skorzny and Radel, who had arrived from Berlin, spent several days searching for the "national fortress" where Hitler and Goebbels had blown cowhides for a long time, but all they found were wagons and trucks carrying supplies, one or two reinforced concrete fortifications, and rusty arsenal machines. They couldn't believe their eyes anyway, and Skorzny was so grief-stricken that he thought it was over.