Commando Extraordinary

Commando Extraordinary
Author: Charles Foley
Publisher: Bantam Books
Total Pages:
Release: 1989-07-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9780553281590

Out of print for 9 years, this incredible story recounts the exploits of Hitler's favorite commando, SS Col. Otto Skorzeny. From snatching Mussolini from an "impenetrable" mountain to the rescue of a doomed German division in the Balkans, here is the complete story of Skorzeny.

Otto Skorzeny

Otto Skorzeny
Author: Stuart Smith
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 410
Release: 2018-09-20
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1472829476

This first book to reassess the myth and the realities of Otto Skorzeny, Hitler's favourite commando. SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny became a legend in his own time. 'Hitler's favourite commando' acquired a reputation as a man of daring, renowned for his audacious 1943 mission to extricate Mussolini from a mountain-top prison. Skorzeny's influence on special operations doctrine was far-reaching and long-lasting – in 2011, when US Navy SEALs infiltrated Pakistan to eliminate Osama Bin Laden, the operational planning was influenced by Skorzeny's legacy. Yet he was also an egoist who stole other men's credit (including for the seminal rescue of Mussolini), brave and resourceful but also an unrepentant Nazi and a self-aggrandizing hogger of the limelight. Stuart Smith draws on years of in-depth research to uncover the truth about Skorzeny's career and complex personality. From his background as a student radical in Vienna, to his bloody service with the Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front, his surprise rebirth as a commando, and his intriguing post-war career and mysterious fortune, this book tells Otto Skorzeny's story in full – warts and all – for the first time.

Commando Extraordinary

Commando Extraordinary
Author: Charles Foley
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Total Pages: 250
Release: 1954
Genre: World War, 1939-1945
ISBN: 9780304350803

Described by the Allied forces during World War II as the most dangerous man in Europe, the German maverick soldier Otto Skorzeny was the creator of many of the tactics later employed by the SAS. This account tells how he became world famous overnight when, with a glider borne attack he rescued Mussolini from the mountain prison of Gran Sasso. It also recounts his infiltration of American forces during the Battle of the Bulge.

Secrets of Special Ops Leadership

Secrets of Special Ops Leadership
Author: William A. Cohen
Publisher: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2005-09-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0814413501

"The Navy SEALs. The Green Berets. Delta Force. These are just a few examples of what are known as ""special ops"" -- unique fighting forces trained to beat overwhelming odds on every mission. Using principles like speed, purpose, repetition, surprise, and simplicity, elite units such as these have throughout history accomplished extremely challenging tasks against vastly superior forces. When something seemingly impossible must be achieved, special ops forces are the ones called upon for a miracle. Just as special ops are needed for critical tasks in battle, ultra-high achievers are needed for special circumstances in business: situations where time is important, when resources are low or insufficient, where you are challenging conventional wisdom or established competitors, or where crisis is imminent. But can commando techniques really work in business? If you can inspire and lead your employees to work at peak performance, they will accomplish dramatic, almost fantastic feats for you -- just as fighting commandos do in battle situations. Secrets of Special Ops Leadership reveals the essential methods commando leaders employ, using dramatic real-life stories of commando leadership from biblical times all the way up through Iraq and Afghanistan in 2005, and showing how similar techniques are used by present-day business leaders such as Steve Jobs, Mary Kay Ash, Robert Townsend, and others. You'll learn the fourteen core practices of special ops leadership, including how to: * Create the Best If you think you can just call some of your regular employees together and give them a pep talk and an impossible task to do, you're wrong. Business commandos aren't born. They must be created. Your first task as a special ops business leader is to recruit, select, train, and motivate the right people. * Build a Commando Team Using models such as Carlson's Raiders, who fought for the U.S. Marines during World War II, the book explains how to work with different personalities, agendas, priorities, and motivations to create a team that works efficiently and effectively to get the job done. * Dare the Impossible Like the Sayeret Mat'kal, the Israeli Special Ops unit that staged the miraculous raid on Entebbe to free hostages on an Air France plane hijacked by terrorists in 1976, successful business ops must aggressively seek out opportunities and know when to transcend conventional thinking to stage an assault and take action. When they've got the right problems to work on, business commandos can do many times the work of normal employees, accomplish more with less, complete projects against looming deadlines, and create innovative new products and strategies. Secrets of Special Ops Leadership gives you the ammunition you need to get a business commando unit up and running and achieve the impossible for your organization."

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Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 688
Release: 1999
Genre: Military art and science
ISBN:

Hitler's Irishmen

Hitler's Irishmen
Author: Terence O'Reilly
Publisher: Mercier Press Ltd
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2008-05-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1856357260

During the Second World War, two young Irishmen served in the armed forces of Nazi Germany, swearing the oath of the Waffen-SS and wearing the organisation's uniform and even its distinctive blood group tattoo.Ironically these young men had originally joined an Irish regiment of the British army, and but for a twist of fate would have ended up fighting against the Germans. Instead, the pair were recruited to the German special forces after they were captured on the island of Jersey.Under the command of Otto Skorzeny, the man who rescued Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from a mountain top prison, they were involved in some of the most ferocious fighting of the war in the last days of the Third Reich.This account, which also covers some of the other Irishmen who sided with Nazi Germany, draws heavily on their own accounts and on state papers which have been released in recent years.

The Skorzeny Papers

The Skorzeny Papers
Author: Ralph P. Ganis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 577
Release: 2018-06-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1510708421

In The Skorzeny Papers, the author reveals the details of the post-World War II activities of former SS Commando Otto Skorzeny. Considered by British and American Allied forces as “the most dangerous man in Europe,” Skorzeny planned and led numerous daring missions throughout the war. The story in this book was extracted by Major Ganis from Skorzeny’s personal papers. The evidence reveals that Skorzeny gradually and methodically became involved in US intelligence and covert operations during the Cold War. But Skorzeny’s network had a greater point of destiny in November 1963, when it was utilized to carry out the most tragic mission in history. This story would have been lost had Skorzeny not kept meticulous records of his businesses and contacts, which were fronts for US covert activity. In the end, The Skorzeny Papers reveal the intriguing web of secret organizations and people linked to the events culminating in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Spec Ops

Spec Ops
Author: William H. McRaven
Publisher: Presidio Press
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2009-02-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 030754723X

Vice Adm. William H. McRaven helped to devise the strategy for how to bring down Osama bin Laden, and commanded the courageous U.S. military unit that carried it out on May 1, 2011, ending one of the greatest manhunts in history. In Spec Ops, a well-organized and deeply researched study, McRaven analyzes eight classic special operations. Six are from WWII: the German commando raid on the Belgian fort Eben Emael (1940); the Italian torpedo attack on the Alexandria harbor (1941); the British commando raid on Nazaire, France (1942); the German glider rescue of Benito Mussolini (1943); the British midget-submarine attack on the Tirpitz (1943); and the U.S. Ranger rescue mission at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines (1945). The two post-WWII examples are the U.S. Army raid on the Son Tay POW camp in North Vietnam (1970) and the Israeli rescue of the skyjacked hostages in Entebbe, Uganda (1976). McRaven—who commands a U.S. Navy SEAL team—pinpoints six essential principles of “spec ops” success: simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed and purpose. For each of the case studies, he provides political and military context, a meticulous reconstruction of the mission itself and an analysis of the operation in relation to his six principles. McRaven deems the Son Tay raid “the best modern example of a successful spec op [which] should be considered textbook material for future missions.” His own book is an instructive textbook that will be closely studied by students of the military arts. Maps, photos.