Skorzeny

War History Online has an article about Skorzeny:

Otto Skorzeny (photo, left) was one of Nazi Germany’s finest commandos. An engineer by profession, he tried to volunteer for the Luftwaffe in 1939, but was declined entry due to his age (thirty-one at the time) and unusual height (over six feet). He had a scar on his cheek, inflicted during a fencing duel, and would become known as ‘Scarface’. An Austrian Nazi Party member since 1931, he was a noted figure in the lower and mid-level party structures prior to the war.
After failing to enlist as an airman, his party connections enabled him to become a member of Hitler’s elite bodyguard unit. After proving himself to be a capable soldier, most notably in  the campaigns in the Netherlands, France, and Yugoslavia, he advanced through the ranks, becoming a lieutenant in the Waffen SS. He was wounded on the Eastern front and transferred to a desk job in Berlin, after which he got into the SS Foreign Intelligence Service. Here he was given a chance to propose his ideas on commando warfare, studying partisan methods he had seen in the East. He advocated the use of a small force of saboteurs, kidnappers, and assassins to minimize casualties, maximize effect, and create panic among the enemy. During the war, his name was associated with a string of operations, some of them largely successful, some not.
Some were only planned but never conducted, and some were not exactly commando operations, but were more daring or reckless efforts that prove Skorzeny’s insatiable ambition and loyalty to Adolf Hitler. This is a list containing his successful missions, in chronological order: 

5. Operation Oak, the Gran Sasso Raid In 1943, Skorzeny conducted his most famous action, the  rescue of then-imprisoned Benito Mussolini, the former dictator of Italy, codenamed Operation Oak.
After  success in the North African theater, the Allies landed in Sicily in 1943, and swiftly crushed the Italian Army in a series of victories. The front then settled on the so-called Winter Line, the Allied advance was held back by the Germans until the end of the war. Mussolini was overthrown and arrested by King Emanuel the Third in 1943. Hitler wanted him back, so he ordered Skorzeny, together with five Luftwaffe agents and three agents selected from the Army.
Mussolini had first been held on the island of Sardinia, where Skorzeny started to gather intelligence. He was shot down during a reconnaissance mission, but managed to bail out in time to be saved by a passing Italian destroyer, one still loyal to the Fascists. After this, Mussolini was moved to the Campo Imperatore Hotel atop the Gran Sasso.
Together with agents Kurt Student and Harald Mors, Skorzeny devised a daring plan which would be remembered as one of the finest commando operations ever. The mission was conducted using small aircraft, which landed on the mountain (photo, right). The members of the 502nd Paratrooper Division then proceeded to the Campo Imperatore Hotel. In a rather dashing turn of events, the team, accompanied by Police General Fernando Soleti, managed to persuade the carabinieri guarding the hotel to surrender their arms.
Skorzeny got hold of a radio and formally greeted the high-level captive with the words:  “Duce, the Führer has sent me to set you free!”, to which Mussolini replied: “I knew that my friend would not forsake me!” 

4. Assassination attempt On 20 July 1944, Skorzeny was in Berlin when an attempt on Hitler’s life was made. Anti-Nazi Army officers tried to seize control of Germany’s main decision centers before Hitler recovered from his injuries. Skorzeny helped put down the rebellion, spending thirty-six hours in charge of the Wehrmacht’s central command center before being relieved.
Even though this wasn’t technically an operation, it was a turning point, as Skorzeny proved to be one of Hitler’s most loyal officers, one on which he could rely on. Skorzeny had by that point received many decorations for his actions, and was one of the few people who enjoyed the Führer’s trust and respect. Skorzeny was also an opportunistic figure who knew his way around the Reich’s headquarters, and this event launched his professional career to new highs. 

3. Operation Panzerfaust By 1944, It was obvious that the war wasn’t going to last much longer. The Kingdom of Hungary was ready to sign a secret separate peace treaty with the Soviets as they advanced through the Ukraine and Romania. The Hungarian regent, Miklos Horthy, was ready to sign the treaty. Germany could not afford the surrender of its southern ally; they needed Hungary to hold back the Red Army. Skorzeny was assigned to use blackmail and extortion to persuade the Hungarian regent to step down from power and enable the pro-Fascist Arrow Cross Party to keep Hungary in the war. The plan was to kidnap the regent’s son, Miklos Horthy Jr., a politician himself and an important supporter of his father.
The action took place on 15 October 1944. The regent’s son was to meet the Yugoslav middlemen in the negotiations, but was, instead, captured by a commando unit, flown to Vienna, and transported to the Mauthausen concentration camp.
The action was swift, with no casualties, and handled in a rather criminal manner. Some of Hitler’s old-fashioned generals often opposed Skorzeny’s methods, for they had been in direct violations of every rule of war, but his popularity only grew, as he was Adolf Hitler’s favorite and most trusted soldier. Miklos Horthy Sr. was blackmailed after the kidnapping, and agreed to resign and let the country be occupied peacefully by German forces, who installed a pro-German puppet regime. 

2. Operation Griffen Operation Griffen was a ‘false flag’ mission under the command of Skorzeny. It occurred during the Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944, and its primary objective was to cause confusion and chaos among Allied troops and capture the bridges over the river Meuse.
The mission employed the use of captured Allied vehicles and uniforms, and was conducted by English-speaking members of the Einheit Stileu brigade, who were assembled through a series of tests of their English language skills and knowledge of  American slang and dialect.
Skorzeny lacked authentic American vehicles and equipment to conduct the large-scale operation that Hitler had unrealistically ordered. He had to improvise, so he camouflaged some German Panther tanks to look like American M10 Tank Destroyers. He also used German armored cars, which were changed to look more like their Allied counterparts.
The mission was set out in three directives: demolition teams were to destroy the bridges when captured, alongside with sabotaging the enemies fuel and ammunition depots. Reconnaissance patrols would go ahead of the main squads to pass on false orders to the units they’ve met, reverse road signs, and remove minefield warnings. Commando units would work closely with the attacking units to disrupt the American chain of command by destroying field telephone wires and radio stations, and issuing false orders. They never did manage to secure and hold the Meuse bridges, but they did cause temporary havoc among the Allied ranks, as Skorzeny succeeded in applying his tactics. Rumors were spread that the commandos were trying to kidnap Eisenhower in Paris, and that one of the Germans presented himself as Field Marshall Montgomery.
This led to a series of mishaps, one of them being the maltreatment of Montgomery by American soldiers, who shot out the tires of his car, suspecting he was an impostor. Eisenhower was forced to spend Christmas under high security. After the dust settled, the American general put out a “Wanted” poster with Skorzeny’s face on it, just like a Western movie. Once the Allies acknowledged that there were moles in their ranks they subsequently eliminated the German commandos, who withdrew soon after. 

1. The Battle for the Oder In January of 1945, the Soviets were advancing through Poland and its scouts were already on the natural border with Germany, the Oder river. Skorzeny was sent there to organize a defense force and hold the bridgehead at Schwedt. The commando had to improvise and gather all the troops he could muster, for the German high command hadn’t given enough men for a realistic defense.
The core around which he assembled his troops was an elite paratrooper unit. He called out for Hamburg dockyard workers, pilots who had no planes, and an SS battalion of Germans from Romania. He also borrowed an anti-tank unit from his fellow SS officers and managed to employ the cadets of the Friedenthal Sniper School.
Skorzeny held the bridge for thirty days, outnumbered fifteen to one. He managed to achieve that with careful positioning of his sniper teams, who covered the approach route and completely immobilized the Soviet infantry. Undoubtedly, this operation disrupted the Red Army’s timetable, buying Germany weeks to improve its defenses.

Rico says it's hard to admire a fanatical Nazi, but you gotta admit, the guy was good at his job...