PARIS: Capture of the professional German political kidnapper Lt.-Col. Otto Skorzeny by the American Seventh Army has [revealed] one of the biggest secrets of the European theatre — a plot last winter to assassinate Gen. Eisenhower. This 33-year-old Austrian and his band of assassins kept the whole front in a state of alert for months. Previously Skorzeny had won Himmler’s attention by rescuing Mussolini. He also was credited with kidnapping Adm. Horthy during the Hungarian crisis.

Early in the Ardennes offensive, American troops captured a small party of Skorzeny’s assassins and learned his general plan. Roadblocks were established from Belgium to Paris and the guards trapped American-speaking Germans by asking them questions about American comic strips and popular music which they were unable to answer. The captured Germans said it was Skorzeny’s plan to have a party of Germans, some dressed in American and some in German uniforms. When stopped, those in American uniforms were to say they were taking high German officers to S.H.A.E.F. [Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force] for questioning. In this way they hoped to get close enough to Eisenhower to kill him. The party never turned up and it was presumed that the plan had been discarded.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2020