A study of the troops that made up Germany's elite special forces of World War II. Such forces included the legendary Skorzeny Commandos who carried out audacious tasks such as the glider-borne rescue of Mussolini, and the kidnapping of the son of the Hungarian regent, Admiral Horthy. This book also includes details of lesser-known units such as the Brandenburgers, who operated behind enemy lines in captured uniforms, and the Kleinkampfverb?nde who were the forerunners of modern-day naval combat troops like the US Navy SEALs. This book is complete with uniform and kit detail together with action accounts of many of these daring operations.

Introduction: Abwehr and SS rivalry ; Wilhelm Canaris ; Otto Skorzeny -- The Army: The Brandenburgers: Theodore von Hippel - Ebbinghaus Group, Poland, 1939 ; Special Duties Battalion 800 - Holland, 1940 ; Special Duties Regiment 800 - the Balkans 1941 ; North Africa, 1942-43: Von Koenen Detachment - Special Units 287 & 288 ; Operation Barbarossa, 1941 - Maikop 1942 ; Dispersed operations, 1942-44 ; Panzergrenadier Division "Brandenburg", 1944-45 -- The Waffen SS: SS Special Duties Unit Friedenthal - SS Light Infantry Battalion 502 - The Mussolini raid, July 1943 - Berlin, July 1944 - Walter Girg - The Horthy raid, October 1944 ; Panzerbrigade 150: the Ardennes, December 1944 ; The Oder front, February-April 1945 ; SS-Paratroop Battalion 500: Bosnia, 1944 - the Tito raid - Lithuania - Budapest ; SS-Paratroop Battalion 600: the Oder front, January-March 1945 - the Berlin front, April 1945 -- The Kriegsmarine: Small Battle Units, April 1944: Helmuth Heye and Fritz Frauenheim ; Lehrkommandos 200, 250, 300, 350, 600 & 700: Sprengboote, midget submarines, one-man torpedoes, assault boats and frogmen -- The Luftwaffe: Kampfgeschwader 200: Werner Baumbach ; Covert use of allied aircraft - Mistel 'flying bombs' Manned V1s - long range operations -- Summary.