Otto Skorzeny's Planned Operation Grifone in Ardennes, Dec 1944

In late 1944 German SS officer Otto Skorzeny was assigned by Adolf Hitler to organize a special commando unit, known as Operation Grifone, aimed at capturing senior Allied commanders and seizing one or more bridges over the Meuse River in the Ardennes before they could be destroyed. The operation, ordered on 22 October 1944, called for a brigade of German troops trained to speak fluent English and to disguise themselves in Allied uniforms, with ten elite soldiers wearing Military Police insignia to direct traffic and tank movements. Skorzeny recruited and trained a force of about ten English‑speaking soldiers and an additional 200 who learned basic English, despite the risk that captured troops in enemy uniforms could be executed as spies under the 1907 Hague Convention. The plan also envisaged spreading confusion behind Allied lines by altering road signs and diverting forces. The episode is depicted in the 1965 film “La battaglia dei giganti.”