Operation Greif (Unternehmen Greif) was a special operation commanded by Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the battle of the Bulge in World War II. The operation was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler, and its purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river before they could be destroyed. German soldiers, wearing captured British and U.S. Army uniforms and using captured Allied vehicles, were to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied lines. A lack of vehicles, uniforms and equipment limited the operation and it never achieved its original aim of securing the Meuse bridges. Skorzeny's postwar trial set a precedent clarifying article 4 of the Geneva Convention: as the German soldiers removed the Allied uniforms before engaging in combat, they were not to be considered francs-tireurs.
There was an earlier military operation that used this name; an anti-partisan operation conducted by the German Army, begun on 14 August 1944, in the vicinity of Orsha and Vitebsk in the Soviet Union.
On 14 December, Panzerbrigade 150 was assembled near Bad Münstereifel and on the afternoon of 16 December it moved out, advancing behind the three attacking Panzer divisions, the 1st SS Panzer Division, the 12th SS Panzer Division, and the 12th Volksgrenadier Division, with the aim of moving around them when they reached the High Fens. However, when the 1st SS Panzer Division failed to reach the start point within two days, Skorzeny realized that Operation Greif's initial aims were now doomed.
Captain John Alexander Cruickshank was the last living recipient awarded the Victoria Cross during the Second World War. He received the award for his bravery in an attack on a German U-boat on 17 July 1944. Despite severe wounds, he ensured the safe arrival and landing of his crew on the return from this attack. John Appleton was the radar operator.
