Operation Scherhorn

(commanding officer's name)

'Scherhorn' was a German unrealised plan, otherwise known as 'Freischütz' (iv), under the leadership of SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny, for the recovery of a supposed force of 2,500 men under the command of Oberstleutnant Heinrich Scherhorn, cut off behind the Soviet lines some 60 miles (100 km) to the east of Minsk (October 1944/20 April 1945).

The planning was undertaken by Generaloberst Georg-Hans Reinhardt’s Heeresgruppe 'Mitte', but the implementation of the undertaking was cancelled on 20 April 1945 after it had become apparent that the supposed existence of this isolated force was a Soviet ruse created as 'Berezino' to lure German special forces into a trap and seize both the men and their weapons.