Rescue My Friend MTO (id:#61602)

(Coastal Fortress ID: BB 02.2)   [next]   [previous]

Gran Sasso, Italy 1943-09-12 (3 others)

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Overview:

On 12 September 1943, in an audacious expedition, the Italian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, was rescued from imprisonment by a group of German commandoes. On 8 September, as the Allies advanced onto the mainland, Italy swapped sides and joined the Allies and, on 13 October 1943, declared war on Germany. Mussolini was immediately arrested and imprisoned. His successor, Pietro Badoglio, appointed a new cabinet which, pointedly, contained no fascists. The Italian population rejoiced. Mussolini was kept under house arrest and frequently moved in order to keep his whereabouts hidden. On 26 August, he was moved into the Campo Imperatore Hotel, part of a ski resort high up on the mountains of Gran Sasso in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Hitler had personally charged 35-year-old Waffen SS colonel, Otto Skorzeny, an Austrian with an Action Man-type duelling scar down his left cheek, to rescue ‘Italy’s greatest son’. The hotel, being on a mountainside, made the possibility of a parachute drop impractical. Aerial reconnaissance revealed a small field behind the hotel, so Skorzeny decided on landing a group of handpicked commandoes by glider – a risky venture but the only option available to him. In the early afternoon of 12 September 1943, as the twelve gliders prepared to descend, Skorzeny realized that the field was not flat, as he believed, but a steep hillside. They had no choice but to crash-land on the uneven but flatter ground in front of the hotel. One glider crashed, resulting in a few injuries, but otherwise the risk paid off. Despite being outnumbered by 200 Italian guards, or carabinieri, Skorzeny’s men quickly took control of the situation, forcing the carabinieri to surrender without a single shot being fired. Skorzeny was helped by having brought with him an Italian general, Fernando Soleti, who emerged from the glider shouting, ‘Don’t shoot’ and sowing confusion among the Italian guards. Skorzeny attacked the radio operator with the butt of his rifle, then smashed the radio, before rushing up the stairs. Having found Mussolini’s room, Skorzeny burst in announcing, ‘Duce, the Fuhrer has sent me! You’re free!’ Overwhelmed, Mussolini, who had watched the gliders land from his window, responded, ‘I knew my friend Adolf wouldn’t desert me.’

Defender: Italian (Alpini Regiment)  

Errata (source)