MerleGrier1601: further improved references for consistency and fixed typos for clarity

2026-03-12T01:50:17Z

further improved references for consistency and fixed typos for clarity

72.89.154.150: robot: Create/upgrade articles. If there is a mistake please report on my talk page.

2022-12-06T13:39:05Z

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{{Short description|Rescue of Benito Mussolini by German forces}}
{{refimprove|dte=October 2021|date=October 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Operational plan
| name = Gran Sasso raid
| partof = [[World War II]]
| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-567-1503A-07, Gran Sasso, Mussolini mit deutschen Fallschirmjägern.jpg
| image_size = 300
| caption = Mussolini with German commandos
| type = [[prison escape]] with outside help
| location = [[Hotel Campo Imperatore]], Italy
| coordinates = {{coord|42|26|32.73|N|13|33|31.66|E|type:event_region:IT_scale:50000|display=title}}
| planned_by = [[Harald Mors]]
| target = [[Campo Imperatore]]
| date = {{start date and age|1943|09|12|df=y}}
| executed_by = {{ubl|[[2nd Parachute Division (Germany)|2nd Parachute Division]]|[[502nd SS Jäger Battalion]]}}
| outcome = [[Benito Mussolini]] escaped from prison
| casualties = 2 Italians killed, 10 Germans wounded
}}
During [[World War II]], the '''Gran Sasso raid''' (codenamed ''Unternehmen Eiche'', {{IPA-de|ʊntɐˌneːmən ˈaɪ̯çə|-|De-Unternehmen Eiche.ogg}}, literally "Operation Oak", by the German military{{sfn|López|2018|p=17–19}}) on 12 September 1943 was a successful operation by [[Fallschirmjäger|German paratroopers]] and ''[[Waffen-SS]]'' commandos to rescue the deposed [[Fascism|Fascist]] dictator [[Benito Mussolini]] from custody in the [[Gran Sasso d'Italia]] [[massif]]. The airborne operation was personally ordered by [[Adolf Hitler]], approved by General [[Kurt Student]] and planned and executed by Major [[Harald Mors]].

== Background ==
{{Further|Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy|Armistice of Cassibile}}
On the night between 24 and 25 July 1943, a few weeks after the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]] and [[bombing of Rome in World War II|bombing of Rome]], the [[Grand Council of Fascism]] voted a [[motion of no confidence]] against prime minister [[Benito Mussolini]]. On the same day, King [[Victor Emmanuel III]] replaced him with Marshal [[Pietro Badoglio]]<ref name="fital">{{cite book | last= Whittam| first= John |title =Fascist Italy| publisher= [[Manchester University Press]]| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=hHgMm6APG_0C&q=%22Vatican+Radio%22+%22Radio+London%22+fascist | isbn= 0-7190-4004-3 | year= 2022}}</ref> and had Mussolini arrested.<ref name="prisonrescue">{{cite book |last= Annussek |first=Greg |title=Hitler's Raid to Save Mussolini |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-81396-2 |year=2022}}</ref> This is commonly known as the [[Fall of the Fascist regime in Italy]] (or ''25 Luglio'' in Italian); [[Badoglio I Cabinet|Badoglio's government]] at first continued the war on the [[Axis powers]]' side,<ref name="Trumpener"/> but after Italian and German forces were defeated during the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]] (17 August), the Italian government began secret negotiations with the Allies to surrender. This resulted in the [[Armistice of Cassibile]] on 3 September, coinciding with the [[Allied invasion of Italy|Allied invasion of mainland Italy]].<ref name="Encarta">''[[Encarta]] [[Winkler Prins]] Encyclopaedia'' (1993–2002) s.v. "Badoglio, Pietro; Mussolini, Benito Amilcare Andrea; Wereldoorlog, Tweede §3.5 Geallieerde invasie op Sicilië". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.</ref>

== Preparations ==
=== Badoglio government ===
Italian high command, led by Marshal Badoglio, was well aware that the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German army]] would probably try to seize control of Italy as soon as the government switched sides to the Allies. Therefore, the Italian government wanted the Allied troops to have landed on the mainland before the armistice took effect and was announced publicly – which happened on 8 September<ref name="Encarta"/> – so that the Allies could move north quickly to help defend especially the capital city of Rome against the looming German invasion. Indeed, Mussolini's fall prompted German military commanders to develop [[Operation Achse]] (the plans, originally codenamed Operation Alarich, were changed several times from 28 July to 30 August) to mitigate the impact of a potential Italian defection as much as possible.<ref name="Trumpener">{{Cite book |last=Trumpener |first=Ulrich |date=2015 |title=World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia |chapter=ACHSE (AXIS), Operation (9 September–October 1943) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V6_lCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1351 |location=Abingdon |publisher=Routledge |page=1351 |isbn=9781135812492 |access-date=7 October 2021}}</ref> The Badoglio government also realised that the Germans were likely to attempt breaking Mussolini out of prison, reinstate him and rally Fascist support to keep Italy in the war on Germany's side, and so strict measures to hide and secure Mussolini were taken: he was moved several times and guarded by almost a battalion of troops.<ref name="Schuster">{{Cite book |last=Schuster |first=Carl O. |date=2015 |title=World War II in Europe: An Encyclopedia |chapter=Gran Sasso raid (12 September 1943) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V6_lCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA1519 |location=Abingdon |publisher=Routledge |page=1519 |isbn=9781135812492 |access-date=7 October 2021}}</ref>

=== Mussolini's imprisonment ===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-567-1503A-05, Gran Sasso, Hotel Campo Imperatore.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Hotel Campo Imperatore]] in 1943]]
Mussolini was arrested on the king's orders by the [[Carabinieri]] on 25 July just after he left the [[Villa Ada|king's private residence]], and he was initially brought to the Podgora Carabinieri Headquarters in [[Trastevere]].{{sfn|López|2018|p=17}} In the afternoon he was transferred to the Carabinieri Cadet School in the vía Legnano, where he was held until 27 July.{{sfn|López|2018|p=17}} On 27 July, military police led by general Francesco Saverio Pólito took Mussolini to [[Gaeta]], boarded the ship ''Persefone'' and imprisoned Mussolini in an isolated house on the island of [[Ponza]] in the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]] from 12:00 on 28 July to 7 August.{{sfn|López|2018|p=19–20}} On 7 August, Mussolini was transferred to a private villa on [[La Maddalena]]{{sfn|López|2018|p=20}}<ref name="Encarta"/> (until 27 August).{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} Since 28 August,{{sfn|López|2018|p=58}} Mussolini had been held at the [[Hotel Campo Imperatore]], which was built on a remote and defendable mountain plateau 2,112 metres above sea level in the [[Gran Sasso d'Italia]] mountain range.{{sfn|López|2018|p=23}} A ski station was located next to the hotel,{{sfn|López|2018|p=18}} linked with a [[aerial lift|cable car]].{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} The hotel was one of originally three planned hotels (but the only one that was ever built) shaped in the letters 'D', 'V' and 'X', together 'DVX', the Latin word meaning "leader", from which Mussolini's Italian title ''il Duce'' was derived.{{sfn|López|2018|p=23}} Ironically, the D-shaped Hotel Campo Imperatore constructed to celebrate Mussolini's rule served as his prison for several weeks.{{sfn|López|2018|p=23}}

=== German tracking and planning ===
[[File:Italy September 1943.png|thumb|300px|Italian military situation in September 1943]]

[[Adolf Hitler]]'s common procedure was to give similar orders to competing German military organisations.{{citation needed|date=October 2021|reason=Needs RS to confirm this was a 'common procedure' and that these were 'competing'.}} He ordered ''[[Hauptsturmführer]]'' [[Otto Skorzeny]] to track Mussolini and simultaneously ordered the paratroop General [[Kurt Student]] to execute the liberation.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} On September 7, German signals intelligence intercepted a coded Italian report which indicated that Mussolini was imprisoned somewhere in the Abruzzi mountains.<ref name="Schuster"/> Next, the Germans employed a ruse to confirm the exact location in which a German doctor pretended to try to establish a hospital at the hotel on the [[Gran Sasso d'Italia|Grand Sasso]].<ref name="Schuster"/> Informants of ''[[Obersturmbannführer|SS-Obersturmbannführer]]'' [[Herbert Kappler]] used counterfeit notes with a face value of £100,000 forged under [[Operation Bernhard]] to help obtain information.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} Skorzeny used information gathered by agents to plan his raid.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

== Raid ==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 101I-567-1503C-04, Gran Sasso, Fieseler Fi 156 »Storch«.jpg|thumb|upright|This [[Fieseler Fi 156]] helped Mussolini escape.]]
After the Italian government [[Badoglio Proclamation|announced the Armistice of Cassibile]] and thereby its defection from the Axis to the Allies on 8 September, the German army launched Operation Achse and quickly occupied strategic points in northern and central Italy within days, effectively disarming hundreds of thousands of Italian soldiers who had nominally just switched sides.<ref name="Trumpener"/> The Allied Italian military and political leaders including marshal Badoglio and king Victor Emmanuel III fled to Allied-controlled territory in southern Italy.<ref name="Encarta"/>

On 12 September 1943, Skorzeny and 16 SS troopers joined the ''[[Fallschirmjäger (World War II)|Fallschirmjäger]]'' to rescue Mussolini in a high-risk glider mission. Ten [[DFS 230]] gliders, each carrying nine soldiers and a pilot, towed by [[Henschel Hs 126]] planes started between 13:05 and 13:10 from the [[Pratica di Mare Air Base]], near Rome.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

The leader of the airborne operation, [[Oberleutnant]] Georg Freiherr von Berlepsch, entered the first glider while Skorzeny and his SS troopers sat in the fourth and the fifth gliders. To gain height before crossing the close by [[Alban Hills]], the leading three glider-towing plane units flew an additional loop. All of the following units considered that manoeuvre to be unnecessary and preferred not to endanger the given time of arrival at the target. That led to both of Skorzeny's units arriving first over the target.<ref name="López">{{cite book|author=Óscar González López|title=Fallschirmjäger at the Gran Sasso|publisher=AF Editores |place=Valladolid |year=2007 |isbn=978-84-96935-00-6}}</ref>

Meanwhile, the valley station of the funicular railway leading to the Campo Imperatore was captured at 14:00 in a ground attack by two paratrooper companies, led by Major Harald Mors, the commander-in-chief of the whole raid, which cut all telephone lines. This ground attack caused the only two deaths of the operation, Italian forestry guard Pasqualino Vitocco, who was killed while attempting to warn the garrison of the approaching German troops, and ''carabiniere'' Giovanni Natale, who was killed while preparing to open fire on the attackers. Two more carabinieri were slightly wounded by a [[hand grenade]].<ref>[https://www.combattentiereduci.it/notizie/pasqualino-vitocco-e-giovanni-natali-due-militari-cancellati-dalla-storia Pasqualino Vitocco e Giovanni Natale, due militari cancellati dalla storia]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.it/books?id=XL1mEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT142&lpg=PT142&dq=%22pasquale+vitocco%22&source=bl&ots=cav0xOOUcu&sig=ACfU3U2o8o01sYBUdXEnz7tn37tWFqTZtA&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjRv9ahiZn6AhUISPEDHVi2C8M4ChDoAXoECA8QAw#v=onepage&q=%22pasquale%20vitocco%22&f=false L'ospite della camera 201]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.it/books?id=eT6ODAAAQBAJ&pg=PT148&lpg=PT148&dq=%22generale+soleti%22&source=bl&ots=Pc9YXX_obb&sig=ACfU3U1a5YPtTFDunxTvfUHSfqNAs_aWKg&hl=it&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiW05a9_Jj6AhXVSfEDHdT6CNwQ6AF6BAgbEAM#v=onepage&q=%22generale%20soleti%22&f=false Settembre 1943: I giorni della vergogna]</ref> At 14:05, the airborne commandos landed their ten DFS 230 gliders on the mountain near the hotel. One crashed and caused injuries.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

The ''Fallschirmjäger'' and Skorzeny's special troopers overwhelmed Mussolini's captors, 200 well-equipped ''[[Carabinieri]]'' guards, without a single shot being fired. General [[Fernando Soleti]] of the [[Italian African Police]], who flew in with Skorzeny, had told them to stand down. Skorzeny attacked the radio operator and his equipment and stormed into the hotel, followed by his SS troopers and the paratroopers. Ten minutes after the beginning of the raid, Mussolini left the hotel and was accompanied by the German soldiers. At 14:45, Mors accessed the hotel via the funicular railway and introduced himself to Mussolini.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

Mussolini was then to be flown out by a [[Fieseler Fi 156]] [[STOL]] plane that had arrived in the meantime. Although under the given circumstances the small plane was overloaded, Skorzeny insisted on accompanying Mussolini, which endangered the mission's success.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

After an extremely dangerous but successful takeoff, they flew to [[Pomezia|Pratica di Mare]]. They then immediately continued to fly in a [[Heinkel He 111]] to [[Vienna]], where Mussolini stayed overnight at the [[Hotel Imperial]]. The next day he was flown to [[Munich]], and on 14 September, he met Hitler at [[Führer Headquarters]], in [[Wolf's Lair]], near [[Rastenburg]].<ref name="Kuby">[[Erich Kuby]]: ''Verrat auf deutsch. Wie das Dritte Reich Italien ruinierte.'' Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg 1982, {{ISBN|3-455-08754-X}}.</ref>

== Aftermath ==
{{refimprove section|date=September 2022}}
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J15420, Gran Sasso, Mussolini vor Hotel.jpg|thumb|upright|Mussolini leaving the hotel]]
The operation granted a rare public relations opportunity to [[Hermann Göring]] late in the war, with German propaganda hailing the operation for months afterward. The landing at [[Campo Imperatore]] was in fact led by [[First lieutenant|First Lieutenant]] von Berlepsch, commanded by Major Mors and under orders from General Student, all of whom were ''[[Fallschirmjäger (World War II)|Fallschirmjäger]]'' officers, but Skorzeny stewarded the Italian leader right in front of the cameras.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

After an SS propaganda coup at the behest of ''[[Reichsführer-SS]]'' [[Heinrich Himmler]] and Propaganda Minister [[Joseph Goebbels]], Skorzeny and his special forces of the ''[[Waffen-SS]]'' were granted the majority of the credit for the operation.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}
Skorzeny gained a large amount of success from the mission. He received a promotion to [[Sturmbannführer]], the award of the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] and the fame that led to his image as the "most dangerous man in Europe".<ref name="López"/>

After hearing of Mussolini's escape, British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] stated in the [[House of Commons]]: "Knowing that ''[[Duce|il Duce]]'' was hidden in a safe place and that the Government of Badoglio was committed to handing him over to the Allies, a daring attack, completely beyond all foresight, prevented this from happening".<ref name="López 2018">{{cite book|author=Óscar González López |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e8OIDwAAQBAJ |title=Freeing Mussolini: Dismantling the Skorzeny Myth in the Gran Sasso Raid |publisher=Pen & Sword Books |place=Barnsley |year=2018 |isbn=9781526719997}}</ref>

Skorzeny published an autobiography in 1950 (''Geheimkommando Skorzeny'') and another book (''Meine Kommandounternehmen'') in 1976.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/OttoSkorzenyMyCommandoOperations/page/n3/mode/2up ''My Commando Operations''] (see p. 228-284)</ref>

Historian Ulrich Trumpener (2015) stated that 'exaggerated credit [for the operation] was later given to a small SS detachment under [[Otto Skorzeny]]'.<ref name="Trumpener"/> Historian Óscar González López stated that Skorzeny was a 'fake liberator' created by [[Propaganda in Nazi Germany|Nazi propaganda]], calling the [[Fallschirmjäger]] the 'legitimate protagonists' of the Gran Sasso raid.<ref name="López 2018"/>

== See also ==
* [[Operation Achse]]

== Footnotes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* {{commonscat-inline}}

{{Benito Mussolini}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Benito Mussolini]]
[[Category:German World War II special forces]]
[[Category:20th century in Abruzzo]]
[[Category:Italian Social Republic]]
[[Category:Military operations of World War II involving Germany]]
[[Category:Military parachuting in Germany]]
[[Category:Operations involving German special forces]]
[[Category:POW escapes and rescues during World War II]]
[[Category:Province of L'Aquila]]
[[Category:September 1943 events]]
[[Category:World War II operations and battles of the Italian Campaign]]
[[Category:World War II raids]]

Gran Sasso raid - Revision history

MerleGrier1601: further improved references for consistency and fixed typos for clarity

72.89.154.150: robot: Create/upgrade articles. If there is a mistake please report on my talk page.