We can say that 1943 was not a good year for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. After his ambition to control all of North Africa ended in a humiliating defeat, his catastrophic decision to send troops to the Eastern Front to fight the Soviet Union (now Russia) resulted in unbearable losses. This was compounded by the Allies’ invasion of Sicily and the landing of American and British forces on its shores, signaling the arrival of World War II’s flames at Italy’s borders. Unlike Germany, where Adolf Hitler ruled with an iron fist, Italy still had a king and a council that could hold Mussolini accountable. As a result of the disasters befalling the country, he was removed from power and arrested in a secret location. This prompted Hitler to issue orders to find his ally, bring him to Berlin at any cost, and initiate one of the most complex intelligence operations, known as Operation Oak, to reach and rescue the Italian leader.
On July 19, 1943, Allied bombers appeared over Rome and began bombing it. Although it was not the first time Rome had been targeted, this particular raid became a turning point in Mussolini’s downfall. The bombing flattened the San Lorenzo industrial area, caused severe damage to two of the capital’s airports, and turned parts of the old St. Lawrence Church into rubble. This led to outrage among members of his government, who decided to overthrow him in a vote of no confidence on July 24. The following day, Mussolini was summoned to the palace of King Victor Emmanuel III, where he was informed that he would be replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio and that his time in power had ended. The king explained that Mussolini had become the most hated man in Italy due to the destruction and that soldiers no longer wanted to fight.
Mussolini left the palace in shock, having ruled Italy since 1922, and was now humiliatingly ousted from his position after being betrayed by his government. As he left, he was immediately arrested by Italian military police under orders from the king. Three hours later, he announced his resignation over the radio, news that reached Adolf Hitler, who was stunned by the development. If Mussolini could be removed so easily, he feared the same fate might await him. Outraged and concerned about the potential for an alliance between the Allies and Italy, which could turn Italy into an enemy state, Hitler decided to annex Italy’s former territories into Germany and attempt to rescue his friend the dictator. Anticipating such a move, Mussolini was transferred frequently to various locations to prevent the Germans from finding him. However, Hitler anticipated this tactic and personally met with one of the most skilled German intelligence officers, Otto Skorzeny, instructing him to rescue Mussolini, as he was the embodiment of ancient Rome’s greatness, while the new government would abandon them. Therefore, Skorzeny was tasked with Operation Oak, also known as Operation Eiche.
As Skorzeny began overseeing Operation Oak, initial efforts to locate Mussolini were not encouraging. The German intelligence in Italy had little useful information about his whereabouts. Skorzeny dispatched agents across the country to gather information, but they were not very successful. However, it did not take long to track down the deposed dictator. Intercepted radio broadcasts revealed that Mussolini was being held under armed guard at the Campo Hotel, a ski resort in the Apennine Mountains in the Gran Sasso area of southern Italy. The only remaining problem was how to extract him. Aerial reconnaissance photos revealed that the hotel was situated atop a mountain, making a parachute assault impractical. However, the photos also showed a small, flat area adjacent to the hotel, which Skorzeny determined was ideal for a glider landing.
On the morning of September 12, 1943, Operation Oak was put into action when Otto Skorzeny and a team of German commandoes and paratroopers boarded ten gliders and took off from a small airfield near Rome toward the hotel. As they approached the landing site, Skorzeny realized that the designated landing area was actually a rocky slope, not the flat ground shown in the aerial photos. Consequently, the gliders had no choice but to crash-land on the slope, resulting in injuries to some of the troops. Meanwhile, below in the valley, two parachute units led by Major Harald Mors, the field commander of Operation Oak, seized the inclined railway line that usually transported tourists to the hotel, cutting all telephone lines and any external communication.
Back at the top of the mountain, once Skorzeny and his men arrived at the hotel where Mussolini was held under heavy guard by two hundred Carabinieri, Skorzeny brought with him Italian General Fernando Solleti, who shouted at the guards as the German forces entered the hotel, ordering them not to shoot. The guards complied, laying down their weapons and surrendering. The guards’ radio was destroyed to prevent any attempts to call for help. Skorzeny rushed upstairs, searching the rooms for the deposed Italian leader. When he finally found Mussolini, he informed him that Hitler had sent him to rescue him. Mussolini, visibly moved, expressed his certainty that his friend Adolf would not abandon him. At the same time, Major Mors made his way up the mountain, entered the hotel, and introduced himself to Mussolini. The smiling Italian dictator posed for photographs as Skorzeny communicated via radio with a short takeoff and landing aircraft to come and pick up the dictator.
The aircraft arrived and made a difficult landing on a rocky strip, and Skorzeny escorted Mussolini aboard. The plane was designed to carry only two passengers, but Skorzeny insisted on accompanying the dictator, making the plane dangerously overloaded and the takeoff more challenging. This unusual behavior by Skorzeny was attributed to his concern that if anything happened to Mussolini while leaving Italy, he would be held personally responsible, especially given Hitler’s known intolerance. Thus, success or failure would mean the same fate. The overloaded plane accelerated down the makeshift runway and managed to take off despite moments when it seemed it might crash into the valley below. The pilot skillfully lifted the plane’s nose, allowing it to soar into the sky and head toward Rome, while the rest of the team prepared to return to friendly territory on foot. Operation Oak achieved remarkable success without firing a single shot.
Mussolini was taken to Vienna, Austria, and then to Germany, where Hitler was shocked to see him for the first time on September 14 at his lair, the Wolf’s Lair, outside the town of Rastenburg. Mussolini had become a mournful figure and had lost considerable weight since their last meeting, but the important thing was that his old friend was safe. However, it soon became clear that the rescue was a hollow victory for Mussolini, as Hitler installed him as a puppet leader of the newly established Italian Social Republic. Mussolini admitted that he was now nothing more than one of Hitler’s followers and realized that the end was near. Seven years earlier, he had been an intriguing figure, but now he was little more than a corpse. Indeed, his intuition proved correct, and the end came swiftly. As the Allies advanced through northern Italy, Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, attempted to escape to neutral Switzerland. On April 27, 1945, they were captured by Italian partisans near the village of Dongo on the shores of Lake Como. The following morning, Mussolini was executed by firing squad, and his body, along with Petacci’s and several of his supporters, was hung from the roof of a gas station in Milan. This marked an unceremonious end for the man who had ruled Italy for over twenty years. While Operation Oak succeeded in rescuing him from his enemies, it was not enough to save him from justice and retribution for his crimes against his people and the world.
