World War II classic story - the German battalion rescues Mussolini

In July 1943, when Hitler was in a frenzy about the successive defeats on the Soviet-German battlefield, a top-secret piece of information was sent to his desk: Mussolini was arrested! This news was like five thunderbolts, which shocked him greatly.

It turned out that the war was going on until 1943, the Axis powers led by Germany and Italy began to enter a stage of total collapse, and an anti-Mussolini force arose in Italy, and after continuous struggle, they forced Mussolini to go down to the stage. Marshal Badorio, who succeeded Mussolini, attempted to extradite Mussolini to the Allies in exchange for the end of the war. Hitler knew in his heart that if Mussolini were handed over to the Allies, he would not only lose an ally, but would also mean the complete collapse of the Axis powers.

In order to save their lives, Hitler immediately rushed to the base camp "Wolf's Den" and ordered his commando commander Skozennu to rescue Mussolini at all costs.

He shouted, "I want you to get him out, you can do what you like, but I don't know where he's being held." Remember, what is rare is time, what is easy to lose is opportunity, and action must be fast, fast, and fast again!"

On Hitler's orders, Skozennu immediately set up an operational command in Rome and sent a large number of spies to scout Mussolini's whereabouts. However, because the Italian authorities were afraid that the Germans would snatch Mussolini away, while strengthening secrecy measures, they also constantly changed the location of the imprisonment, so that the German commandos have been confused. More than a month had passed, and the German commandos were still ignorant of Mussolini's tracks.

Just when the German commandos felt helpless, a fortuitous event helped the Germans. German intelligence intercepted a telegram from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, which said: "The vigilance near Montecono has been completed." The telegram of just 10 words gave the Germans great inspiration. They were familiar with the terrain of the area: Montecono was the main peak of the Apennines, and there was a climbing club in Italy called the Hotel General Campo, just south of the mountain, 160 kilometers from the city of Rome, a relatively secluded and remote place, ideal for imprisoning important government personnel.

Skozennu concluded that Mussolini was imprisoned here. So the outlaw, who was loyal to Hitler, immediately flew to reconnoiter himself, and he found from the air that not only had all the roads leading to this place been blocked by the Italians, but that the hotel was built on top of a cliff with no access to the outside world, and that contact with the outside world could only be connected to the valley below by a cable car, and that there were hundreds of Italian troops near the cable car, and the vigilance work was foolproof.

Seeing this situation, Skozennu was still not dead-hearted, and after repeated reconnaissance, he boldly decided to use a small triangle next to the hotel to use a glider to carry out a sneak attack. His plan was to divide the soldiers into 3 roads. One way is responsible for seizing the cable car platform; the second road lands at the top of the hill to rescue Mussolini; the third road uses a light aircraft to land on the top of the cliff and wait for the plane to transport Mussolini to escape.

After the sneak attack plan was decided, a desperate operation began that stunned the whole world. On the afternoon of September 12, Skozennu led a commando team of 18 commandos and 90 paratroopers, each in 12 gliders, taking off from an airfield near Rome and unknowingly flying at high speed towards the intended target. However, due to improper operation during take-off, two gliders collided on their own, and another 10 gliders, led by Skozennu, staggered towards their intended target.

Skozennu's glider first landed in a small clearing on the pebble floor. However, the rest of the gliders were in poor condition, with 3 landing wings damaged by stones, and one crashing head-on into the mountain, killing people. The other 5 went very smoothly, swooping silently to the cable car platform like hungry eagles.

The Italian soldiers guarding the hotel were stunned by this sudden divine arrival, and before they could react, they were obediently disarmed by the Germans, and it took only 3 minutes for the commandos to rescue Mussolini. However, because the original receiving aircraft was parked at the airport and could not be contacted, the aircraft called according to the preparatory plan crashed again during landing, and Mussolini could not be transported away for a while, and the sneak attack operation, which was still going well, fell into the danger of being abandoned halfway.

The Germans had only two ways out of this critical situation: one was to turn to the defensive on the spot and fight the Italian reinforcements who were coming soon, which was likely to end in the destruction of both the commandos and Mussolini; and the other was to take active measures to take off before the Arrival of the Italians, so that it was possible to win a way to survive.

In the face of the crisis, Skozennu immediately made a decision and selected the latter, he sent a distress signal to a German aircraft that was answering the air, asking the plane to land and carry them; on the other hand, he directed all personnel, including Mussolini, to repair the emergency landing site of the aircraft and create conditions for the plane to land. In order to leave the place alive, the German soldiers who participated in the repair of the airport showed their desperate strength, and even the obese Mussolini used the strength to suckle and do the rough work. They removed the destroyed glider and gravel, and in less than 5 minutes, they repaired a landing field where the plane could land. The landing field had just been repaired, and a German light aircraft circling in the air immediately began to land. The plane was piloted by the German ace pilot Lorod, who, with great skill, landed the plane on a potholed landing field.

The plane had only one empty seat, but Skozennu and Mussolini, two big fat men, had to be crammed into a plane that could carry only one person. Skozennu climbed into the back seat first, then asked the soldiers to stuff Mussolini in. Mussolini could not care about the dignity of the prime minister and had to be at the mercy of the soldiers. The soldiers grabbed his arms and legs, pushed him into the cockpit, and pressed down harder. The two men filled every gap in the cockpit, and Mussolini's head was still exposed. There was no way but to take off like this.

Faced with an overloaded aircraft, Lolock showed his well-known housekeeping skills. He ordered 12 German soldiers to pull the plane backwards desperately, and then he pushed the throttle to the maximum, while signaling the soldiers to let go immediately. Suddenly, the plane, losing its rear towing, screamed and slid down the mountain. However, due to poor ground conditions and fast taxi speed, the landing gear on the side of the aircraft was damaged by stones, but Lorok relied on his extraordinary piloting skills to pull the plane up and fly safely over the Roman airport under such extremely difficult circumstances. When the plane landed, he unexpectedly made a thrilling unicycline landing that successfully transported Mussolini to Rome.

In the German base camp, Hitler and Mussolini, two war maniacs, hugged each other tightly like lovers who had been reunited for a long time. After a while, when Hitler's gaze fell on Skozennu to the side, he immediately released Mussolini and grabbed Skozennu's hands, "Hero! Heroes of Germany! Now, I appoint you as my colonel's retinue!" a new fascist maniac stood out.

This outlaw-style airborne raid not only became the big news that the whole world was uproaring at that time, but also left a bizarre story in the history of airborne operations as a typical combat example.