It's summer, 1943, and Allied forces have moved to secure the Mediterranean from the
Axis powers once and for all.
This means one thing: neutralizing Italy, a staunch German ally led by the fascist dictator
Benito Mussolini.
Sweeping away the Italian navy, which performed atrociously against Allied forces, Allied
soldiers at last begin to make landfall on Sicily.
From captured airfields American and British bombers could now reach Rome, and an intense
bombing campaign begins against Italy's capital.
The intent is not so much to damage Italian industry and its warfighting ability, but
rather to capitalize on the low morale of Italian troops and citizens and force them
to overthrow Mussolini, thus suing for peace with the Allies.
Throughout the war, aside from a few notable exceptions in Africa, Italian forces performed
extremely poorly, and soon Hitler was sending experienced officers to 'supervise' his ally's
military.
The Germans saw it as a babysitting assignment, the Italians were simply sick of war.
They'd been lied to after all, Mussolini had promised to turn the Mediterranean into a
giant Italian lake, and now the Allies were on Italian territory.
The time was ripe for revolution, and shortly after the beginning of the bombing campaign,
the Italian government ousted Mussolini, imprisoning him on a mountain top ski resort- a secure
prison for one of the world's most dangerous men.
This was a disaster for Hitler, but he had one ace up his sleeve.
A single man, Otto Skorzeny, possibly the most dangerous man of World War II.
Skorzeny had made a name for himself as a firebrand Nazi and devout fascist, quickly
climbing the ranks of the German military.
Skorzeny's first ambition had been to become a pilot, and shortly after the invasion of
Poland he had volunteered for the Luftwaffe, but denied for being too tall.
At 6 foot 4 inches (1.92 meters), Otto was a formidable man indeed, and when his imposing
bulk prevented him from becoming a pilot, he joined Adolf Hitler's personal bodyguard
regiment instead.
As Hitler launched his invasion of the Soviet Union, Skorzeny was back on the front lines,
fighting with elite SS units.
As the Nazis pushed closer to Moscow, Skorzeny received orders from Hitler himself- he was
to capture several key communist party buildings and the NKVD headquarters.
This would have afforded the German military with huge amounts of valuable intelligence
and been a devastating blow to Soviet fighting morale- but Skorzeny's greatest prize was
the sluice gates to the Moscow canal.
Hitler had plans to open the sluice gates wide and let all of Moscow flood, turning
the Soviet capital into a lake.
Fortunately for the Soviets, the German advance began to falter and then halt.
Far too valuable to be lost on the eastern front, Otto Skorzeny was ordered back to Germany
after being hit in the back of the head by shrapnel.
Healing from his injuries, Skorzeny had nothing but time on his hands, time that he used to
contemplate his previous orders to capture important Communist buildings, the Soviet
secret police headquarters, and the Moscow canal sluice gates.
Skorzeny felt that the German military lacked units specialized in such forms of unconventional
warfare, and began to develop theories on waging unconventional warfare deep behind
enemy lines.
He studied historical partisan movements and spoke with experienced infantry and paratrooper
commanders.
In a time before Special Forces, Otto Skorzeny was developing the first modern plan for a
special operations taskforce.
Skorzeny's taskforce would operate deep behind enemy lines, and use subterfuge, espionage,
and intelligence rather than brute force to achieve its objectives.
By Skorzeny's accounting, a small team of specialized commandos could easily accomplish
more than an entire company of infantry could.
He was only too right, as British commandos were already training and preparing for deployment
behind enemy lines on mainland Europe.
The powers that be were slow to listen to Skorzeny however, at least until British commandos
began raiding behind enemy lines in Europe to devastating success.
To even his staunchest critics, Skorzeny was quickly proved right- small teams of elite
soldiers could in fact accomplish far more than entire companies of infantry could.
Skorzeny's name was quickly put forward to command Nazi Germany's first true special
operations training schools, and soon he was made commander of the Waffen Sonderverband
z.b.V Friedenthal special forces unit.
Germany may not have been short on syllables, but they were short on allies, and one of
Skorzeny's unit's first missions was to parachute behind enemy lines in Iran and contact local
tribes.
It was hoped that tribal members in Iran could be incited to attack Allied supply lines to
the Soviet Union, which despite its massive manpower, was almost completely reliant on
American supplies for its war effort.
Luckily for the Soviets, the effort was deemed unsuccessful when most of the tribes contacted
refused to take part in raids.
Skorzeny's next efforts however would be much more fruitful for Nazi Germany.
After Mussolini's ousting from power by the Italian Grand Council of Fascism, Hitler knew
that the Italian king would declare an armistice with the Allies.
This would be a major setback for the German war effort, as Italy had forced considerable
resources to be dedicated to the Mediterranean by the Allies.
It also threatened his links to oil supply routes in the Middle East, and would give
Allied aircraft access to Germany's southern flank if Italy allowed Allied war planes to
be stationed on its territory.
Thankfully the mighty Alps made an overland invasion of Germany from Italy all but impossible,
but still- Mussolini had to be restored to power... and there was only one man who could
get the job done.
Locating Mussolini was not easy, as the Italians feared that the Germans would doubtlessly
launch a rescue.
Hesitant to simply hand him over to the Allies as no armistice had been declared just yet,
the Italian government hoped to use Mussolini as a bargaining chip as it sued for peace.
To keep the German rescue effort at bay, the Italians moved Mussolini from location to
location, making him difficult to track.
For weeks Skorzeny and some of his most trusted men worked the streets of major Italian cities,
gathering intelligence and intercepting radio messages.
Skorzeny made free use of counterfeit British pounds, created in yet another unconventional
Nazi war plan to defeat the Allies, to bribe Italian officials and recruit double agents
and informants.
At last, Mussolini was located, and a rescue plan could be put into effect.
But rescuing Mussolini would be one of the riskiest operations of World War II.
Fully aware of a plot to rescue their fascist dictator, the Italians had taken great precautions
with the imprisonment of Mussolini.
They moved the dictator to a mountaintop ski resort high in the Apennine Mountains, which
could only be accessed by a cable car.
The cable car station was itself guarded by Italian infantry, and at the mountain top
resort, Mussolini was guarded by 200 elite Italian Carabiniery guards.
The resort was in effect, a fortress, with only the cable cars leading up to the top
of the mountain.
Any troops attempting to use the cars would be slaughtered long before they got a chance
to disembark.
Rescue would be impossible.
But the Italians never counted on the borderline insane daring of Otto Skorzeny.
Realizing that the only possible way to get to Mussolini would be to avoid the rail cars
altogether, Skorzeny consulted with some of the best Luftwaffe pilots- he had one question
for them: could a glider be landed on the grounds of the ski resort, despite the treacherous
mountain air currents.
Most agreed that technically, yes, it should be possible, but the risk was insane.
Unpowered gliders would be completely at the mercy of tumultuous mountain wind currents,
and landing room on the top of the mountain was already extremely limited.
Even if the gliders made it safely, it would be a miracle if they stopped in time before
tumbling off the edge of the mountain.
On 12th of September, 1943, the weather was at last suitable for the attempted rescue,
and Otto Skorzeny and his men loaded up onto ten gliders.
Each glider carried a single pilot and nine soldiers, bringing a total of 90 elite SS
troopers to face off against 200 heavily armed Italian Carabinieri.
But Skorzeny had a trump card to play in this gambit- flying alongside him was General Fernando
Soleti, head of the Polizia dell' Africa Italiana, and a respected officer.
Skorzeny gambled that if caught unawares in a surprise attack, and with the presence of
a respected Italian officer, the Carabinieri would stand down.
He'd soon find out.
As the gliders lifted into the air, two companies of German paratroopers launched an attack
on the forces holding the cable car station at the base of the mountain.
The fighting was fierce, but the Italians were quickly overwhelmed by the far more experienced
and capable German troops.
Still, not a single German would live to reach the top of the mountain unless Skorzeny was
successful, and so the troops held their position to prevent Mussolini being moved via the cable
cars.
The mountain currents made flying treacherous, more so for the unpowered gliders.
The bombers towing the first three gliders decided that they needed to gain more altitude
before releasing their gliders, and thus began long, slow looping turns to gain altitude.
This would threaten the delicate timeline that the operation needed for success however,
and Skorzeny ordered the rest of the planes to continue regardless of the risk to the
gliders.
If Skorzeny could not take and evacuate Mussolini quickly, then more Italian forces would soon
be on their way.
Released from their two hooks, the gliders shuddered in the tumultuous winds of the Italian
mountains.
The pilots- amongst some of the best in Nazi Germany- fought the controls to keep the gliders
stable and on course.
Incredibly, one by one the German gliders made the almost impossible landing on the
tiny tabletop shelf of land at the top of the mountain, although one of the last to
arrive crashed, severely injuring many of its occupants.
Leaping from the gliders though, the bulk of Skorzeny's force was soon running towards
the hotel.
Skorzeny had given his men a strict order- not a single one of them was to open fire
unless Skorzeny opened fire first.
If Skorzeny was injured or died, then one of his officers would be the first to open
fire.
It was critical that the assault force capture Mussolini without having to fight the 200
strong Italian defenders.
With General Fernando Soleti ordering the guards to stand down, the Italians laid down
their arms and allowed Mussolini to be taken.
In less than an hour, one of the riskiest operations of World War II had succeeded without
a single shot being fired.
Skorzeny would be an overnight hero of Nazi Germany, and earn his place in the special
forces hall of fame- if he survived the final phase of the plan to rescue Mussolini, the
escape.
German forces would be unable to provide security for Mussolini if they tried to bring him down
the mountain and move him by land, therefore a small plane was ordered to make the incredibly
risky landing atop the mountain.
This would be Mussolini's ticket off the mountain, but there was a problem- the small plane only
had enough power and room for its pilot and one other passenger, and Skorzeny refused
to leave Mussolini out of his sight.
The pilot argued with Skorzeny, telling him that there was little chance the plane could
hit the required speed for lift off if it was carrying the weight of three men.
Skorzeny refused to budge- Mussolini was his personal responsibility, and he would be the
one to see him brought before the Fuhrer himself.
Then Skorzeny pointed out the obvious- if the airplane required velocity to generate
lift and the take off area was too short, then it would simply have to gain speed by
falling off the side of the mountain.
Skorzeny climbed aboard the tiny plane alongside Mussolini and, under threat of being shot,
ordered the pilot to take off.
The tiny plain sputtered to life and began to roll towards the edge of the mountain,
slowly picking up speed.
As the precipice loomed before them, the pilot's worst fears were realized- the plane could
not take off overburdened as it was.
The wheels soon left the ground as the plane pitched over the mountain side.
By some miracle however, the plane shuddered its way back horizontal after a brief dive.
Against all odds, Skorzeny had pulled off one of the most daring rescue operations in
history.
Otto Skorzeny would go on to achieve great success during the waning days of World War
II, cementing his place as one of Nazi Germany's most dangerous soldiers.
The man became an international special forces legend, and most of his training and operational
methods would go on to influence or be outright adopted by special forces programs around
the world.
Perhaps most surprising of all however would be Skorzeny's eventual role as a Mossad agent,
working for the secret Israeli organization and helping bring Nazi war criminals to justice.
Now check out What If Hitler Had Won, or click this other video instead!