On this day in military history…
In the dramatic final chapters of Benito Mussolini's rule, one of the most audacious and improbable rescue missions of World War II unfolded high in the mountains of central Italy. Known as Operation Oak, or "Unternehmen Eiche" in German, this daring mission was a high-stakes gamble engineered by Adolf Hitler to retrieve his faltering fascist ally from captivity and potentially restore the crumbling Axis front in Italy. It would become one of the most legendary special operations of the war, executed with surgical precision and guided by a mixture of intelligence, daring, and luck.
By the summer of 1943, Mussolini's grip on power in Italy had weakened dramatically. His failed military campaigns, especially in North Africa and the Balkans, had eroded public and political support. On July 25, 1943, after a vote by the Grand Council of Fascism and with the approval of King Victor Emmanuel III, Mussolini was arrested and dismissed from power. Italy, exhausted from war and now seeking peace with the Allies, quietly began negotiations to exit the conflict. The Germans, sensing betrayal, immediately began preparing for a response.
Mussolini's arrest was kept secret at first, and he was moved between various secure locations to prevent any possibility of rescue. Hitler, however, was determined not to abandon his ideological comrade and saw Mussolini’s retrieval as both a moral and strategic necessity. It would symbolize the resilience of fascism and potentially enable the creation of a German-aligned puppet state in northern Italy, thereby preserving Axis influence in the region.
Responsibility for the mission fell to the German SS and Luftwaffe. The overall planning was overseen by General Kurt Student, a pioneer of airborne warfare and commander of the German Fallschirmjäger, or paratrooper units. Operational command on the ground was given to Major Harald Mors of the Luftwaffe, a seasoned officer who meticulously organized the logistics of the mission and the deployment of the paratrooper force. Despite his key role, much of the public credit was given to SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny, who was chosen personally by Hitler to accompany the mission and ensure its success. Skorzeny, known for his boldness and dramatic flair, quickly became the face of the operation, though it was Mors who commanded the majority of the troops and ensured the operation proceeded according to plan.
After a series of intelligence breakthroughs, German forces learned that Mussolini was being held at the remote mountain-top hotel of Campo Imperatore in the Gran Sasso massif of the Apennine Mountains. The hotel, situated on a high plateau over 2,000 meters above sea level, could only be accessed by a single cable car or a long, narrow path — making a traditional ground assault impossible and an aerial approach dangerous.
The operation commenced on September 12, 1943. A force of just over a dozen gliders, towed by German transport planes, silently descended upon the plateau. Inside were elite German paratroopers and commandos, accompanied by Skorzeny. The gliders crash-landed with remarkable accuracy, skimming over the rocky terrain and stopping just meters from the hotel. The speed and shock of the arrival caught the Italian guards completely off-guard. Without firing a shot, the German troops overwhelmed the defenders. Skorzeny made his way to Mussolini, who was surprised and visibly weakened but immediately recognized his captor-rescuer.
Meanwhile, Major Mors led a secondary force that seized the lower cable car station at the foot of the mountain to ensure no reinforcements could interfere. This critical move ensured the glider troops were not trapped on the mountain and kept the operation secure during its most vulnerable moments.
Within minutes, the team secured the area and prepared for exfiltration. The only way out, however, was a precarious one. A small Fieseler Fi 156 Storch, a light reconnaissance aircraft capable of short takeoffs and landings, was flown in by pilot Gerhard Fieseler. Despite the treacherous conditions — a short, uneven makeshift runway and the thin mountain air — the Storch managed to take off with Mussolini and Skorzeny aboard, gliding down the mountains and eventually reaching German-held territory.
The rescue stunned the world. Nazi propaganda seized upon it immediately, broadcasting Mussolini’s return and portraying the operation as a triumph of German ingenuity and loyalty. Hitler used the moment to install Mussolini as the head of the newly formed Italian Social Republic, a German puppet state based in northern Italy, headquartered at Salò. While Mussolini’s power from that point on was largely symbolic and dependent on German support, his dramatic extraction allowed the Axis to maintain a façade of cohesion for several more months.
Operation Oak became a textbook example of airborne special operations and is still studied in military academies today for its audacity and precision. However, the political outcome was far less successful than the operation itself. Mussolini never regained real influence, and Italy remained a battleground between German occupiers, Italian partisans, and Allied forces until the end of the war. Still, as a feat of military daring and psychological warfare, the rescue of Mussolini stands as one of the most remarkable and iconic missions of World War II.
