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!
