Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny was an Austrian-born German SS-Obersturmbannführer in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including the removal from power of Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy and the Gran Sasso raid which rescued Benito Mussolini from captivity. Skorzeny led Operation Greif in which German soldiers infiltrated Allied lines wearing their enemies' uniforms. As a result, he was charged in 1947 at the Dachau Military Tribunal with breaching the 1907 Hague Convention, but was acquitted.
Skorzeny in 1943
Skorzeny as commander of the Waffen SS Sonderverband z.b.V. Friedenthal special forces unit, 1943
Skorzeny (centre, binoculars hanging from neck) with the liberated Mussolini – 12 September 1943
Fieseler Fi 156 Storch used to rescue Mussolini
During World War II, the Gran Sasso raid on 12 September 1943 was a successful operation by German paratroopers and Waffen-SS commandos to rescue the deposed Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini from custody in the Gran Sasso d'Italia massif. The airborne operation was personally ordered by Adolf Hitler, approved by General Kurt Student and planned and executed by Major Harald Mors.
Mussolini with German commandos
Hotel Campo Imperatore in 1943
This Fieseler Fi 156 helped Mussolini escape.
Mussolini leaving the hotel
