Customer Reviews

Hitler's Raid to Save Mussolini: The Most Infamous Commando Operation of World War II

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Otto Skorzeny has long been remembered as the mastermind of the greatest commando raid of World War II, the German rescue of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from "house arrest" in a remote mountaintop resort known as the Hotel Imperatore. On September 12, 1943, after several weeks of imprisonment by an anti-Mussolini faction of the Italian government airborne commandos landed in gliders, stormed the hotel, and spirited Mussolini away to Berlin. It was a daring raid, one for which Skorzeny gained much acclaim, but certainly not his only such operation. Rightly, author Greg Annussek tells the Skorzeny story, but he goes further by drawing in other important characters in the episode and noting the raid's role in the wider effort of the Second World War.

"Hitler's Raid to Save Mussolini" is a stimulating narrative history. It serves a useful purpose in highlighting "Operation Oak," as it was called, and helps to expand the general audience's knowledge of the subject. To his credit, Annussek delved deeply into the published literature on the subject, and fully references this book, although he does not mine unpublished primary source documents that might have broadened his study. Nonetheless, this is an excellent work, making accessible one of the most exciting commando operations of World War II.

At first I dismissed this book based on several reviews I had seen that seemed to elude to a poorly compiled, misleading story. It is not that at all.

While this book does discuss Skorzeny's role in the Gran Sasso raid, it takes a well researched view of the variety of players involved in the decision, planning and execution of Operation Oak from the times just before Mussolini's downfall up to the end of the war. I found this book to be well researched, with plenty of facts, insights and details presented. I thought the writing style was very comfortable, especially given the sensitivity of World War 2 writing and the shear volume of facts (and speculation) involved.

I whole-heartedly recommend this book to those interested in this famous raid, Fallschirmjagers, Skorzeny, War on the Italian Front, late war politics, and those who like a good factual, adventure story!

Although it was one of the most melodramatic moments of the Second World War, when Hitler sent a German commando group to rescue the deposed Italian dictator Mussolini from his mountaintop prison on 12 September 1943, this raid has usually been covered by other histories only in passing and has not received much attention in its own right. For years, the standard account of the raid has been based upon the post-war memoirs of SS special forces leader Otto Skorzeny, who gave full credit to himself and largely ignored the participation of others. In Hitler's Raid to Save Mussolini, author Greg Annussek provides the first full-scale treatment of the events surrounding the raid and seeks to provide a far more balanced version that incorporates the actions of the Luftwaffe fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) who actually planned the raid. The book is written in a lucid, straight-forward style and the author has clearly combed much of the available material to deliver a very readable and useful account of this landmark operation. Indeed, this was one of the raids that set the standard for many of the future hostage-rescue missions of the later 20th Century. Overall, a very good book.

Hitler's Raid to Save Mussolini consists of 14 chapters and 263 pages of text, as well as 42 pages of endnotes, two sketch maps and 34 B/W photos. The author also provides a very detailed 8-page bibliography. The chapters begin with Mussolini's fall from power on 25 July 1943 and Hitler's determination to mount a rescue mission as soon as practical. The next several chapters then slow down a bit, as the Italians holding Mussolini transferred him around the country in order to evade the German search efforts, while Hitler dealt uneasily with the post-Mussolini Italian government. The author does get a bit sidetracked here at times, spending a bit too much on the covert negotiations between the Badoglio regime and the Allies in Portugal, while saying virtually nothing about the formation and organization of Skorzeny's SS Freidenthal Battalion. In a book about a special forces operation, more attention could have been given to the special forces members, rather than peripheral diplomatic intrigues. The later chapters cover several missteps, where the Germans spotted Mussolini on several islands and tried to mount hasty raids, but the Italians moved him first.

It is not until the 13th chapter (page 199) that the author actually gets to the development of the actual raid plan, which was put together in just two hours. As he makes abundantly clear, this was a Luftwaffe-planned and run show and Skorzeny and his handful of SS men were merely walk-ons. The raid itself is covered in the final chapter, which is but 24 pages long - a bit short. By chance, Skorzeny found himself at the spearpoint of the operation rather than in the van and he gladly took charge, as well as all the credit, which provoked a long-standing feud among the participants. The author covers the attack rather quickly - quicker than some other accounts I've read - although it should be sufficient for most readers. In short, this hastily-planned operation came off spectacularly with Mussolini being rescued, although Skorzeny nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory with a ridiculous decision to fly the prize off the mountain in a light aircraft. This book succeeds in putting the raid in context and highlighting the events surrounding the mission planning, although it is a bit light on the coverage of the raid itself. Nevertheless, a good addition to any Second World War library.

Otto Skorzeny is one of those bigger than life individuals that came out of World War II. Easily the most famous commando type to come out of the war, this book tells the tale of just one of his exploits, the rescue of Mussolini after the Italians had arrested and imprisoned him.

Hitler was furious at the Italians for treating his friend Mussolini this way. The answer was a dramatic rescue by Skorzeny. Called Operation Oak, a hand picked selection of German soldiers flew to the remote hotel where Mussolini was being held and then flew him out of Italy to Germany.

This incident is possibly the best known of Skorzney's exploits. Others include the attack on the Belgian fort Eban Emael, and after the war he broke out of an American POW camp and set up the ODESSA organization to assist in the escape of former SS men to South America.