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386. Otto Skorzeny and the Gran Sasso Raid

In this instalment of our Special Forces series, Patrick Bishop and Saul David pivot from Allied triumphs to examine a daring operation from the "enemy" perspective: the 1943 rescue of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Following the Allied invasion of Sicily and a vote of no confidence from his own council, Mussolini was arrested and whisked away to a remote ski resort 2,112 meters high in the Apennine Mountains. While the new Italian government hoped to use him as a bargaining chip, Adolf Hitler had other plans—ordering his "favourite commando," the scarred and imposing Otto Skorzeny, to…

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