Gran Sasso raid The Gran Sasso raid refers to Operation " Eiche " ( German for ' Oak ' ) , the rescue of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini by German paratroopers led by Major Otto - Harald Mors and Waffen - SS commando s in September 1943 , during World War II . The airborne operation was personally ordered by Adolf Hitler , planned by Major Harald Mors and approved by General Kurt Student . Overview . On the night between 24 and 25 July 1943 , a few weeks after the Allied invasion of Sicily and bombing of Rome , the Italian Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence ( " Ordine del Giorno " Grandi ) against Mussolini : on the same day the king replaced him with Marshal Pietro Badoglio and had him arrested . Mussolini was being transported around Italy by his captors , ( first in Ponza , then in La Maddalena , both small islands in Tyrrhenian sea ) whilst Otto Skorzeny , selected personally by Hitler and Ernst Kaltenbrunner to carry out the mission , was tracking him . Intercepting a coded Italian radio message , Skorzeny used the reconnaissance provided by the agents and informants of SS - Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler to determine that Mussolini was being imprisoned at Campo Imperatore Hotel , a ski resort at Campo Imperatore in Italy ' s Gran Sasso , high in the Apennine Mountains . On 12 September 1943 , Skorzeny joined the team of Fallschirmjäger to rescue Mussolini in a high - risk glider mission . The commandos landed their DFS 230 gliders onto the mountain , only one crashed causing some minor injuries to the passengers . The Fallschirmjäger and Skorzeny ' s special troopers then overwhelmed Mussolini ' s captors ( 200 well - equipped Carabinieri guards ) without a single shot being fired , this was also due to the fact that Carabinieri - General Ferdinando ( Fernando ) Soleti , who flew in with Skorzeny , told them to stand down or be executed for treason . Skorzeny attacked the radio operator and his equipment , then he formally greeted Mussolini with " Duce , the Führer has sent me to set you free ! " to which Mussolini replied " I knew that my friend would not forsake me ! " Mussolini was first flown from " Campo Imperatore " in a Luftwaffe Fieseler Fi 156 C - 3 / Trop " Storch " STOL liaison aircraft , " Werknummer " ( serial number ) 1268 , initially flown in by Hauptmann Heinrich Gerlach ( 1912 — 1993 ) , then taking off with Mussolini and Skorzeny ( even though the weight of an extra passenger almost caused the tiny plane to crash ) to the military airport of Pratica di Mare ( near Rome ) then embarked in an Heinkel He 111 on to Vienna , where Mussolini stayed overnight at the Hotel Imperial and was given a hero ' s welcome . The " Storch " involved in rescuing Mussolini bore the radio code letters , or " Stammkennzeichen " , of " SJ + LL " in motion picture coverage of the rescue . The operation on the ground at " Campo Imperatore " was in fact led by First Lieutenant Baron Georg Freiherr von Berlepsch , commanded by Major Otto - Harald Mors and under orders from General Kurt Student , all Fallschirmjäger ( German Air Force Paratroopers ) officers ; but Skorzeny stewarded the Italian leader first into Rome and eventually into Berlin , right in front of the cameras . After a pro - SS propaganda coup at the behest of SS Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler and propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels , Skorzeny and his Special Forces ( SS - Sonderverband z . b . V . " Friedenthal " ) of the Waffen - SS were granted the majority of the credit for the operation . The " Friedenthaler " of the SS - Reichssicherheitshauptamt were for the Waffen - SS what the Brandenburgers were for the Wehrmacht and Abwehr . Aftermath . The operation granted a rare late - war public relations opportunity to Hermann Göring . Mussolini was made leader of the Italian Social Republic ( a German puppet state consisting of the German - occupied portion of Italy ) . Otto Skorzeny gained a large amount of success from this mission ; he received a promotion to Sturmbannführer , the award of the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross and fame that led to his " most dangerous man in Europe " image . Winston Churchill himself described the mission as " one of great daring . " Awards . Almost all of the members of the operation received an award . The most of them were awarded the Iron Cross ( EK I or EK II ) , four were awarded the Knight ' s Cross of the Iron Cross and nine were awarded the German Cross in Gold . External links .