Operation Eiche (Oak)
 

The rescue of Mussolini, I missed this one in history class...
http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/s...-of-mussolini/

The ex-fill involves one of the best airplanes ever built ( Fieseler Storch ), must have been quite a ride in the fuselage.

I believe that was Otto Skorzeny's work.

Well done.

TR

TR
Concerning Skorzeny and his involvement, it was more of a publicity stunt. He had been tasked with locating Mussolini, when it became apparent that Italy's fascist government would fall.

In general, the SS was trying to gain control over all things "commando" since the prime commando unit, the Brandenburgers, were part of the Abwehr (military intelligence), whose higher ranks were effectively a resistance cell. While there was no proof/ solid evidence at the time, Himmler and the majority of SS-leaders were highly suspicious of the Abwehr and formed their own commando unit under Skorzeny's command. Whilst Skorzeny was influential in gathering intelligence concerning Mussolini's whereabouts, his involvement in Eiche/ Oak was of much smaller scale. The operation was controlled by General Student and his staff and planned by Major Harald Mors, who was also the ground commander during the raid. It was essentially a paratrooper op and Skorzeny's small detachment of SS was simply granted permission to tag along.
He was however smart enough to insist on being on that Storch. Maybe he was worried about a potential crash/emergency landing and figured that Mussolini needed a security detail or he simply realised that arriving with Benito would put him on center stage. Regardless of this, he was quite simply additional weight/ an extra passenger on the Fi 156.

By the way, when it comes to the whole SS vs Abwehr story, the fact that Admiral Canaris and Reinhard Heydrich were fully aware of each others "hobbies" (being an influential member of the military resistance against the Nazis/ being the main architect of the Holocaust, whilst also being rumoured to have jewish ancestry) is rather stunning. Especially since it resulted in the bizarre situation that both men had information about each other, that would have ended their careers/ gotten them killed.
Given the fact that Canaris and Heydrich had known each other long before the war (the later Admiral was assigned to the light cruiser "Berlin" when Heydrich was a naval cadet on the vessel) and even became friends after Canaris had grown fond of Heydrich during their time on the Berlin, their relationship on its own offers enough material for a decent screenplay.


Golf
I agree. The Storch was an outstanding aircraft. Surely proved its capability during the C-53 crash in 1946.

Skorzeny's bravery and élan was so admired by the Allied special forces that they intervened when he was on trial at the end of the war and was expected to be executed for getting his men to wear enemy uniforms, mainly at th Battle of the Bulge. The SAS made it known that they themselves had done similar things and that Skorzeny had not broken any convention doing so. He was spared and later was rumoured to have lead Odessa, the Nazi escape programme that transported Nazis to Argentina and Spain after the war. He was quite a guy, and had he been on our side, would have been the wars greatest hero.

Interesting, there seemed to be more at play than going to visit his family for Skorzeny.

Fieseler Storch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9uBdU0ccE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZouzzfZcrg
Film jg's crew made of the operation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOVCZyEj5pM

The German glider mission I was familiar with, the attack of Fort Eben Emael : http://www.historynet.com/hitlers-se...rgest-fort.htm
sidebar of note at end of the article.

Many of us wore a glider patch at one point and know the legacy of Camp Mc.... :lifter