Who rescued Mussolini and What did they do with him?

Answer 1

A little background info:

In 1943, Italy was losing their part in World War II, and by that summer, the Allies had driven Italian forces out of North Africa and even had invaded Sicily. The war was extremely unpopular among Italians- to the point that even Mussolini's Fascist Party turned against him. On July 25, 1943, the King of Italy fired Mussolini and had him arrested. The new Prime Minister soon began negotiations for Italy to switch sides and join the Allies against Germany. In early September, the deal was finalized and Italy officially switched sides- just as the Allies were starting their invasions of Italy itself.

Mussolini was rescued from prison a few days afterward.An elite unit of German Fallschirmjäger (paratroopers) led by Major Otto-Harald Mors and special SS commandos led by Captain Otto Skorzeny landed in gliders on the mountain where Mussolini was held. The troops used surprise to overwhelm the Italian guards, and escape with Mussolini without firing a shot. For propaganda reasons, the SS troops and Skorzeny got most of the credit for carrying out the raid.

After the successful mission, Mussolini was brought to German territory. Shortly thereafter, the Germans created the "Italian Social Republic" in northern Italy, with Mussolini as its first (and only) ruler. However, Germany was actually in control of it, and did most of the fighting as the war continued.

Eventually, as the Allies continued to push the Germans out of Italy, Mussolini decided to try to escape to neutral Switzerland with his girlfriend and a few of his remaining close friends. The group was captured by anti-fascist rebels near the Italian-Swiss border at the end of April 1945. Mussolini and his band were executed, and their bodies were hung at a gas station in Milan. People were able to spit on the bodies and throw things at it, to show how much they hated them.