Benito Mussolini’s Questionable Liberation by a ‘Swiss’

The conflict of World War II also brings with it a variety of myths about individual operations. One of the most imaginative stories is probably the story that is said to have taken place on September 12, 1943 in central Italy: the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini was allegedly released from his ‘prison’ on the Gran Sasso by an SS commando led by SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Skorzeny Abruzzo, to have been liberated. For this ‘brave’ act, the infamous Skorzeny gained a legendary status that continues to this day.

After 80 years, the story of the Gran Sasso operation appears in a completely different light. This story is extremely exciting for Switzerland, because Major Harald Mors, the German officer who was actually involved in the liberation of Mussolini, had Swiss roots. The grandson of a famous politician from Vaud, he grew up in Prilly VD and went to school in Lausanne until he was 12.

For the sake of obvious sources, let’s go through the story one by one. The action of September 12, 1943 is a direct consequence of July 25, 1943, the day on which the Grand Fascist Council, together with the Ordine Grandi, achieved the deposition of Benito Mussolini as head of state. By 1943, Mussolini had only half of his party under control; in July the military and economic situation was already hopeless. North Africa was completely lost, Sicily was attacked by the Allies and Italian forces in Russia had withdrawn or fled at the latest since the Battle of Stalingrad.

In the summer of 1943, Mussolini’s fascist government in Italy was deposed and quickly captured. The military and economic situation continued to deteriorate. The Allies exerted a lot of pressure, so that after heavy bombing of northern Italy, especially Milan and Turin in August 1943, all of Sicily was liberated at the end of the month and, at the beginning, Allied troops in southern Calabria and Salerno (Campania) landed. of September.

This summer the fascist movement melted away like snow in the sun. The members went into hiding or, in very rare cases, fled to Switzerland. After his arrest in Rome, Benito Mussolini was taken to several places, most recently to Hotel Campo Imperatore at 2,130 meters above sea level, located in the Gran Sasso Mountains, a lonely, difficult-to-access mountain area in Abruzzo, about 80 kilometers northeast of Rome.

Events took a tragic turn on September 8, 1943, with the declaration of a ceasefire by the government of Marshal Pietro Badoglio. It split Italy in two. Those who could fled south to the Allies. King Victor Emmanuel III and Pietro Badoglio were among the first. However, a large part of the Italian army, approximately 800,000 soldiers, was immediately arrested by the Germans, deported to the Third Reich or in some cases even shot.

In those September days there was great chaos, especially in central and northern Italy, which was occupied by German troops. Apparently the chaos within the Badoglio government was so great that Mussolini remained behind on the Gran Sasso.

The Germans quickly determined the exact location of his captivity. General of the Luftwaffe Kurt Student entrusted the planning and execution of the liberation of Mussolini to the German paratrooper with Swiss roots, Major Harald Mors. However, there must be more of an abduction than a liberation.

The daring plan of the ‘Swiss’ Major Mors was determined by the topography of the Gran Sasso area in Abruzzo. It was not only possible to take the cable car alone Hotel Campo Imperatore drive up without losing the element of surprise. The only alternative for the battle-hardened paratroopers was an attack from two directions: the occupation of the cable car station in the valley and an airborne landing with ten gliders.

Once he arrived, Mors was able to quickly deal with Mussolini without the Italian troops getting wind of the mission. Mussolini himself, the photos from Gran Sasso speak for themselves, showed little euphoria during his ‘liberation’. Mussolini was tired of life. The betrayal of his party friends on July 25 hit him hard.

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The liberation or kidnapping operation, called “Oak company”, was praised in the media by the Nazis – especially Himmler and Goebbels – as a heroic piece and attributed entirely to Otto Skorzeny, who until then had actually played only a very marginal role. A propaganda calculation in favor of the media impact of the SS troops. The German paratroopers, on the other hand, fought in vain for years to maintain the glory of this operation.

But how come Mors was a ‘Swiss-Vaudois’? His mother Louise Mors-Paschoud came from Lutry near Lausanne. Mors was born in Egypt in 1910. When the First World War broke out, Mors’ mother, who was married to a German officer, fled to Switzerland with part of the family to avoid internment by the British.

Mors lived in Lausanne until 1923 and attended all primary schools in French, while also learning Italian fluently. He was also very talented in sports from a young age. His grandfather David Paschoud (1845-1924) was a well-known Vaud politician who held various positions: mayor of Lutry (1880-1885), councilor of state (1885-1889), member of the Grand Council (1893-1908) and chairman of the Great Council in 1907.

Although he was a notary by training, he was mainly active in the economic sector in Vaud. For example, it is thanks to Paschoud that the progressive tax law was introduced in the canton of Vaud. In 1889 Paschoud was appointed head of the Vaud Mortgage Fund, of which he remained director until his death in Lutry in 1924.

It was not until 1923 that the Mors family decided to move to Berlin. In 1934, at the age of 24, Mors decided to join the Luftwaffe. He rose through the ranks and was already commander of a paratroop battalion in 1943. In addition to his role in the Gran Sasso operation, Mors served on the Eastern Front, including in Italy and Greece. For his efforts and leadership qualities he was awarded the German Cross in Gold.

Mors survived the war and opened a dance school in Ulm in 1949. At the same time he published his memoirs in French about the true story of the Gran Sasso operation. The reception of this publication was also picked up by the Swiss press, but until 1950 no one discovered that Mors was the grandson of David Paschoud from Lutry.

The economic success of the Mors dance school was so modest that Mors became a member of the new Bundeswehr in 1956. However, Swiss archival documents show that this was purely a false position. Mors actually had other talents that were needed for the new Germany, especially thanks to his language skills.

Mors served in the new German Federal Intelligence Service (BND). In the middle of the Algerian War of Liberation, Mors reappeared in Switzerland. But Mors himself was no stranger, as the Swiss Federal Prosecutor’s Office had him firmly on the radar since 1957 as a German ‘secret service agent’.

It was Mors who was at the center of the terrorist organization OAS with the group “Main Rouge – Red Hand” Attacks on German arms suppliers to the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) committed, visited Switzerland several times and even tried to organize a meeting between Algerian liberation fighters and German researchers in Lausanne in 1960. He left the Bundeswehr in 1965 and died in Bavaria in 2001. Mors never became a Swiss citizen, but his French remained that of a Roman until the end.

Mors’ role in the Gran Sasso operation was significant. He was responsible for planning the attack, selecting the paratroopers who would carry out the attack and leading the second group that secured the lower cable car station at the foot of Gran Sasso. He was also responsible for coordinating the attack with the other German forces involved. However, his true role has historically been completely overshadowed by the image of Skorzeny as a mastermind. For a long time, Otto Skorzeny’s role in the Gran Sasso operation seemed secondary at best.

Mussolini himself would return to the leadership of Italy with Hitler’s grace. However, his first radio conversation from Munich on September 15, 1943 sounded very apathetic. A few months later, on December 1, 1943, Mussolini himself officially announced the creation of the neo-fascist movement. “Repubblica Sociale Italiana”.

The story then shows how “Oak company” was groundbreaking for the course of the war. What followed was a complex civil war that lasted another twenty months until the end of April 1945. The number of deaths in Italy between September 1943 and April 25, 1945 is estimated at around 500,000. Of these, approximately 300,000 were civilians, 150,000 partisans and 50,000 soldiers.