THE DOWNFALL OF MUSSOLINI

By the summer of 1943, Mussolini’s position had become untenable. On 24 July, he was forced to summon the Grand Council, and the next day, he was arrested by order of Italy's king. Mussolini was held in the Hotel Campo Imperatore for two months before being rescued in a daring operation by Fallschirmjäger and Waffen-SS commandos on Hitler’s orders on 12 September. Taken to Germany, Mussolini, now a shadow of his former self, was urged by Hitler to continue his leadership. On 23 September, he proclaimed himself head of the Fascist Republic of Salò. From October 1943 to April 1945, Mussolini lived in the Villa Feltrinelli on Lake Garda. As the war neared its end, US 10th Mountain Division troops captured the villa on 30 April 1945 but found Mussolini had already fled. He had escaped Milan with his mistress, Clara Petacci, and other fascists, heading towards Lake Como. The couple was captured by partisans on 27 April in Dongo, and Mussolini was executed the next day in Mezzegra. Their bodies were displayed in Milan’s Piazzale Loreto on 29 April 1945, just as Hitler married Eva Braun in Berlin, marking the final, tumultuous days of Mussolini’s life.