Rescuing Mussolini 1943 - Skorzeny's Forgotten Second Mission
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- The 1943 rescue of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from atop the Gran Sasso mountain is well known, but not so the secondary operation launched by one of Otto Skorzeny's SS officers to rescue Mussolini's wife and children from a castle.
Dr. Mark Felton is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries. More information about Mark can be found at: en.wikipedia.o...
Visit my audio book channel 'War Stories with Mark Felton': • One Thousand Miles to ...
Help support my channel:
www.paypal.me/...
/ markfeltonproductions
Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Mark Felton Productions. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Mark Felton Productions does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
Credits: US National Archives; Bundesarchiv; Stefano Rosone; Crazyfrog58; Alessandro Ramberti; Gianni Careddu; Sailko
Mark Felton: the only man who can take a piece of well known history, and find more history in it.
The riskiest part of the operation: Relying upon a FIAT to be the getaway car!
@@Lerxstification Lol !!!!
@@Lerxstification Back when FIAT stood for "Fix It Again Tomorrow".
True that boy.
@@AdmiralBonetoPick That hasn't really changed much lol
the most unbelievable part of this story that Mussolini's wife could pack necessary things in 15 min
Love it-Love it.
Experienced travellers can donit in 7 min.
😆
Winner of the comment section
Really …… really !
That’s what you picked up from this informative gem !
I am 53 and have studied History in my spare time all my life especially World War II and Nazi Germany but Mark always surprises me with something new.
Definitely agree. He talks about lesser known dates, facts, timelines etc. I would like him to do a video about Operation Mincemeat.
ditto
He has mad research skillz.
I agree. I have over estimated my knowledge of WWII and now learning the "lesser Known facts". My favorite You Tube site.
Mind you we know our stuff too. I was expecting the lesser known Skorzeny raid where they used a Tiger tank to bust through Budapest and kidnap the prime minister's son . Rolled him up in a rug or somen. The good part was the tiger though. Gonna bust through somen a tigers a pretty good option. lol
Mussolini: Am i free now?
Uncle Dolfy: Well, yes but actually no.
**Gets hanged**
@@smorgonenberg5530 wasn't Mussolini executed by firing squad? Or are you talking about another person?
@@bukitcengkeh1 He died before getting hanged by the leg i think lol
It's complicated
@@bukitcengkeh1 Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci were executed by firing squad and their corpses hung upside down over a gas station parking lot. The bodies were jeered and spat on by the crowd. Hitler received word of these events shortly before his own death in the Reich Chancellery bunker. Mussolini's humiliating demise was reportedly one of the main reasons why Hitler wanted his own corpse cremated after his suicide...so it couldn't be disgraced by occupying Soviet troops.
As a boy living in a country town in Victoria, Australia in the 1970s/80s I knew one of the paratroopers from this mission, an Austrian soldier who moved to Australia with his German wife after the war.. He was a drinking buddy of my father’s who had served in the Australian Army in WW2 so the two of them swapped stories from both sides… the former paratrooper ran a local garage and one time my dad took me to the workshop and his Austrian friend opened a locker and pulled out his old German uniform complete with helmet and gas mask cylinder, boots, bayonet, the whole thing… very interesting for a young military enthusiast…
When I was a kid in the 70's a neighbor would show off the Walther PPK with Nazi markings his dad brought home from WW2.
I hope he wasn't SS
Been looking forward to more videos on Otto Skorzeny after hearing about him in a few others of yours. Very interesting stuff as always!
My man
@@cosuinofdeath mine too 😉
Skorzeny lived, briefly in Ireland, Co.Kildare to be precise. I remember listening to an interview with a chap who worked for him as a gardener here. He came to work one morning and Skorzeny had fled, the house was empty of anything important, a journalist worked out who Skorzeny was, and he went to Spain (I think) pretty quick. There was a German officers full length leather coat in the house. I often wonder did the gardener chap take it.
Why are you sucking up so hard? Try not to leave a hickey while you're at it
@@mrkitty1997 chill mate they enjoy his content. Don’t get but hurt over the internet now
A historical sidenote: The skilled pilot who flew the dangerously overloaded Fiesler 156 Storch off Gran Sasso was Hauptmann Heinrich Gerlach, personal pilot to General der Fallschirmtruppe Kurt Student. His Granddaughter was a colleague and told me Gerlach emigrated to Canada after the war and never piloted an aircraft again.
Mark always pulls out the non mainstream information. Love this channel
“The most dangerous man in Europe” had to stay in the limelight even if Il Duce had to sit on his lap…
Nonsense ! The Fieseler 156 Storch wasn`t overloaded at any time.The powerful Argus AS 10 C engine was good enough for twice of the regular payload. Sometimes loading condition in Russia were the pilot plus three wounded soldiers. Reliable Storch brought them home...
Huh interesting he chose never to pilot again. Piloting is a useful skillset, especially a military pilot. Perhaps a mix of PTSD and not wanting to relive being in Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe, granted that's pure speculation on my part.
@@Klaaism Following WWII into the 1980's there were tens of thousands of former military pilots. There were relatively very few airline or commercial jobs. Being an ex-military pilot was NOT a particularly useful skill (not skillset). Ahem.
We would have Skorzeny movies if the German had won.
Yes. But he would never be advertising Gillette shaving razors on the Reich Global Network….
@@billace90 I live close to the Gillette headquarter. Nice looking third reich building
Now thats an interesting challenge. Making an interesting movie about a Nazi German military operation... where theres no Rommel. How to frame the protagonists as remotely likeable?
@@Klaaism same as you frame any other of the nations likeable. Nazis werent worse people than anybody else on the world at that time. Every country enslaved, had labor camps and genocided big time
@@Klaaism Japan killed more than 20 million Chinese citizens,but no one talk about it.
At that time France and Britain almost colonized the whole world, but not talk about it
After the war USA invaded more than 20 countries and bombing nearly 60 countries but no one talk about it, today Americans killing millions around the world for Drop of oil and they call it serving a country a war heroes,
It's amazing how all of this is on film,including Hitler meeting Mussolini after the escape.
Could they understand each other?
It's no coincidence; the propaganda war was still going strong!
@@DiogenesOfCa Mussolini was fluent in four languages, including German.
It was a rare operational success for the Axis at this time in the war, when everything had been going against them for over a year, so naturally the propaganda newsreels made the most of it.
Actually really interesting to learn that Mussolini's wife ran a restaurant
ye I did nazi that coming
@@jabloko992 leave
His son Romano looked like him a lot. Basically young Benito, but with hair 😁
I'm guessing it was an Italian restaurant?
@@phildavy913 Chinese, actually
Cable cars, castles, commandos - the only thing missing is Clint Eastwood dual-wielding MP40s!
Where Eagles Dare. Classic.
@@linusbroadbent2763 Love it.
where eagles dare ;)
Ja, der Schloß Adler….
@@billace90 "Broadsword calling Danny Boy"
AH: "Otto Beni just got nabbed again can you renabb him for us?"
Otto: "Again? *Sigh* Hold mien Schnapps!"
Mein..! Mien nicht!
This type of millenial humor is so not funny.
Whats the German equivalent of the US "Geronimo"?
@@Klaaism That's a little bit controversial innit?
Mussolini: Yes I'm free
Skorzeny: Hmm... More like under a new management
Even when you think you know the story, Dr. Felton still brings new details to light. Always fascinating and informative.
America had far superior firepower than anyone in europe. When they showed up it was game over
Exactly 12 hours earlier, 12 September 1943, my fathers only brother, Pvt Martin J Burns, was killed on the Liberty ship William B Travis, when it was struck by a ‘torpedo or mine’ in the Mediterranean. He was an MP guarding German POW’s and asleep on the #2 hatch at around 1:10 am. The explosion blew him into the hold and he was the only casualty. The ship did not sink and limped into port for makeshift repairs. It would be a year before his body was discovered, as it took that long for the Travis to get in a suitable dry dock. His decapitated body was found well preserved in oils, fluids, etc and after months of investigation by an Army officer assigned the task, went from MIA to KIA. Woody Guthrie was working his passage as a merchant mariner that night and makes reference to the explosion in his book on pg 116, and simply writes that ‘in the morning it was discovered that an Army private is missing.’ I’ve often wondered, if it was a U-Boat, what was it’s ultimate fate.
Pvt Martin J Burns is buried in the American cemetary near Carthage Tunisia. Nothing to do with your topic, but since I was a kid and my Dad showed me the War Dept telegram he kept, the date Sept 12 will always have special significance. My father, T/Sgt Joseph F Burns, was a Radio/Gunner on B-25’s in the CBI, 14th AAF.
I've never heard this story. Thank you once again Dr Felton for educating me!
always a good one. thanks mark felton. youre a great author, and even
better historian.
Once again, Mark Felton has outdone himself by bringing us this little-known, but nonetheless highly interesting secondary rescue operation! My parents being from Abruzzo, I was well aware of the Gran Sasso operation, but knew nothing about the predicament of Mussolini's family. Thank you, Dr. Felton for enriching our lives with your professional podcasts!
He’s just following the narrative, like ww2 historians before him. It is what they have been taught by the victors.
@@lucknotskilled1543 - your comment is so loaded with sarcasm, it oozes. Are you referring to this specific piece or the entirety of Dr. Felton's work? In either instances, what are you thoughts exactly on the subject?
I agree, me being Italian myself, I love how Felton makes detailed and interesting videos on these small but very interesting operations nonetheless, it's good to binge watch
@@alfredovilla8560 I’m referring to the entirety, ww2 “official story”
@@lucknotskilled1543 - that's what I thought, but can you be more specific about what makes you believe that WW2 history has been written by the winners?
I hit the like button for these videos before I even watch them. So far it has never been a mistake.
That's a good practice, you'll never go wrong by hitting that like button! I find myself doing the same.
me too, i never watch before liking
Hitting the like button before watching: that's how Trump got elected.
Always
The sister of Sophia Loren, Anna-Maria, married Romano, Mussolini's son; they had a daughter, Alessandra, who is a well-known politician in Italy.
How did it impact her political career? Granted I have zero knowledge of Italian politics.
@@Klaaism she s a politician today, not a very famous one but yes, generally speaking she shares some of the ideas of her grandfather
@@Klaaism btw, obviously her surname helped a lot in gaining popularity but also created a sort og handicap for her, since every country would be ashamed to put in an high position a family memeber of a previous dictator
@@federicoof2408 i am italian and don't care for her she got some suport, but is really small, i think is because in italiy a trial like nurimberg was never made so, and was't a big hunt on facisti like for the nazi who escaped...
@@giodandosu si si lo so sono italiano anche io
As someone has already said on this channel, "I'm not going out tonight, Mark Felton's just uploaded"! What a wonderful present when I came in from work tonight! Well done Mark and KEEP 'EM COMING!
Matk truly loves history and it shows in his presentations. Both entertaining and informative. Well done Mark your in a league all your own.
" Most people don't know" That part was funny. How about 99.9999% of people don't know. Mark never fails in finding history that is interesting that very few know anything about.
I'm Italian and I live near Forlì. The castle is "Rocca delle Camminate" (Castle of the Walkings). I didn't know that Rachele managed a restaurant some km away from my home. Thanks again dr Felton!
Skorzeny himself sounds less like an actual soldier but more like a movie character. His exploits are just beyond fascinating.
It qould make for great movies, as politically impossible it would be to make them
I love the recurring theme of Italians deciding discretion is the better part of valor.
That guy lived like a lord near us in Ireland in the 50s his fancy white LHD Mercedes & himself really stuck out in Kildare back then..👍
Well, reminds me of that song "I'm a man you don't meet everyday", since it's also county Kildare!
Strange how he would pick Ireland to live after he’s retired
@@timcahill4676 Ireland had no quarrel with Germany, in fact many Irishmen approved of the Germans going to war with England.
One Kildare resident recalled Skorzeny as someone who "wasn't particularly friendly and [who] didn't really mix with local people".
One harsh story was about mr otto was that locals were poaching rabbits on his land, & he tried to chase them off, they walked up near him listening to his tirade, one boyo said to him I was hunting rabbits here when you were burning bodys... mr otto was not amuzed...!
A Mark Felton is like a man panning for gold in a well panned stream but still manages to come up with new nuggets all the same.
Very well done! I always wondered how the rest of the commando force got away from the Gran Sasso after Skorzeny left with Mussolini. A road march back to German lines. Makes perfect sense.
Mark Felton uploaded today. And I didn’t spray nobody with my AK. Today was a good day- Ice Cube
2021 - Mark Felton uploads another WW2 video
2061 - Mark Felton completes his magnum opus of recording everything about WW2
The cadence of your speech serves your work well. A lot of RUclips historians have this repetitive pace of speech they take that kind of drives me nuts. It's those fine details that shows you have an immense grasp on the material
5:15. Arguably one of the most legendary scars ever to be sported by a soldier and the inspiration for many a custom character creation options in video games.
You're not wrong
*Ernst Kaltenbrunner enters the chat*
Excellent content! Would love to see something on the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran and Operation Long Jump from your angle
Watch Otto skorzeny's documentary on biographics man made James bond look like child in comparison
Skorzeny was a proper, professional soldier.
He was a Nazi.
@@ArmyJames and a damn good one at that .
Well, he must have been. After capture by US forces he was investigated and tried for war crimes but aquitted. Can't convict if there's nothing there, apparantly he didn't do what any other commando force during the war wasn't prepared to do.
It is a little known fact that Mussolini, that his last request was to sing two of his favourite songs, one being Upside Down there turning me, and the one who sang with a stringed instrument,, When I am hanging from a lamppost at the corner of the street, and for loose change to fall out of his pocket. It is amazing what you can learn from the B.B.C.
Yes, I can tell you've grown up on a diet of BCC content; you sound like a sicko 😂
@@wolfmauler Its a joke, allied with the Bent Broadcasting Corporation being a joke. It is called dry humour, and I do not have a brain washing tv
@@collincovid6950 I think your grammar is the only discernible joke mate 😂
Yeah, Big Black Caulk will teach you many things and stuffs
@@wolfmauler Thank you, Not bad for one who is brain damage, which has given me a dry sense of humour.
Superb video. Many thanks. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Hi, Dr. Felton. I seem to remember reading that the Fiesler Storch very nearly came to grief because Skorzeny, wanting to ensure none of the glory went astray, insisted on stuffing his huge frame into the plane despite pilot Gerlach's misgivings. Airborne at the last second kind of thing. 🤔
The genesis of the Skorzeny mythos, a rescue mission that very well could have gone astray and killed them for the sake of one man's vanity.
This is a good account of this mission in the British magazine “After the Battle”. I know that was in print in the very early 1980’s so you may need to hunt up a reprint or old copy.
Dear mr. Felton, maybe it is time to make a documentary on Richard Sorge? That is an incredible story, which was of big strategic influence on ww2!
Mark, your editing and production of this video is again stupendous! Of course your research of the subject matter remains of the highest caliber. Well done!
I am guessing Mussolini grave isn't allowed to be visited by the public kinda odd why they would have a grave for him
Skorzeny sounds like an American's attempt at making up a Polish surname
Lmao. Yes.
This isn't funny, not anymore but ever.
I thought more like a villain out of a Tin Tin series ..
Truly...one of the most stupid comments I've ever seen.
yeah, it looks Polish, one of the most easy to pronounce, if it's really Polish.
Mark felton your channel is the best. Continue to make more excellent videos.
Any soldier who volunteered to be a glider guy, had to have been exceedingly brave.
That clanking you hear when they walk isn't their equipment it's their brass balls slapping together.😂😂😂
Tell me about it. My paternal grandfather was in the second drop at Arnhem. Messy 😶
Found out in the last six months from my dad that his mum told him, long after the war, she found out that after that, Grandad was deployed in Austria 🇦🇹
Apparently, only he and Two other guys got out their glider alive. Never said a word about it. In amongst old photos there's an aerial pic of the sort they'd use, it has 'holes' in it. I'm not sure they're natural occurrences (bullets?!) 🤯
Yep, the weight of the gliders of that era meant they were difficult to control and crashed often.
@Christopher Mac I have jumped out of a plane. It's not so bad. Also, you reach the ground relatively quickly and are a small target. Those gliders had to be death traps. Large targets. Imagine if you hit a tree while landing...
Mark might be the best WW2 historian on RUclips!
When you always thought Mussolini was a dictator, but then hear he was voted out of office 19 to 8 by a council.
I mean he still was but even the most strict dictator needs support from the higher ups in the ruling government. When Stalin was first approached by his generals after hearing of Operation Barbarossa, he thought they had come to arrest him and had not planned to resist. Instead, they came desperate for leadership and thus Stalin survived to lead the Soviet Union to Victory!
@@Remembrance1776 Stalin murdered most of his generals in the 30's to prevent them to coup against him.
Mussolini later had some of the council members who voted against him shot, including his son-in-law (Galeazzo Ciano).
Palpatine would have thrown the Senate at him.
Hey Mark.
I would love to see you making a Discord, History Server for the Mark Felton Comunity.
Yes
That would be great
Skorzeny looks and life would make it perfect for a movie
I seem to be early ...
Me too
That’s what Skorzeny said.
H
This man deserves his own Netflix series.
Hi Mark, thanks for the great video!
Just a remark, the change of side of the Italian government from the Germans to the allies was broadcasted Sep 8th 1943. It would be great if you could correct this in the audio track.
Skorzeny was a fascinating character.
Don’t tell that to the Italian guards at Gran Sasso….
The "overloading" aspect regarding the Storch is overstated here. These aircraft were commonly used as medevac, so carrying three men was well within their operational parameters. What was unusual, was the short, high-altitude takeoff run, which was insufficient for the load.
I honestly wish there were more teachers like Mr. Felton in universities today. I honestly do not know how he can consistently find such amazing detail about such specific and poorly known events, whist with all due respect, many of my lectures don't even seem to know which planet Hitler was born on.
As a teacher, his talents would be wasted. Not to mention the enormous time it requires to prepare lessons beyond the mundane...nobody can be all things to all people (sorry Kim, Mao, Stalin, Hitler, etc.)
Today’s universities are full of green haired degenerates who wouldn’t appreciate the work of Mark Felton. They would rather have one of their own teaching them.
That's how they are rewriting history today.
If you turn all the people into fools by giving them a bad education, you can tell them anything and they'll believe it, because they don't know better. History is important and that is why it is being twisted and ignored in our schools. Teachers are under payed because they don't want smart people teaching our children stuff.
I'am a teacher for about 10 years now, his talents would be wasted. I'am also knowledgable in Human History and know a lot of "inside facts", but I'am not allowed to disclose too much of those facts.
Sadly, I'am not as talented as Mark, so I don't want to embarress myself on youtube.
Mark and other historians are doing a great service.
There are many historians which are in doubt of any rescue mission/raid/whatever at the Grand Sasso. It seems like the Mussolinis guards were rather informed of the incoming Germans and were told not to intervene or at least decided spontaneously not to do so. There are photos of the raid with cheering Italiens even with their guns in hand and the Italiens were presumably told to remove their heavy mg-nests of the roof which would have been a huge threat for the wooden gliders. If there was no need to bind or at least disarme the enemy there probably never was a heroic rescue mission but rather a warm welcome.
To name a souce: ZDF docu with the italien historian Marco Patricelli, the british historian Roderick Bailey and the first GSG9 leader Ulrich Wegener
programm.ard.de/TV/Programm/Sender/?sendung=28725406987953
I hate conspiracy theories and such, but what happened there clearly hides some secrets
Damn I never heard about this before. Fascinating how Skorzeny pushed himself into the spotlight
He doesn't strike me as a man who you could mess with too much.
@@roeng1368 A real thug, like Sepp Dietrich and others of that ilk. He joined an Austrian Nazi outfit like in 1931, even before the Nazis had gained power in Germany in 1933.
He was hired by the Israelis , Americans , Cubans , Egyptians , and a bunch of South American countries. Who else did I forget?
@@michaeldunne338 to do a job like that you need to be a certain way , and been a snowflake is a big no no
@@SteelcityNath truly but with that Background many want your head too
My great uncle was one of the paratroopers involved with this :)
Italy playing "Axis & Allies"...then Axis again...then Allies again.
Not only Italy changed sides for example Red InterNAZI - IntrerNAZIonal USSR was ally of NAZI-NAZIonal Germany.
Unlike the German people , the Italians were not willing to follow a mad Pied Piper off a cliff . Look at what happened to Germany ……..look at it today . All those beautiful young men died in vain , and for what ……. because some bully told them so ? Had Hitler been deposed all those men would have lived . They would have had children and Germany, indeed all of Europe would not be in the mess they are in now ……..no mass migration and destruction of European culture .
By the way I’m of half German and half Italian ancestry. As you may imagine , I see both perspectives !
Now Europe and North America and may be something else, you know better are dead due to InterNAZIsm - InterNAZIonalism but not NAZIsm - NAZIonalism. NAZI Germany with her allies managed to save half of Europe from Red
InterNAZI USSR. InterNAZism is much more danger than NAZIsm.
Have always wanted to know on the Mussolini rescue and thanks to this, I've learned more facts.
It's finally here I wanted to see that one so bad. his life sounds like a movie
they dont make movies about anything interesting anymore its just super hero movies
@@edwelndiobel1567 You probably don't watch a lot of cinema for say something like that.
@@alvaro701 Look dude I dont live in whatever feminine limp wrist cultured you are referring too, or if you are referring to current movies its all fluff, puffery smut and trash.
@@edwelndiobel1567 lol
@@edwelndiobel1567 Easy mate, you got your shitty opinion and I got mine
Quality video as usual.
Thanks Mark.
The children's postwar lives were touched on. But I remember his granddaughter who posed for Playboy.
And was running for a political office later on….
@@nemo2203 think she won
Alessandra Mussolini is a fun follow on twitter, probably too Based for most of Felton's normie fans.
Ho Ho Ho
You must watch her speaking, looks like him...
Romano Mussolini married Sophia Loren's sister! She was an absolute smoke show too.
And he played a mean jazz piano. Saw him live several times.
@@henridelagardere264
Cool!
I always wondered what would have happened if Benito Mussolini had survived the war... A chain of restaurants or talk radio is my guess
_Mussolini's Mussel Joint?_ _Benissimo Benito?_
So impressed with your handling of difficult names
For a moment at 9:04, I wondered how the heck you had got that great a bit of footage for the video, Mark
Then it dawned on me
Mussolini's wife looks a lot like my grandmother, she was from "the old country".
As far as psychco dictators go, Mussolini was not very evil.
I didnt think dictators were voted out of office either.
Many seem to forget that Hitler owed his rise to power because of Mussolini.
whys that
@@ejs93033 Mussolini was againts Hitler taking Austria, until he chose to support it. Without Mussolini probably there is no second world war.
You mean how Hitler's own March to Rome (Beer Hall Putsch) failed miserably and only gained to power again through Un-Mussolini like tactics like actually campaigning in elections?
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 In a general sense, Hitler's rise to power was facilitated through luck, opportunism, and violence. Mussolini didn't really play that big a role in it in the leadup to Adolph being appointed, not elected, as the combined chancellor-president role of the Fuhrer.
@@vincere_ It was not only luck,oppurtinism and violence but also bravery, courage,streng,fanatism and intelligence. not even his enemies would downplay him so much as you do.
What am I not getting? It looks like Mussolini aged 25 years between 1943 and 1945.
Extreme stress can do that to you
One of my german uncles was in the SS commando that saved Mussolini
Felt like sharing that
Can you share any stories with us?
@@blackrabbit212 Sadly, no
I'll have to ask next time I go to Germany
No offence to you, but the SS were murderers, torturers and rapists. Filthy fascist scum, and there were very few 'good' ones, despite their daring rescue mission.. I would rather the 'rescued' the ordinary people they slaughtered
@@petetube99 baaaaaa keep believing bullshit contradicting official narrative 🤣🤣
@@willleon9165 Your comment has no sense.
So interesting, thank you.
Mr Felton can you do a video about Spanish Blue Division... Cheers
That would be a tragedy.
Franco sent them to their deaths.
i'm a simple man. i see the name Skorzeny: i click.
Hello. I like you too 😉
@@ottoskorzeny8701 how was 🇮🇪 Ireland? 🤣
@@asm1 it was nice and green. Good people, good beer and fine women.
The raid on makin atoll would be a great event to cover, very interesting operation imo
Skorzeny up there as one of the best soldiers ever. Who else plays a air violin 🎻 at the beginning when it goes du-du du-du?
I'm amazed the Fiat car didn't break down on the way to the airport. Another great untold story from Dr. Felton. Thanks!
One thing the Nazis had was simply a lot of luck. Not enough, but definitely a lot.
It probably did but it was all downhill so they coasted. I am sure Dr. Felton will cover this little know tidbit of history in a future video.
@@joelellis7035 yeah they had alot of luck helped by the incompetence of the French command
@@herbertsusmann986 LOL!
- FIAT -- Fix it again, Tony.
Otto Skorzeny is legendary. He worked on Israel's secret service Mossad too.
Nein. That is a lie . I never worked for them . They just try and discredit me with that nonsense. Im innocent 😂
@@ottoskorzeny8701 Im sorry mister Skorzeny😂😂😂
The footage nicely compliments excellent narration.
I'm more surprised there's footage of the event.
He's pretty much the first main mafia boss ever. He got most of Italy to be with them look at them you looks like a Mafia Boss from New York
Hello and greetings, it was a pure action by the German paratroopers. Torsten
Rescued only to be executed by firing squad and strung up by the nearest lamp post by his own people, let that be a lesson to all you wanna be dictators out there that want to abuse your own folk.
Love this exposition. So much more interesting than the general tale of Mussolini being strung up from a lamppost.
Just imagine Otto Skorzeny 🆚 Blair Paddy Mayne crossed paths, it would have been the greatest fight for the ages since Achilles and Hector.
The Most Dangerous Man in Europe Rescues The 2nd Most Pompous Man in Europe …..
Wait.... Someone rescued Churchill?
@@heinrichnitschke5485 Touche’ They grabbed Professor Linderman aka Lord Charwell ….But Churchill was the National Fencing Champ …
The only inaccuracy (assuming I've heard it correctly in your video) is the distance between the Gran Sasso and Forlì. Even today, with modern cars and light traffic, on the A14 (we call it the Adriatica Highway) it would take you roughly 2.5 hours to cover the roughly 280km, not 30 minutes as you've said.
I highly doubt that after rescuing him from the Gran Sasso "refuge", they were able cover that long of a distance in that short of a time, especially with the vehicles they had access to back then, as well as with the war going on around them, so they wouldn't have been able to use the main roads such as the A14 anyway.
That's assuming, again, that I've heard correctly when you said Forlì.
Skorzeny has a book called My Commando operations: The Memoirs of Hitler's Most Daring Commando
He actually done mercenary work for the Mossad. Certainly possesses skills
@@sof5858 for the Mossad? The way I heard it, he organized and trained Al-Fatah (predecessor to the PLO) and picked Yasser Arafat for its leader!
@@wynnschaible He took part on the hunt of black september terrorist responsible of the Munich masacre
@@tamilly7941 what, in his mid sixties, did he do?
@@stevek8829 The Munich massacre was in 1972. Skorzeny died in 1975. Doubtful he was involved.
I never knew that Mussolini's wife and children were in a castle! It looks like Mussolini abandoned them when he tried to escape with Clara though. I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!!!!!!!
God bless German people. From a croat!!!!!!
The Croats have too often had to turn to German-speaking Powers to defend them from oppressive neighbors (Hungarians, 1848, Serbs 1990)
@@wynnschaible Croats and Germans brothers in arms.
Interesting how the 200 Carabinieri quickly surrendered when they saw the German commandos. I am guessing since they are effectively police, they didn't want to die that day
This will probably be taken out of context but Scar was a badass commando, original snake eater type.
Skorzeny was that rare breed of magnificent bastard. Fought on the wrong side and a self promoter, which doesn't change the fact that he was also capable, brave, and audacious. A pioneer of special forces. Not a good guy, but not entirely a bad guy either.
Felton should tell the story of another Skorzeny prowess, when he got into the Government palace in Hungary and kidnapped the Prime Minister wrapping him around a carpet...!
@@rainbowseeker5930 I'm sure he is getting around to it. Until then, don't spoil it.
Thanks guys for being respectful and getting the point of my comment as opposed to calling me a you know what or saying that I support their ideology.
I seriously appreciate the discussion of the man and not the side he fought for or the politics represented during his time as a soldier.
Folks don’t realize sometimes that even though these folks fought for the wrong side they were certainly brave, courageous pioneers of the “special operations” tradecraft.
That’s the reason I admire the man.
Skorzeny was that kind of guy who didn't care too much for ideology. He certainly used the system to his advantage. He also worked for every known western secret service after the war, including CIA and Mossad. The man was just good at his job and clever enough to get the credits.
Markus Wolf, head of the former East German secret service, is another excellent example for this. Although never being a socialist by heart, he was most successful in infiltrating and compromising West Germany's government on highest level.
I read two books that had this story: Operation Fortitude & Killing Patton.
Toad: Skorzeny, the princess is in another castle.
The operation to get Mussolini's family doesn't sound very daring. Looks like the Italians guarding her had no plans to fight.
Why would they fight?
The Germans were their allies until days ago and most of the soldiers considered the action of the king changing sides shameful even if the king disliked Mussolini from the beginning. Only the old officers were royalist the remaining of the army was either fascist or simply going along with the events.
Generally the Italians soldiers must have been very confused during the whole second world war as they grew up with anti German propaganda during WW1 but than fought alongside the Germans even if it against the king's wishes, so to make the the Italians more friendly to the Germans Mussolini made a lot of pro German propaganda.
Than the king sided with the allies and the soldiers begun getting conflicting orders from two different leaders.
His grandaughter Alessandra was an MEP until 2019.
And a model and actress when she was a hot young thing!
For a fascist party.
@@Hamza086RSD That's true, she thinks Grandpa was misunderstood. Uh-huh.
is there any movie about this operation ? İf not , a film about this operation will be amazing
Skorzeny lived well into old age and died a wealthy man
Whats all this about dying ? Ive been down in Argentina banging latinas and have been living the good life. 😉
@@ottoskorzeny8701 You mean he still enjoyed that after being paralyzed from the waist down due to his tumor on the spine...
@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 it was only temporary bro.
Vowing to walk again, Skorzeny spent long hours with a physical therapist; and, within six months, he was back on his feet.
@@ottoskorzeny8701 you were always a badass and an elite soldier
I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about WW2. Then I stumbled across Mark Feltons channels...
Astonishing work and I love the intentional omission of modern day revisionism. Gives the content the classic documentary feel that all documentaries should [but sadly don't always] have.
Ikr? I've learned so much from Dr Felton about a topic, WW2, that I've already read many many books about.
I'm a simple man I see a Dr Felton video, crack and beer and sit down and watch.
Mrs. Mussolini also wrote a biography of her husband. It's a good read and of course she had a very high opinion of her husband, so it portrays him in a very good light. But it also has lots of intimate personal info on him, things like what kind of clothing, shoes, etc., he liked to wear, playing with the children, etc.