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On May 22, the "Storm Commando" took a Henkelhe-111 bomber and set off from Germany under Otto's leadership and flew towards the island of La Madaréna. However, no one expected that during the flight, they were attacked by the British Air Force. The plane crashed and fell into the sea. Fortunately, they were rescued by an Italian ship, which happened to be transferred to Mussolini. However, the crew did not have doubts about Otto and his gang, but instead enthusiastically gave them some clothes to change and let them land on Sardinia.

At this time, news came that according to the report of the German Wehrmacht Intelligence Minister William Canaris, Mussolini was detained on the island of Elba, which had been confined to Napoleon. Otto planned to "firstly send a German ship to La Madaréna Island, and at the same time let R boats (high-speed minesweeper boats) full of SS and Special Forces members enter the port.

On that day, the captain went to visit the Italian Naval Base Command, and the ship temporarily docked at the port at night. The next morning, the R boat carrying commando rushed to the pier with the support of the German ship in the port. After the team members got ashore, the R boat quickly marched towards Karen Villa and rescued Mussolini."

Two days later, Otto and Valgan dressed as crew members came to Sardinia again, but Mussolini was transferred to the Greater Sasso Mountain in the Apennines on May 24. The rescue plan was declared bankrupt again.

Otto returned to the German-controlled area in northern Italy and continued to investigate Mussolini's whereabouts, but the intelligence was difficult to obtain. One day, Otto's communications team accidentally received a radio telegram from the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs, "The security measures in the Greater Sasso Mountain have been completed. Kuerifa." Kueri is a general who is responsible for guarding Mussolini. So Otto turned his attention to the summit of the Apennines Mountains, 120 kilometers northeast of Rome, the Greater Sasso Mountain. At halfway up the mountain, at an altitude of 2,000 meters, there is a winter sports center built before the war. There is a hotel in the center of the sports center called Conbo Inberatle, which is reportedly imprisoned here.

A German who stayed here for a few weeks five years ago provided information on the terrain. However, due to the distance, it was not detailed. As for the exact information, it was learned only from a tourist brochure that there was a cable car from the village at the foot of the mountain to the hotel. Although there were small roads to go up the mountain, cable cars were usually used when going to the hotel. From this point of view, it was most suitable for imprisonment of prisoners.

After Otto confirmed that Mussolini was under house arrest in this hotel, he took a plane the next day to reconnaise the terrain of the nearby area and conducted aerial photography. According to the reconnaissance, the small path up the mountain was closely guarded by guards, and the hotel was located on a small platform covered with snow-white rocks. There was a small weed-covered triangular open space behind the hotel, which was consistent with the information obtained before. The idea of ​​using a glider to rescue him immediately emerged in Otto's mind, and this open space could be used as an ideal landing location.

The Italian Bardorio regime announced its separation from the Axis powers on May 28 and concluded an armistice agreement with the Allies. At this time, Mussolini was likely extradited to the Allies. So Otto decided to use a glider to carry out rescue, but was opposed by the Air Force: "If ground combat is difficult to implement, there are only two methods to choose from: either paratroopers airborne or glider landing.

However, the open space behind the hotel is too small for the airborne ground required by these two methods. Besides, the Great Sasso Mountain is high and has thin air, which is neither suitable for paratroopers to jump or use gliders. In addition, to deal with a guard force of 200 people, at least the same number of troops must be used. However, whether it is paratroopers skydiving or glider landing, due to the landing ground, it can only be limited to about 20 people." However, Otto faces pressure from all sides and does not retreat. He resists the opposition and resolutely decides to use the method of landing a glider to carry out the rescue operation.

Otto plans to use the Lufthansa light aircraft to tow 12 "DFS-C1" gliders, each glider boards a total of 11 officers and soldiers, including the pilot. The specific tasks of each glider are as follows: 1 and 2 land first to cover the subsequent aircraft landing; Otto takes aircraft No. 3 and rescues Mussolini with aircraft No. 4; aircraft below No. 5 are responsible for suppressing the enemy's firepower.

In addition, Otto further studied the key points of ground operations such as invading hotels, evacuation of battles, cover and support, as well as details such as entry time, entry location, landing key, carrying equipment. Regarding the method of evacuation, he decided to first suppress the Aquila Airport 20 kilometers south of the Greater Sasso Mountain by the "Storm Commando", and then use the "Luthsha" light aircraft or the Fessel Bird-type contact aircraft to respond.

The glider originally planned to fly from Rivera did not arrive at the Pratke de Mare base 25 kilometers south of Rome on time, resulting in the inability to implement the sneak attack in the early morning. He could only conduct a strong attack during the day. Since the Italians had the habit of long rest in the afternoon, this was a great opportunity to attack.

Otto immediately began to develop a rescue plan. He felt that this triangle was the solution to all problems, because the steep terrain made it impossible to enter from the ground, and due to the thin air and constant wind on the mountains, ordinary "storm commandos" could not land at this altitude.

So Otto proposed a bold plan: use 12 gliders, each carrying 10 commandos (including the driver) to descend from the sky, use this triangular land as the landing point, attack the hotel and rescue Mussolini, and in the same way, let the commandos land in the valley, capture the cable car platform, prevent the Italian army from reinforcing the top of the mountain, and then send Mussolini to Aquila Airport in the lowlands of the mountain, where they change the plane and send it to Hitler's command.

The rescue plan was reported to General Stutt, and the veteran who had been in battle was secretly surprised when he saw it. He handed the plan over to the headquarters for discussion. Almost no one believed that it would be successful, but others could not think of any other way for a while, and were unwilling to offend the commando captain assigned by Li Mo himself. In the end, Stuttt transferred the i-branch of the Second Glider Wing, which had already fought in Italy, to provide the aircraft needed for the operation.

However, Otto believes that the Go242 glider is too large to land on the ground next to the hotel. Stutante immediately ordered the DFS230 glider of the 1st Glider Wing Iii Battalion from the base in southern France. Among the 12 DFS230 assault gliders used to perform the mission, each can carry 9 fully armed paratroopers. This can transport a total of 108 soldiers, equivalent to 2/3 of the hotel defenders.

In Stutant's view, the tactics of the sudden attack and the German firepower with more advantageous firepower can completely make up for the shortcomings of personnel. Everyone agreed that Otto would lead the team to find Mussolini in the hotel, and the paratroopers under Belpsh were responsible for suppressing the defenders. Stutant assigned gliders No. 3 and No. 4 to Otto and his men. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!