Hitler Arranges Mussolini 'Rescue'

On the morning of July 25, 1943, King Victor Emmanuel who had backed Benito Mussolini ever since his March on Rome in 1922 told Il Duce, “The game is over, Mussolini . . . you'll have to go.” Upon leaving the king's villa, a Carabinieri captain arrested Mussolini who took him to a secret location in Rome “for his protection.” Two days later, Il Duce was on the island of Ponza forty miles off the coast of Naples. With no small amount of irony, Mussolini was under house arrest on the island where enemies of the Fascist state had once been exiled. Thus began a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek with the ex-dictator, with the new Italian government under Marshal Pietro Bagdolio constantly moving him to prevent his rescue by the Germans and Adolf Hitler equally determined to free his former mentor.