Mussolini rescue, Storch help please.

[veltro]

Being aware myself too of the dangers of web sources, I would be very cautious about the role played by Skorzeny in the liberation of Mussolini...

The whole operation was planned by Kurt Student and his Fallschirmjaeger, with Skorzeny being there only as an "observer". He suddenly pulled his rank and put himself on the same Storch with Mussolini (putting the whole operation in danger as the Storch only barely make it on take-off due to the extra weight...) and then presented himself to Hitler as the one who had liberated the Duce!

In an interview given in the 70's to the italian journalist and historian Arrigo Petacco, Kurt Student's eyes filled with rage when he heard Skorzeny's name and he defined him a "swindler and a liar", having stolen the merit of the whole operation.

As a matter of fact, the figure of Skorzeny is controversial, to say the least...