Benito Mussolini Mussolini was rescued from captivity in the Gran Sasso raid by German paratroopers and "Waffen-SS" commandos led by Major Otto-Harald Mors. Adolf Hitler, after meeting with the rescued former dictator, then put Mussolini in charge of a puppet regime in northern Italy, the Italian Social Republic (, RSI), informally known as the "Salò Republic". In late April 1945, in the wake of near total defeat, Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci attempted to flee to Switzerland, but both were captured by Italian communist partisans and summarily executed by firing squad on 28 April 1945 near Lake Como. His body was
Clara Elisabeth von Platen Clara Elisabeth von Platen Clara Elisabeth, Countess von Platen - Hallermund (14 January 1648 - 30 January 1700, Schloss Monplaisir, in what is now the Von-Alten-Garten in Hannover) was a German noblewoman, most notable as the mistress of Ernest Augustus (Elector of Hanover, father of George I of Great Britain) and for her involvement in the Königsmarck Affair. The eldest daughter of Georg Philipp von Meysenbug-Zuschen and his wife Anna Elisabeth von Meysenbug, Clara Elisabeth's father tried to get her and her sister Catharina positions at the French court at Versailles. When this attempt failed, he placed them at the