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
The Mistress of the World "The Mistress of the World", which at first appeared to be meager in comparison. He instead released a steady stream of information regarding the production of the film, which included stories around the film's stars, the set design and the process of making the film. This in turn led to massive audience anticipation, making "The Mistress of the World" one of the first "Monumentalfilm", and this promotional technique was embraced by other productions that followed. May continued to feed the entertainment journals with facts from the film in the run up to its release, in an attempt to promote the