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
John Ellis (Australian politician) He served until his death in East Melbourne in 1945. John Ellis (Australian politician) John McDonald Ellis (8 December 1872 – 2 July 1945) was an Australian politician. He was born in Bendigo to miner Thomas Ellis and Isabella McLean. He lived in Melbourne from around 1887, running a contracting firm with his brother. On 29 November 1899 he married Alice Rose Saunders, with whom he had three children. From 1926 to 1945 he served on Prahran City Council, and he was mayor from 1930 to 1932 and from 1944 to 1945. He was elected to the Victorian Legislative Assembly