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 R. Smith (politician, born 1945) percent). Cain trailed with 6,343 (29.5 percent). Democrat Terry Fowler held the remaining but critical 5,370 votes (25 percent). John R. Smith (politician, born 1945) John R. Smith (born December 29, 1945) is a politician from Leesville, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 30, which encompasses Vernon, Beauregard, and Calcasieu parishes in western Louisiana. In 2010, Smith switched from Democratic to Republican party affiliation. Smith received both his Bachelor of Science and Master of Business Administration degrees from the Roman Catholic Loyola University in New Orleans. He is a member of the Leesville