Panzer IV Ausf. H tank of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler pictured with the Milan Dome in the background during September 1943.
German tanks occupied the city of Milan on September 8th, after the Armistice of Cassibile between Italy’s new leadership and the Western Allies became public. On September 12th, German forces freed Benito Mussolini, who had previously been dismissed from power and imprisoned at the top of the Gran Sasso massif in the Apennine Mountains.
Book suggestions ⤵️
📖 The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-44 (Rick Atkinson, 2007)
📖 Freeing Mussolini: Dismantling the Skorzeny Myth in the Gran Sasso Raid (Oscar Gonzalez, 2018)
Photograph by SS-PK war reporter Rottensteiner.