Free Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis by Robert M. Edsel Page A

over for them.” In the dark early morning hours, fearing for their lives, the king, Badoglio, and others fled Rome for the remote Adriatic town of Brindisi, leaving Italian troops leaderless and, worse, without orders.
    German forces seized control of Rome on September 10, meeting only token Italian resistance. Within twenty-four hours, Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring placed all Italian territory under German military control. The pope had instructed the commander of his Swiss Guard that under no circumstances were they to resist should German troops violate the neutrality of Vatican City. But would German forces really usurp the pope’s authority in the capital of the Catholic world?
    The feared moment soon arrived—first the sound of boots marching in unison across the cobblestone streets, growing louder and louder, followed by the appearance of heavily armed Wehrmacht troops. As they approached St. Peter’s Square and Bernini’s imposing colonnades, however, the marching came to a halt. The Germans posted guards but proceeded no farther. *
    On September 12, Hitler received dramatic news. SS paratroopers had executed a daring raid at a ski resort on the Gran Sasso mountain in central Italy to free Mussolini from guards holding him on orders from Badoglio. “Duce, the Führer has sent me to set you free,” exclaimed the leader of the mission, SS Captain Otto Skorzeny. Relieved, Mussolini replied, “I knew my friend Adolf Hitler would not abandon me.” Forty-eight hours later, a haggard Mussolini arrived at the Rastenburg airfield. Standing by to greet him were his rescuer, Adolf Hitler, and his “keeper,” SS General Karl Wolff, newly appointed “Supreme Leader of all SS Troops and Police in Italy.” Hitler informed the Duce that he would form a new Nazi-backed Fascist state—the Italian Social Republic—later referred to as the Salò Republic, named for its de facto capital on Lake Garda, near the northern town of Salò. † Mussolini would be the titular head, but in truth Hitler and his designees—SS General Wolff and Rudolf Rahn—would be running the new government.
    Wolff had returned to Hitler’s headquarters on September 14 to receive further orders from the Führer. Hitler wanted Wolff, in addition to his previously assigned responsibilities, to provide round-the-clock protection for Mussolini. “You vouch for the Duce,” Hitler told him. Never again should he be placed in such jeopardy. “A command of selected SS officers is never to leave him out of sight.” This seemed straightforward; the second part of his assignment was not.
    “I now have a special order for you, Wolff, which I needed to present to you personally, because of its international importance. I am making it your duty to not talk to anyone about it, except the Reichsführer SS [Himmler], who I have already informed, until I specifically allow you to do so. Do you understand me?” “Yes, my Führer!” replied Wolff.
    “As soon as possible I want you and your troops to occupy the Vatican and Vatican City, as part of the German counter measures against this unspeakable ‘Badoglio treachery,’ secure the Vatican’s archives and art treasures, which have a unique value, and escort the Pope (Pius XII) together with the Curia up North ‘for their protection,’ so that they cannot fall into the hands of the Allies and under their political influence. Depending on military and political developments I will determine whether to accommodate him in Germany or in neutral Liechtenstein.”
    “There will be quite an uproar worldwide,” admitted the Führer, “but it will calm down. This will be quite a harvest. . . .” “How long might it take you to carry out this mission?” asked the Führer.
    Himmler had briefed Wolff on his assignment before the meeting, but hearing Hitler describe his intentions shocked the SS general. He scrambled to think of a response, one that would appear credible while buying time. “I am quite