Report of combat order and mission on the Gran Sasso. 12.09.1943. (Reproduced with the kind permission of Bernd Bosshammer).

Operation carried out by Fallschirmjäger-Lehr Battalion, renamed for this mission to I/FJR7.

"Our Battalion's name was renamed to camouflage us. Major Harry Herrmann was relieved for treatment of his illness and command was handed over to Major Otto Harald Mors. On September 30th, Major Mors gave the command back to Major Herrmann on his return and we once again became the Fallschirmjäger-Lehr Battalion".

Batt Kommandeur - Major Harry Hermann, to 29.07.43. Major Otto Harald Mors, from 01.08.43 - 30.09.43
Adjutant - Oberleutnant Hans Joachim Kurth, later Leutnant Herold
Ordinance Offizier - Oberleutnant Alfred Romanskie, Oberleutnant Böger & Rolfs
N.-Zug - Leutnant Karl-Heinz Blumenthal
Hauptfw. - Feldwebel Herbert Ripke
Stabskompanie - Oberleutnant Hannes Weber, Kurth, Oberzahlm Becker, Leutnant Lungwitz, Oberzahlm Schmidt, Zalhm Both, Dr.Brunner, Dr.Schulze.

1.Kompanie - Oberleutnant Georg Freiherr von Berlepsch (Oberleutnant Weiss)
I.Zug - Leutnant Joswig - Feldwebel Rahden, (Feldwebel Bosshammer)
II.Zug - Feldwebel Eugen Abel - Feldwebel Alfred Asbach
III.Zug - Leutnant Hannes Weber+9.9.43, Leutnant Gradler - Feldwebel Matthias Heck
Kompanietrupp - Fw Bosshammer, Fw Vieth, Oberjäger Karrenbrock, Obj Irrgang, Gef Klein

2.Kompanie - Oberleutnant Heinz Georg Fischer (HFw Flöricke)
I.Zug - Leutnant Schmidt - Fw Otto Pawelcyk
II.Zug - Leutnant Otterbein - Fw Franz Kopp
III.Zug - Leutnant Wolter - Fw Erich Pliwischkies

3.Kompanie - Oberleutnant Karl Schulze (HFw Walter Schmidt, HFw Kleber)
I.Zug - Leutnant Hahn - Stabsfeldwebel A.Ehrmann
II.Zug - Leutnant Lücht - Leutnant Braun
III.Zug - Oberfeldwebel Schröder - Fw Treml

4.Kompanie - Hauptmann Lisowski (Fw Ernst Könnecke)
I.Zug - Leutnant Keller - Fw Lenhardt
II.Zug - Leutnant Opel - Fw Bunte (Fw Kempe)
III.Zug - Leutnant Ehrlich - Fw Wolk

"Not all of the above units took part in the operation".
"Until September 9th, we were in tents in Albaner-See. From there we went to disarm the 103rd Italian Infantry Division in the area Albano-Genzano. This is where Leutnant Hannes Weber was killed. We occupied accommodation of the Italian 111th Infantry Regiment and from there went on to disarm an Italian Artillery Regiment in the area of Arricia".
"The Battalion became motorised with the capture of some Fiat Lorries as many of our vehicles were still in France. Everybody not familiar with a truck was trained as a driver, which was good because the next day we travelled to Frascati".
Feldwebel Franzen was killed when he tried to diffuse a hand grenade. It was sabotage as some of the grenades had been equipped without time delay fuses. On September 9th, the Battalion command post put the 1st Kompanie on alert. We were not informed of the reason. Everybody spoke about the elimination of high government officials and Italian officers. Throughout the whole day, weapons and equipment were checked. The captured vehicles were checked and refuelled".
"Jupp Vieth, our parachute warder, prepared and loaded the parachutes. I spent the whole day in the command post with Lambert, Klein and Nadler. We had alot to do as we were passing on orders. The men were allocated by a wireless and telephone group under the command of Felwebel Ripke. Munitions were handed out to the men. In the command post, a captured vehicle with a field telephone, we were allocated another Gefreiter, whose name I did not know. It was now very cramped and I spent most of the time looking after the soldiers on guard duty".
"Late in the afternoon, Oberleutnant von Berlepsch had to go and discuss the situation with the Battalion staff. He returned at about 10pm with some documents and arial photographs. I was in the command vehicle at the time. Every platoon and trupp leader had to muster in the big tent. The guards were reinforced and alert phase 1 was given. We were told that all of the information was strictly secret and it was to be a mission without parachutes, a glider operation was forthcoming".
In France, near Laval, we were trained to use the DFS-230 glider, especially in quick landings. The skids were wound round with barbed wire. The wheels were dropped after takeoff and on the DFS-230 type B we had a braking parachute. The aims and objectives of this operation were still secret. They did not tell us any names or places. The arial photos were not very good. It looked like a big house on a hill".
"They always talked about one man who was guarded by 200-250 soldiers. The expected places to land were marked with a cross. There were also drawings of the inside of the building. Feldwebel Abel had to be well aquainted with these plans. Abel spent a long time with Oberleutnant von Berlepsch, perhaps because his Italian was very good (He was an Italian teacher).

"At 1400 we saw the mountain of the Gran Sasso and the sporting hotel of Campo Imperatore. We landed about 120-150 meters away from the hotel. There were many soldiers in front of the hotel, but they did not look dangerous or alarmed. They thought we were English or American soldiers who wanted to pick up Mussolini. Our cook fired inadvertently. We were lucky the shot was without consequences. Abel went inside the hotel and after a few minutes we could see Mussolini in front of the window. We overcame the Italian soldiers and they gave us their weapons. They were herded into the big dining room".

Major Mors, Oberleutnant Schulze, Oberleutnant Kurth, along with other officers and men came up the mountain by cable car. The Duce said he did not want the guards to be treated as prisoners. The Italian soldiers were glad that nobody had fired on them. The hotel was surrounded and nobody was allowed inside or outside."
"The Duce was transported by Fiesler to the airfield at Practica de Mare. All Italian soldiers and Fallschirmjäger not guarding the hotel escorted the Duce to the plane. Skorzeny wanted to accompany Mussolini, but the pilot, Hauptmann Gerlach, said no. He was obviously persuaded as he did fly out with the Duce".
"I stayed at the hotel to guard it, We brought the last soldiers into the valley by cable car. We could not bring the gliders back so we destroyed them. Our mission was a success and there were no dead. Everytime we brought soldiers down from the mountain we alwyas took some Italian soliders".
"We stayed the night in bivouacs in the Gran Sasso valley. The liberation of the Duce went down in the history of the Fallschirmjäger".

After the Gran Sasso raid, Bernd Bosshammer was transferred to Cita de Castello where the Battalion was being formed into a Regiment. The commander was once again Major Herrmann.
In 1944, he saw service at Anzio/Nettuno. In March 1944, he was sent to France with the Regiment and became the Speiß of 4.Kompanie under the command of Leutnant von Gliga.
In April to May 1944, Bernd Bosshammer became Speiß of Nachrichtenzug Köhler in I/Fj-Lehr Rgt, the Battalion commander was Hauptmann Zuber, stationed at Amiens-Abbeville.
In August 1944, he saw action at Pontoise-Beauvais near Paris. It was here that a large part of the Regiment went into captivity. He was also promoted from Oberfeldwebel to Hauptfeldwebel.
In September 1944, the remainder of the Regiment was sent to Hastenrath in the area of Aachen. They were were to make up part of a Kampfgruppe before being sent to Köln Wahn.
There was not much rest to be had as they were in action on 17th and 18th September at Mook in Holland. Bernd Bosshammer was heavily wounded again. He was taken to hospital in Bedburg and then to Düsseldorf and on again to Berlin. He suffered serious blood loss but recovered in time to go into action again in January 1945. Again it was Holland. Brüggen & Roermond. He was again wounded in the leg by a shell splinter and was evacuated to a hospital in Arnsberg. In April he was captured when the Americans took the hospital. He was moved around from Menden to Remagen to Koblenz and finally to Bamberg where he was discharged in October 1945.
After release from his captivity Bernd Bosshammer returned to the paper factory where he worked as a youth.
Bernd Bosshammer still resides is Düren, Germany.
I would like to thank Herrn Bosshammer and Herrn Dr.Prof.Heinz Bliss for their permission in using the above photos and accounts, and would like to take the chance to publicise Herr Bliss's book entitled - "Der Fallschirmjäger-Lehr Regiment".

Authors note:

I recently heard from Alan.R.Schietzsch, whose Father, Reinhard Max Schietzsch, was one of the glider pilots who took part in the Gran Sasso operation. Alan's Father came up with some interesting observations from the mission and answered most of the questions that I had already prepared for him.

"Both the glider and tow plane pilots were from the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Staffeln, Luftlandegeschwader 1, who were at the time stationed at Valance in France"

"While it is true that 4 gliders did not make it to the mountain, it is worth noting that one of the four never made it off the airfield at Practica de Mare in the first place. This was due to a breakage in the gliders tow rope/release mechanism. So it was 3 gliders that dropped out and not 4".

"When they landed on the mountain, events did not happen as quickly as the official accounts suggest. Firstly upon landing, the 2 attached machine guns had to be removed from the glider, then the paras got organised before they went in. One flabbergasted sentry was secured without the slightest resistance whatsoever".

"Once they did go in, it did take about 4 minutes or less to secure the hotel and bring out Mussolini".

"He was not ferried out in the Storch for some time. It took nearly an hour to clear the area of rocks and boulders to allow for a landing strip. The gliders landed on sturdy skids, but the storches landing gear would have been destroyed if it had attempted to land. Remember that this rocky area had badly damaged one glider".

"While the storch was on the ground, the men continued clearing a path to allow it the longer space required for takeoff. The account is quite mistaken about the men pushing the aircraft; this is because the propoganda guy (Kriegsberichter Bruno von Kayser,whom the men regarded as an idiot) did not understand what the men were doing".

"The men manhandled the plane around into take-off position, then HELD, not pushed, the aircraft. The pilot applied high power while the men held back wing struts, tail, gear, and anywhere else they could get a grip. When they let go, the plane accelerated to a useful flying speed much more quickly than it could have done from low power".

"It is true that the plane dropped for a few seconds until the airspeed was high enough to fly properly".

"The propoganda guy (Kriegsberichter Bruno von Kayser) was responsible for many of the photos, almost certainly the one on your site we were discussing. The Storch pilot (Hauptmann Gerlach), in his 30's, gave him hell for insisting he came along on the departing flight...he made quite a tantrum about having to be left behind, but the storch was already at capacity in terms of weight with the pilot, the Duce and Hitlers emmisary, Skorzeny".

"The Italians were then made to put the arial tramway back into operation (it was not a railway, but an overhead cable condola system, appropriate for a ski resort). The men exited down to the valley, where they boarded trucks to go back to the airfield".

"The gliders had instrument panels and other useful parts salvaged, then were made unstable by detonating a 1kg explosive charge attached to the main wing spar/fuselage junction. This splintered the wood, buckled the metal tube and burnt the canvas".

Author - I asked Alan if his Father remembered the shot fired accidentally by Oberjäger Willi Irrgang, and the fact that there was no consequence of this action !
Alan said:

"That's what my Father thinks, too! He had thought that 2 shots were suddenly fired, but was not sure.....he had the impression it might simply have been the excitement/careless weapons handling. Very easy to have happen".

I sent Alan a copy of the above award ceremony to check if his father was one of the LS Piloten featured in the shot.
Alan said:

"It turns out that my Father did not recieve a medal for that operation - he instead traded his thanks/reward into admission to fighter training school, which was normally reserved for those of highter social class. He had plenty of knowledge, being both an apprentice aircraftsman at the Junkers (Dessau) works pre-war, in addition to his glider experience, but that had previously not been enough to get him past the class barrier into fighter school."
 

Many thanks to Alan Schietzsch and his Father.