The landing of Allied forces in Sicily in July 1943 prompted the downfall of the Fascist Italian leader and Hitler's ally, Benito Mussolini.
On July 24, 1943, the Fascist High Council, which had not met since the war began, summoned Mussolini to a meeting at which King Victor Emmanuel was appointed in his stead as commander-in-chief of the Italian armed forces. The next day, the king dismissed Mussolini from all of his functions had him arrested, and sent him to prison in an ambulance. Allied forces landed in Italy on September 2; Italy surrendered on September 8. However, in a daring rescue action, a German commando unit released Mussolini from incarceration, and a new Fascist government, set up under his leadership in northern Italy, claimed that it was continuing to prosecute the war alongside the Germans. This government had no real power, but the Germans invaded and occupied most of Italy. On April 27, 1944 partisans captured Mussolini as he attempted to flee to Switzerland, and shot him the next day. Not until June 4, 1944, did Allied forces enter Rome.
