rest in a mountain resort until September,
when a secret commando mission under Maj.
Otto Skorzenyrescued him. He then took
charge of a small puppet state in the north-
eastern corner of Italy, where his most no-
table accomplishment was the trial and exe-
cution of five council members, including his
own son-in-law, who had voted to oust him.
When German defenses finally collapsed in
the spring of 1945, Mussolini and his mistress
tried to flee to Switzerland. En route, they
were intercepted by Italian communist parti-
sans, who executed him on April 28, 1945.
Thus, two decades of ideological bombast
drew to an ignominious close. As a final token
of disrespect,il duce’s body was hung upside
down in a public square and later interred in
an unmarked grave.
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1995.NAGUMO, CHUICHI
Nagumo, Chuichi
(March 25, 1887–July 6, 1944)
Japanese Admiral
T
he austere, cautious Nagumo launched
the brilliantly successful Japanese air
raid against Pearl Harbor that brought
the United States into World War II. Ironically,
he was a destroyer man with little expertise in
aerial strategy or tactics. Nagumo nonethe-
less enjoyed considerable success in the Pa-
cific and Indian Oceans before a catastrophic
defeat at the 1942 Battle of Midway.
Chuichi Nagumo was born in Yamagata
Prefecture on March 25, 1887. Intent upon a
naval career, he graduated from the Imperial
Naval Academy in 1908 and subsequently at-
tended the Torpedo School in 1914. Nagumo
became a highly respected torpedo and de-
stroyer specialist and two years later was ad-
mitted to the prestigious Naval Staff College.
He graduated in 1920, rose to commander by
1924, and completed several tours of the
United States and Great Britain. Nagumo next
held down several cruiser commands in 1929–
1930 before assuming control of a destroyer
squadron. He rose to rear admiral in 1935
while commanding the battleship Yamashiro
and in 1939 gained a promotion to vice admi-
ral and head of the Naval Staff College in
Tokyo. Nagumo acquired the reputation of a
thoroughly competent, if personally colorless,
professional officer. He was held in high es-
teem by superiors for his technical efficiency,