Skorzeny fucks up

What if Mussolini was killed in the Gran Sasso Raid, either by his guards, by a German stray bullet, or in the crash of the plane that took them back to Vienna?
 
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They get another high ranking Fascist die hard to 'rule' the Italian Social Republic, say Graziani or Pavolini, and throw the martyred Duce into their propaganda.

Or maybe they don't waste their time and money and the Germans run northern Italy like any other occupied territory.
 
Skorzeny's failure sees him assigned to fewer, and less important operations. Without his leadership, Operation Panzerfaust may go awry, which would see more support for the Soviets in Hungary.
 
They get another high ranking Fascist die hard to 'rule' the Italian Social Republic, say Graziani or Pavolini, and throw the martyred Duce into their propaganda.

Or maybe they don't waste their time and money and the Germans run northern Italy like any other occupied territory.

From recollection, Hitler had looked at the other high ranking Fascists and wasn't impressed. The conclusion was that it was either Mussolini or no-one.

So the second option seems likely.
 
Nothing else? Although obviously this is not going to make the Germans win, the repercussions should be pretty big, both militarily and post-war...

Not really, I doubt this would impact on Skorzeny's career too badly, the operation was always going to be a longshot. Even if it does, he never really did anything that would dramatically alter the course of the war. Hungary might fall quicker, but it was going to fall anyway. The Italian Social Republic or some other puppet state will be run in northern Italy by another high ranking fascist until the front collapses.

Mussolini might be viewed on somewhat more favourably than in OTL (although he gets a light touch already IMO), Neo-Fascists in Italy will probably talk about his plans for a true fascist state out of the ruins which would drive out both the Germans and the Allies, and how Skorzeny's mission was actually a plan to prevent this but I doubt that will help their cause much.
 
...the repercussions should be pretty big, both militarily and post-war...

No, not really. He's dead either way, and his brief span after the original rescue was of little consequence to history. As noted, the "biggest" change is that the Italians don't get to hang his body up next to his mistress's, but the loss of one bit of folklore doesn't sound very important.
 
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