Armistice of Cassibile

FAIRFIELD CAMP SICILY September 3, 1943

The following conditions of an Armistice are presented by

GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces,

acting by authority of the Governments of the United States and Great Britain and in the interest of the United Nations, and are accepted by

MARSHAL PIETRO BADOGLIO Head of the Italian Government

1. Immediate cessation of all hostile activity by the Italian armed forces.

2. Italy will use its best endeavors to deny, to the Germans, facilities that might be used against the United Nations.

3. All prisoners or internees of the United Nations to be immediately turned over to the Allied Commander in Chief, and none of these may now or at any time be evacuated to Germany.

4. Immediate transfer of the Italian Fleet and Italian aircraft to such points as may be designated by the Allied Commander in Chief, with details of disarmament to be prescribed by him.

5. Italian merchant shipping may be requisitioned by the Allied Commander in Chief to meet the needs of his military-naval program.

6. Immediate surrender of Corsica and of all Italian territory, both islands and mainland, to the Allies, for such use as operational bases and other purposes as the Allies may see fit.

7. Immediate guarantee of the free use by the Allies of all airfields and naval ports in Italian territory, regardless of the rate of evacuation of the Italian territory by the German forces. These ports and fields to be protected by Italian armed forces until this function is taken over by the Allies.

8. Immediate withdrawal to Italy of Italian armed forces from all participation in the current war from whatever areas in which they may be now engaged.

9. Guarantee by the Italian Government that if necessary it will employ all its available armed forces to insure prompt and exact compliance with all the provisions of this armistice.

10. The Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces reserves to himself the right to take any measure which in his opinion may be necessary for the protection of the interests of the Allied Forces for the prosecution of the war, and the Italian Government binds itself to take such administrative or other action as the Commander in Chief may require, and in particular the Commander in Chief will establish Allied Military Government over such parts of Italian territory as he may deem necessary in the military interests of the Allied Nations.

11. The Commander in Chief of the Allied Forces will have a full right to impose measures of disarmament, demobilization, and demilitarization.

12. Other conditions of a political, economic and financial nature with which Italy will be bound to comply will be transmitted at a later date.

The conditions of the present Armistice will not be made public without prior approval of the Allied Commander in Chief. The English will be considered the official text.

Marshal PIETRO BADOGLIO Head of Italian Government.

By:
 * GUISEPPE CASTELLANO Brigadier General, attached to The Italian High Command

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER, General, U.S. Army, Commander in Chief, Allied Forces.

By:
 * WALTER B. SMITH Major General, U.S. Army, Chief of Staff.

PRESENT:


 * Rt. Hon. Harold Macmillan
 * British Resident Minister, A.F.H.Q.


 * Robert Murphy
 * Personal Representative of the President of the United States


 * Royer Dick
 * Commodore, R.N., Chief of Staff to the C. in C. Med.


 * Lowell W. Rooks
 * Major General, U.S. Army, Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, A.F.H.Q.


 * Franco Montanari
 * Official Italian Interpreter


 * Brigadier Kenneth Strong
 * Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, A.F.H.Q.