The Armistice of Cassibile was the official agreement, signed on Sept. 3, 1943, that ended hostilities between the Kingdom of Italy and the Allied forces during World War Two. Italian Brig. Gen. Giuseppe Castellano and U.S. Maj. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith signed the historic pact inside a military tent under an olive grove at Santa Teresa Longarini near Cassibile.
The signing came less than two months after Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, and the fall of dictator Benito Mussolini's regime. While the armistice was signed on Sept. 3, it was kept secret for five days until Allied Supreme Commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly broadcasted the surrender on Sept. 8, 1943, completely shifting the war in the Mediterranean.
