The general who signed an incomplete transition
On 3 September 1943, beneath an olive tree at Cassibile, he signed the armistice on Italy’s behalf.
Giuseppe Castellano was an Italian army general and staff officer whose career began in the First World War. After taking part in the political-military move that removed Mussolini in July 1943, he became Badoglio’s envoy to negotiate with the Allies. He signed the Cassibile armistice on Italy’s behalf, ending the kingdom’s hostilities with the Allies but exposing the asymmetry of the terms and the confusion of Italy’s command. After the war he commanded forces in Sicily and published memoirs defending his account of the transition.
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1915–1918First World War, artillery captain
- 1941–1942Yugoslavia campaign, promoted to brigadier general
- 1942Army General Staff, aide to Vittorio Ambrosio
- 1943High Command, head of planning and operations
- 1943.07Involved in the plan to arrest Mussolini
- 1943.08–09Badoglio government envoy, negotiated and signed the armistice with the Allies
- 1944.10–1946.06Commander of the Aosta Internal Security Division in Sicily
- 1947Retired from the army
Related historical events
- 1914–1918First World WarItalian army artillery captainHe served as an artillery captain in the Italian Royal Army during the First World War.
- 1943–1945The Italian Campaign and the Fall of Mussoliniarmistice negotiation delegateRepresenting the Badoglio government, he negotiated and signed the armistice terms with the Allies at Cassibile.
The secret negotiating mission and the wrong announcement date, August 1943
On 12 August 1943 the chief of the general staff, Vittorio Ambrosio, entrusted his close associate Castellano with the task of contacting the Allies. The instructions were to explain Italy's military position, hear the Allies' intentions and, above all, to convey that Italy could not detach itself from Germany without Allied help. Yet Castellano was allowed to reach the neutral territory only by train: three days to Madrid and three more to Lisbon, where he met the Allied command's representatives on 19 August. He spoke no English and relied on the Lisbon consul Franco Montanari as interpreter. He left Lisbon on 23 August and reached Rome on 27 August, the mission having lasted fifteen days.
Shortly after he left for Rome, two other generals, Rossi and Zanussi, were flown to Lisbon and presented themselves to the Allied representatives; this dispatch of closely spaced delegations without coordination confused the Allies. After some dispute among the three Italian generals over who held the highest authority, Castellano was admitted to speak with the Allies, before the British ambassador to Portugal, Ronald Campbell, and the two officers sent by Eisenhower, Walter Bedell Smith and Kenneth Strong.
After the armistice was signed, the Allies kept Castellano in Sicily and did not tell him the date of its announcement; not even Eisenhower gave him that information 24 hours before the declaration. Castellano sent a letter for Ambrosio via Major Marchesi and the pilot Vassallo stating that the date would fall between 10 and 15 September, probably the 12th, his fiftieth birthday. That information proved wrong. The armistice was made public on 8 September, read on Radio Algiers in Eisenhower's name and then broadcast by Badoglio. In consequence most of the Italian army had not been informed of the armistice and had no clear orders to face the Germans, and the king and Badoglio left Rome on the morning of 9 September for Brindisi.