During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the Commissione Italiana d'Armistizio con la Francia ("Italian Armistice Commission with France") or CIAF was a temporary civil and military body charged with implementing the Franco-Italian armistice of 24 June 1940 and harmonising it with the Franco-German armistice of 22 June. It had broad authority over the military, economic, diplomatic and financial relations between France and Italy until the Italo-German occupation of France ( Operation ANTON) on 11 November 1942. Thereafter its powers were gradually transferred to the Fourth Army, which was under the command of General Mario Vercellino and in occupation of southern France. The headquarters of the CIAF was in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and it was subordinate to the ''

Comando Supremo ''Comando Supremo'' (Supreme Command) was the highest command echelon of the Italian Armed Forces between June 1941 and May 1945. Its predecessor, the ''Stato Maggiore Generale'' (General Staff), was a purely advisory body with no direct control ...

'' (Italian supreme command). It liaised with the

German Armistice Commission The German Armistice Commission (, WAKO) was a military body charged with supervising the implementation of the Franco-German Armistice, signed on 22 June 1940, in German-occupied France during World War II.United States Department of State, Pub ...

(''Waffenstillstandskommission'', WAKO) in Wiesbaden.

Structure

Structurally, the CIAF had a presidency (''presidenza'') and four subcommissions (''sottocommissioni'') for the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

and "General Affairs" (''Affari Generali''). The first representative of the army was General Carlo Vecchiarelli, of the navy Admiral Ildebrando Goiran and of the air force General Aldo Pellegrini. The French were represented at Turin by a delegation of their own (the ''Délégation française à la Commission italienne d'Armistice'' or DFCIA) and four subdelegations corresponding to the subcommissions. A Mixed Delegation (''Delegazione Mista'') was sent to

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

, where it was sidelined after the

Italian occupation of Corsica The Italian occupation of Corsica refers to the military (and administrative) occupation by the Kingdom of Italy of the French island of Corsica during the Second World War, from November 1942 to September 1943. After an initial period of increa ...

in November 1942, when a Political and General Affairs Office (''Ufficio Politico e Affari Vari'') was established there subordinate to the Fourth Army. General Affairs was concerned mainly with protecting Italian emigrants in France. On 4 February 1941, it began establishing Civil Assistance and Repatriation Delegations (''Delegazioni Civili Rimpatrio e Assistenza'') or DRAs in French cities. These were originally staffed by consular officials acting as reserve officers, but on 15 January 1943 they were converted into consular offices subordinate to the liaison office of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

at the headquarters of the Fourth Army. On 15 April, the General Affairs subcommission was suppressed. It had been instrumental in repatriating 70,000 Italians between October 1940 and April 1943.

History

On 5 November 1940, a subcommission for Administration of Occupied Territories (''Amministrazione dei Territori Occupati'') was set up. It appointed civil commissioners in the occupied communities of

Bessans Bessans is a Communes of France, commune in the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in south-eastern France. It is located in the valley of Maurienne and crossed by the Arc (Savoie), Arc ...

Bramans Bramans is a former commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Val-Cenis.Fontan, Isola,

Lanslebourg Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis is a former commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Val-Cenis.Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...

Montgenèvre Montgenèvre (; ; Italian: ''Monginevro'') is a commune on the Italian border in the Hautes-Alpes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. Geography Montgenèvre is located in the French part of the Cott ...

Ristolas Ristolas is a former commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune of Abriès-Ristolas. The village lies in the Queyras, in the northwestern part of the commune, on the left ...

and Séez; they remained active down to the Italian armistice with the Allies (8 September 1943). Later, another subcommission for Armaments (''Armamenti'') supervised French weapons factories between the Italian border and the Rhône, and placed some under joint control of French companies and the Italian war production office, Fabbriguerra. On 19 February 1942, a permanent Italo-French Economic Commission (''Commissione Economica Italo-Francese'') was set up in Rome, where it held monthly meetings. The head of the Italian delegation was Amedeo Giannini and of the French Joseph Sanguinetti. It was distinct from the Subcommission for Economic and Financial Affairs (''Sottocommissione Affari Economici e Finanziari'', SCAEF) established under Tomasso Lazzari in Turin. SCAEF was in charge of the spoils of war, policing the alpine border, Italian rights in French colonial harbours, maritime traffic and Italian property in France. Another subcommission was set up in Turin to foster trade between Italy and

German-occupied France The Military Administration in France (; ) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zone in areas of northern and western France. This so-called ' was established in June 19 ...

, and yet another body was working at the Italian embassy in Paris to the same end. Finally, Teodoro Pigozzi of

FIAT Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

had been appointed ''commissario commerciale'' to France by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Currency Exchange. These various bodies did not coordinate their work effectively. The work of the CIAF was complicated by the re-opening of the Italian embassy in Paris on 4 February 1941 and the appointment of an ambassador, Gino Buti, on 20 February 1942. Although Buti's instructions required him not to deal with issues covered by the armistice, the French took advantage of his presence to bypass the CIAF. After occupation of unoccupied France in November 1942, the CIAF retained control only of the original occupied territory (demarcated by the "green line", ''linea verde''). By early December 1942, the CIAF was moribund and the leader of the French delegation, Admiral Émile-André Duplat, asked President Arturo Vacca-Maggiolini whether it in fact still existed. Both Italy and Germany resolved to maintain their armistice commissions for legal purposes, although they would not be subordinated to the requirements of the occupying forces. In these unusual circumstances, Vacca-Maggiolini was forced to justify his role to General Vercellino on 31 December 1942, and it was not until 10 March 1943 that the CIAF's residual role was clarified by

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afghanistan) * Chief of the General Staff (Albania) * C ...

Vittorio Ambrosio Vittorio Ambrosio (28 July 1879 – 19 November 1958) was an Italian general who served in the Italo-Turkish War, World War I, and World War II. During the last phase of World War II Ambrosio supported the fall of Benito Mussolini and Italy ...

, who on 20 March abolished the separate subcommissions of the service branches.

In Africa and Asia

The CIAF was responsible for overseeing French forces east of the Rhône, in North Africa and in the Levant. It therefore established a presence in France's colonies. A General Delegation (''Delegazione Generale'') was sent to

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

and a Mixed Delegation to

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

. These contained a variety of subcommissions and control sections. General Gaëtan Germain in Djibouti convinced the armistice commission that it was inadvisable and impractical to demilitarise the colony, in which approximately 8,000 French soldiers (with tanks and airplanes) thus remained on guard. In the French colony of

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

, concern that an Italian armistice commission would arrive was one factor in Governor

Félix Éboué Adolphe Sylvestre Félix Éboué (; 26 December 1884 – 17 May 1944) was a French Guiana, French French colonial empires, colonial administrator and early adherent to the Free French Forces, Free French Movement. He was the first black Fren ...

's decision to rally to

Free France Free France () was a resistance government claiming to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third French Republic, Third Republic during World War II. Led by General , Free France was established as a gover ...

on 26 August 1940. No commission ever operated in Chad. An armistice commission under General Fedele de Giorgis arrived in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

late in August 1940 to oversee the implementation of the armistice terms in Syria and Lebanon. It included 50 Italian officials plus a handful of Germans. In May 1941, as the Axis prepared to intervene in the

Anglo-Iraqi War The Anglo-Iraqi War was a British-led Allies of World War II, Allied military campaign during the Second World War against the Kingdom of Iraq, then ruled by Rashid Ali al-Gaylani who had seized power in the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état with assista ...

, Rudolf Rahn arrived in Beirut to head a German sub-commission under the Italians. In

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, the CIAF ordered the demilitarization of the

Mareth Line The Mareth Line was a system of fortifications built by France in southern French protectorate of Tunisia, Tunisia in the late 1930s. The line was intended to protect Tunisia against an Kingdom of Italy#Fascist regime (1922–1943), Italian invas ...

, which rendered it useless to the Italians and Germans when the British advanced on Tunisia from Libya in early 1943. The first of the French anti-Jewish laws, the '' Loi portant statut des Juifs'', was published in Tunisia by a decree of Bey Ahmad II, countersigned by Resident-General

Jean-Pierre Esteva Jean-Pierre Esteva (14 September 1880 – 11 January 1951) was a French naval officer who served in the First and Second World Wars. From 1940 to 1943, he served as Resident-General in Tunisia for the Vichy French government.Halpern, p. 311 Na ...

, on 30 November 1940. The CIAF protested the damaging effects of this decree on the Italian property owners, many of them Jewish, in Tunisia. On 27 May 1942, General Bianini, head of the CIAF post in

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

, died of his wounds after an assassination attempt by an Algerian.

Executive officers

;Presidents *General Pietro Pintor (27 June 1940 – 7 December 1940), died in office *General Camillo Grossi (8 December 1940 – 16 June 1941), died in office *General Arturo Vacca-Maggiolini (18 June 1941 – 8 September 1943) ;Secretaries general *General Fernando Gelich (20 August 1940 – 20 December 1942) *Colonel

Evaristo Fioravanti Evaristo is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name: * Evaristo Avalos (born 1933), Mexican equestrian * Evaristo Barrera (1911–1982), Argentine football striker * Evaristo Baschenis (1617–1677), Itali ...

(20 December 1942 – 8 September 1943)

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{refend 1940 establishments in Italy Organizations established in 1940 Organizations disestablished in 1943 Italian irredentism Italian military occupations Military occupations of France France–Italy relations 1940 in France 1940 in Italy