Closing the Ring (16 page)

3. We are therefore assuming that you expect General Eisenhower to sign short terms on your behalf if that be necessary to avoid the further journeying of General Castellano to Rome and consequent delay and uncertainty affecting military operations. We are of course anxious that Italian unconditional surrender be to Soviet as well as to Great Britain and United States. The date of surrender announcement must of course be fitted in with the military stroke.

*  *  * *  *

General Castellano returned to Sicily, formally authorised by his Government to sign the military terms of surrender.
On September 3, in an olive grove near Syracuse, the act was performed. I received this news in a telegram from General Alexander.

General Alexander to Prime Minister

3 Sept. 43

The short armistice terms were signed this afternoon, on the fourth anniversary of the war, between General Bedell Smith, representing General Eisenhower, and General Castellano, representing Marshal Badoglio, duly authorised to do so.

Castellano is remaining here near my Headquarters, and we are starting military talks this evening to arrange best assistance which Italian forces can contribute to our operations.

  Before dawn on September 3, the British Eighth Army had crossed the Straits of Messina to enter the Italian mainland.

Prime Minister to Premier Stalin

5 Sept. 43

General Castellano, after a long struggle, signed the short terms on September 3, and he is now working out with Generals Eisenhower and Alexander the best way to bring them into force. This will certainly lead to immediate fighting between Italian and German forces, and we are going to help the Italians at every possible point as effectively and speedily as we can. The next week will show a startling development. The invasion of the toe has been successful and is being pressed, and Operation “Avalanche” and the airborne venture are both imminent. Though I believe we shall get ashore at “Avalanche” in strong force, I cannot foresee what will happen in Rome or throughout Italy. The dominant aim should be to kill Germans and make Italians kill Germans on the largest scale possible in this theatre.

I am staying over this side of the Atlantic till this business clear, itself. Meanwhile, accept my warmest congratulations on your new set of victories and penetrations on your main front.

  It now remained to co-ordinate the terms of the Italian surrender with our military strategy. The American General Taylor, of the 82d Airborne Division, was sent to Rome on September 7. His secret mission was to arrange with the Italian General Staff for the airfields around the capital to be seized during the night of the 9th. But the situation had
radically changed since Castellano had asked for Allied protection. The Germans had powerful forces at hand, and appeared to be in possession of the airfields. The Italian army was demoralised and short of ammunition. Divided counsels seethed round Badoglio. Taylor demanded to see him. Everything hung in the balance. The Italian leaders now feared that any announcement of the surrender, which had already been signed, would lead to the immediate German occupation of Rome and the end of the Badoglio Government. At two o’clock on the morning of September 8, General Taylor saw Badoglio, who, since the airfields were lost, begged for delay in broadcasting the armistice terms. He had in fact already telegraphed to Algiers that the security of the Rome airfields could not be guaranteed. The air descent was therefore cancelled.

Eisenhower now had to make a quick decision. The attack on Salerno was due to be launched within less than twenty-four hours. He therefore telegraphed to the Combined Chiefs of Staff:

8 Sept. 43

I have just completed a conference with the principal commanders, and have determined
not
to accept the Italian change of attitude. We intend to proceed in accordance with plan for the announcement of the armistice, and with subsequent propaganda and other measures. Marshal Badoglio is being informed through our direct link that this instrument entered into by his accredited representative with presumed good faith on both sides is considered valid and binding, and that we will
not
recognise any deviation from our original agreement.

After consultation, the President and I sent the following reply:

8 Sept. 43

It is the view of the President and the Prime Minister that the agreement having been signed, you should make such public announcement regarding it as would facilitate your military operations.

Accordingly, at 6.00
P.M.
General Eisenhower broadcast the announcement of the armistice, followed by the text of the declaration which Marshal Badoglio himself announced about an hour later from Rome. The surrender of Italy had been completed.

*  *  * *  *

During the night of September 8/9, German forces began the encirclement of Rome. Badoglio and the Royal Family installed themselves in a state of siege in the building of the Ministry of War. There were hasty discussions in an atmosphere of mounting tension and panic. In the small hours a convoy of five vehicles passed through the eastern gates of Rome on the road to the Adriatic port of Pescara. Here two corvettes took on board the party, which contained the Italian Royal Family, together with Badoglio and his Government and senior officials. They reached Brindisi in the early morning of September 10, when the essential services of an anti-Fascist Italian Government were rapidly set up on territory occupied by Allied forces.

After the departure of the fugitives, the veteran Marshal Caviglia, the victor of Vittorio Veneto in the First World War, arrived in Rome to take upon himself the responsibility of negotiating with the German forces closing in round the city. Scattered fighting was already taking place at the gates. Certain regular units of the Italian Army and Partisan bands of Roman citizens engaged the Germans on the outskirts.

On September 11, opposition ceased with the signature of a military truce, and the Nazi divisions were free to move through the city.

*  *  * *  *

The surrender had been pressed on Marshal Badoglio in order not to upset the timing of the Allied landings in the heel and in the Rome area. The essential steps were completed in the formal signature of the armistice terms, but there were other fruits to be gathered in this dread harvest: the
Italian Fleet must be safely transferred to Allied ports; there were many Italian divisions in Southeastern Europe whose equipment would be valuable to the Allies in the continued struggle against Nazi Germany; there were still more important Italian bases in the Eastern Mediterranean. It was essential that these islands should not fall into hostile hands.

I was acutely aware of this particular danger.

Prime Minister to General Wilson (Middle East)

13 Sept. 43

The capture of Rhodes by you at this time with Italian aid would be a fine contribution to the general war. Let me know what are your plans for this. Can you not improvise the necessary garrison out of the forces in the Middle East? What is your total ration strength?

This is a time to think of Clive and Peterborough and of Rooke’s men taking Gibraltar.

  Lest it should be thought that I pressed this mood unduly, I cite the final summary of the Combined Chiefs of Staff of our decisions recorded at Washington:

E
ASTERN
M
EDITERRANEAN

The Combined Chiefs of Staff have taken note of the action which the Commander-in-Chief Middle East is taking in respect of Rhodes and other islands in the Dodecanese. They approve this action, and are considering what further can be done.

I was soon to revert to these matters.

*  *  * *  *

Meanwhile, after dark on September 8, in accordance with Allied instructions, the main body of the Italian Fleet left Genoa and Spezia on a daring voyage of surrender to Malta, unprotected either by Allied or Italian aircraft. Next morning, when steaming down the west coast of Sardinia, it was attacked by German aircraft from bases in France. The flagship
Roma
was hit, and blew up with heavy loss of life, including the Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Bergamini. The battleship
Italia
was also damaged. Leaving some light craft to rescue survivors,
the rest of the fleet continued its painful journey. On the morning of the 10th, they were met at sea by British forces, including the
Warspite
and
Valiant
, which had so often sought them before under different circumstances, and were escorted to Malta. A squadron from Taranto, including two battleships, had also sailed on the 9th, and, after passing at sea the British force on its way to occupy that port, reached Malta the following day without incident.

On the morning of the 11th, Admiral Cunningham informed the Admiralty that “the Italian battle fleet now lies at anchor under the guns of the fortress of Malta.”

*  *  * *  *

I was anxious that we should treat the Italian Navy well. To Cunningham I cabled on September 10:

Prime Minister to Admiral Cunningham
(
Algiers
)

10 Sept. 43

Should the Italian Fleet arrive in our ports after having scrupulously fulfilled armistice conditions and sustained the revengeful attack of German bombers, I hope you will consult General Eisenhower in order that they shall be received in kindly and generous manner. I feel sure this will be in accordance with your sentiments.

And later in the day:

  Films should be taken if possible of surrender of Italian Fleet, their courteous reception by the British, and kindly treatment of wounded, etc.

  The splendid prize of the whole fleet of what had been a victorious Power of the first rank thus fell into our hands. It must be made to play its part on our side.

Prime Minister to Admiral Cunningham (Algiers)

12 Sept. 43

At the earliest possible moment you should report on the ammunition of all natures of guns and torpedoes in the Italian Fleet, beginning with the most important units, showing how much on board, any taken at Taranto, etc., and estimates of quantities and exact specifications for manufacture. Without waiting for the whole story to be complete, send at once to Admiralty for transmission
to United States through proper channels requirements for the principal and most modern units. I can probably arrange for speedy manufacture here.

With the collapse of the Fascist régime every region of Italy was in a ferment of political speculation. The organisation of resistance to the Germans fell by default into the hands of an underground Committee of Liberation in Rome, and linked with the mounting activity of partisan bands which now began activities throughout the peninsula. The members of this Committee were politicians driven from power by Mussolini in the early nineteen-twenties or representatives of groups hostile to Fascist rule. Over all hung the menace of a recrudescence of the hard core of Fascism in the hour of defeat. The Germans certainly did their best to promote it.

*  *  * *  *

Mussolini had been interned after July 26 on the island of Ponza, and later at La Maddalena, off the coast of Sardinia. Fearing a German
coup de main
, Badoglio had at the end of August moved his former master to a small mountain resort high in the Abruzzi, in Central Italy. In the haste of the flight from Rome no precise instructions were given to the police agents and carabinieri guarding the fallen Dictator. On the morning of Sunday, September 12, ninety German parachutists landed by glider near the hotel where Mussolini was confined. He was removed, without casualties, in a light German aircraft, and carried to yet another meeting in Munich with Hitler.

The rescue of Mussolini enabled the Germans to set up in the North a rival Government to Badoglio’s. A skeleton Fascist régime was established on the shores of Lake Como, and it was here that was played out the drama of Mussolini’s Hundred Days. The Germans clamped down their military occupation upon the regions lying north of Rome; a skeleton administration of uncertain allegiance sat in Rome, now open to the movements of the German Army; at Brindisi the King and Badoglio set up a rump Government under the eyes of an Allied Commission and with no effective authority beyond the boundaries of the administrative building of the town. As our armies advanced from the toe of the peninsula Allied military government took over the task of controlling the liberated regions.

Italy was now to pass through the most tragic time in her history and to become the battle-ground of some of the fiercest fighting in the war.

7
At the White House Again

The Lake of the Snows___Admiral Pound Does Not Come___My Broadcast, August
31___
Growing Canadian Share in the War___The Second and Third Fronts___The Campaign in Africa and Italy___Mountbatten, a Complete Triphibian___I Join the President in Washington___A Degree at Harvard___Importance of the Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee___General Smuts’ Criticisms of August
31 and
September
3___
His Alternative Suggestion___My Reply of September
5___
Smuts Suggests Postponing “Overlord,” September
9___
I Dismiss This Idea___Invasion of the Toe of Italy___Taranto___Impossibility of Landing the American Airborne Division Near Rome___Resignation of Admiral Pound Through Ill Health___Our Conference at the White House of September
9___
My Memorandum to the President___Wide Agreement in Principle Between Us All___Mr. Roosevelt Leaves Washington for Hyde Park___I Preside at Another Plenary Meeting in the White House___An Event in Anglo-American History.

T
HE
Q
UEBEC
C
ONFERENCE
ended on August 24, and our notable colleagues departed and dispersed. They flew off in every direction like the fragments of a shell. After all the study and argument there was a general desire for a few days’ rest. One of my Canadian friends, Colonel Clarke, who had been attached to me by the Dominion Government during the proceedings, owned a ranch about seventy-five miles away amid the mountains and pine forests from which the newspapers get their pulp to guide us on life’s journey. Here lay the Lake of the Snows, an enormous dammed-up expanse of water reported
to be full of the largest trout. Brooke and Portal were ardent and expert anglers, and a plan had been made, among other plans at the Conference, for them to see what they could do. I promised to join them later if I could, but I had undertaken to deliver a broadcast on the 31st, and this hung overhead like a vulture in the sky. I remained for a few days in the Citadel, pacing the ramparts for an hour each afternoon, and brooding over the glorious panorama of the St. Lawrence and all the tales of Wolfe and Quebec. I had promised to drive through the city, and I had a lovely welcome from all its people. I attended a meeting of the Canadian Cabinet, and told them all that they did not already know about the Conference and the war. I had the honour to be sworn a Privy Counsellor of the Dominion Cabinet. This compliment was paid me at the instance of my old friend of forty years’ standing and trusted colleague, Mr. Mackenzie King.