740.00119 European War 1939/1953: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador to the Greek Government in Exile (Kirk), at Cairo
Greek Series No. 54. The additional conditions of the Italian armistice which were signed in secret at Malta by General Eisenhower and Marshal Badoglio were communicated in skeleton form by you and your British colleague to the Greek Prime Minister on August 29, 1943, and acknowledged by him in an aide-mémoire dated Cairo the same day. Your no. 101 and 102, November 10.47 In the aide-mémoire the Prime Minister stated that his Government “agreed with the proposal that the Allied Commander-in-Chief should be empowered as sole signatory to sign with the representative of Italy such an instrument”. In a radio broadcast made from Cairo on September 9 by the Prime Minister he said that the Greek Government was directly consulted and given an opportunity to express its views regarding the terms of capitulation of Italy and that General Eisenhower was specifically authorized by the Greek Government to sign in the name of Greece.
For reasons of military security it was not possible to have representatives of any of the United Nations other than the United States and United Kingdom present at the signing of the additional terms of capitulation.
For your confidential background information the military armistice consisting of 12 articles which representatives of General Eisenhower and Marshal Badoglio signed in Sicily on September 3 were included in, but not in as comprehensive a manner as, the armistice terms described in the note which you presented on August 29. Those terms, which have been published in substance in the press, are repeated for your reference in my immediately following telegram.48 Since these were not considered sufficiently comprehensive and since it was contemplated, as you will see in Article 12, that other conditions of a political, economic and financial nature would be imposed, the full armistice terms were subsequently signed and accepted by the Italian Government on September 29. These full terms were those described by you to the Greek Government in your communication of August 29. Their signature and contents were kept secret at General Eisenhower’s request for vital military reasons. Reference to their existence and signature in the London press was an unfortunate leak. It has now been agreed that the text of the additional conditions of the Italian armistice may be furnished the other members of the [Page 398] United Nations and the Greek Government will undoubtedly receive a copy of this document from the British Government in the near future. For the time being the existence and signature of these terms must be kept secret.