Franco-Italian Armistice

The Franco-Italian Armistice, or Armistice of Villa Incisa, signed on 24 June 1940, in effect from 25 June, ended the brief Italian invasion of France during the Second World War.

On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on France while the latter was already on the verge of defeat in its war with Germany. After the fall of Paris on 14 June, the French requested an armistice from Germany and, realising that the Germans would not allow them to continue the war against their Italian allies, also sent an armistice request to Italy, whose forces had not yet advanced. Fearing that the war would end before Italy had achieved any of its aims, Prime Minister Benito Mussolini ordered a full-scale invasion across the Alps to begin on 21 June. The Franco-German armistice was signed on the evening of the 22 June, but would not come into force until the Italians signed their own armistice. Their troops having advanced only a few kilometres, the Italians abandoned their major war aims and signed the armistice on 24 June. It came into effect early the next morning. It established a small occupation zone and an Italian Armistice Commission with France (Commissione Italiana d'Armistizio con la Francia, CIAF) in Turin to oversee French compliance. Armistice commissions were also established for French North Africa and French Somaliland. The armistice remained in force until November 1942, when during Case Anton the Italians occupied most of southeastern France and Corsica and invaded Tunisia.