France and Italy Sign Armistice Establishing Italian Zone of Occupation in France

On 25 June 1940, after the Fall of France, France and Italy signed an armistice and an Italian zone of occupation was agreed upon.

The initial zone was 832 km² and contained 28,500 inhabitants. The largest town contained within the initial zone of occupation was Menton.

In November 1942, in conjunction with "Case Anton," the German occupation of most of Vichy France, the Royal Italian Army (Regio Esercito) expanded its occupation zone. Italian forces took control of Grenoble, Nice, the Rhône River delta, and Corsica. Nice and Corsica were to be annexed to Italy, but this was not done because of the Italian surrender to the Allies in September 1943 when the Germans took over the Italian occupation zones.

[The Armistice] was signed with Germany on June 22 in the Compiègne forest, in the clearing of Rethondes, and with Italy on June 24. In this way, and not through surrender and continuation of the struggle in another form, the Vichy regime was imposed. Collaboration with Germany came with it. Officially, the Vichy regime was created on July 10, 1940, when both chambers of the French parliament voted to give full powers to Marshall Pétain. The new French head of State then controlled all instruments of government, both in the executive and the legislative