On this day, 82 years ago, September 8, 1943 (August 9, 1943 in the lunar calendar), Italy surrendered unconditionally. In July 1943, the Allied landing on Sicily forced the collapse of Mussolini's fascist government. The new government composed of Badoglio began secret negotiations with the United States and Britain. However, due to bargaining between the two sides on whether to "unconditionally surrender", repeated delays gave Hitler enough time to strengthen his forces in Italy. In early August, Rommel led his troops across the border into northern Italy to support Marshal Kesselring's eight German divisions stationed in southern Italy. After the Allies captured Sicily on August 17, they decided to continue attacking mainland Italy. The ground attack force was the 15th Army Group commanded by British General Alexander, which included the British 8th Army Group in Montgomery and the U.S. 5th Army Group under Clark. On September 3, representatives of Italy and allied countries secretly signed an armistice agreement. In the early morning of that day, the British Eighth Army crossed the narrow Strait of Messina from Sicily, landed on the Apennine Peninsula in Italy, and rapidly advanced towards southern Italy. On September 8, the Allied commander, U.S. General Eisenhower, and the Italian Badoglio government respectively broadcast an armistice declaration, announcing Italy's unconditional surrender. From then on, the fascist axis of Germany, Italy and Japan actually disintegrated. In the early morning of September 9, the U.S. Fifth Army commanded by Clark landed in Salerno Bay. The German army, already on alert, immediately disarmed 800,000 Italian troops, arrested a large number of Italian officers, and occupied Rome on September 10, taking control of mainland Italy as far south as Naples. The Italian King, Badoglio and others fled in a submarine to the Allied occupied area at the southern end. On September 13, Hitler sent SS commandos to rescue Mussolini, who was imprisoned in the Hilltop Hotel of Grand Sasso. Then, with Hitler's support, Mussolini established a puppet government of the "Italian Social Republic" in northern Italy to confront the Badoglio government. On October 13, Badoglio's government officially withdrew from the "Axis" Alliance and declared war on Germany. At the same time, the governments of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union also issued a declaration recognizing Italy as a common fighting party. Rome was liberated on June 4, 1944. During the entire Italian Campaign, the Allies suffered more than 320,000 casualties and annihilated 658,000 German troops.