 In August 1943 , Smith and Strong flew to Lisbon via Gibraltar in civilian clothes , where they met with Generale di Brigata Giuseppe Castellano at the British embassy . While Castellano had hoped to arrange terms for Italy to join the United Nations , Smith was empowered to draw up an armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces , but was unable to negotiate political matters . Smith and Strong subsequently negotiated for the Allies with Castellano in Sicily over the terms over Italian surrender . On 3 September 1943 , Smith and Castellano signed the agreed text on behalf of Eisenhower and Pietro Badoglio respectively at Cassibile , Sicily . For his work at AFHQ , Strong was promoted to major general on 11 January 1944 , and awarded the Legion of Merit by the United States in March 1944 . 
