 After the capitulation of Italy at Cassibile became public knowledge on 8 September 1943, the Italian armies retreated and the Germans united the southern zone under their own exclusive control.The German military administration in France ruled both "zone sud" and "zone nord"; the Vichy regime remained nominally in charge, as it had in the "zone occupée".Until November 1942, the Germans called the "zone libre" ""Unbesetztes Gebiet"" or unoccupied zone.