The Paper Controller issued candidates 125 pounds of paper and the Petrol Controller gave them extra gasoline. For the quick eight-week campaign, that was plenty. South Africans dubbed it the "blitz election": most of the electorate had not expected it until late summer; some had not believed there would be an election until after the war. As they voted this week, South Africans knew that Prime Minister Jan Christiaan Smuts had set the election date early because victory in North Africa had come so soon. They also knew that canny Field Marshal...
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