World War: Libyan Lull

For the first time in months there was no mention of Libyan action in the daily communiques from Cairo. Conquered Cyrenaica was settling smoothly into British rule, with Lieut. General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson as the new military governor. Shops were reopening. Looting and sabotage had been stamped out by a 6:30-p.m. curfew, the watchfulness of British patrols. Civilian-clad Italian officers on parole amicably elbowed British and Anzac soldiers on the streets of Bengasi. In the strange calm General Sir Archibald Percival Wavell was obviously collecting his forces for a new drive, but...

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