To the Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory (AMGOT), grappling with its first job in Sicily, everything seemed to go fine. Most of the island's 4,000,000 people were "cooperating wholeheartedly." Sometimes they become confused, as did the peasants who gave the Fascist salute, then shook hands.
Food was the immediate problem. AMGOT improved civilian mule-cart transport so that the island's farms could get their products (wheat now being harvested, tomatoes and olives, lemons, oranges and grapes) to the cities. Carefully it doled out, where necessary, Allied food stocks. Its reputation flew ahead....