Correlli Barnett on victory at Beda Fomm

General O'Connor spoke Italian, so he talked with the senior Italian general who had surrendered at Beda Fomm. O'Connor told him "I'm sorry you are so uncomfortable. We haven't had time to make proper arrangements." The reply was "Thank you so very much. We do realise that you came here in a very great hurry." General O'Connor expected after such a victory, that Churchill and his commanders would authorize a further advance, as they had every time up to then. O'Connor was ready to continue his blitz into Tripolitania, and push the Italians out of Libya. Churchill would have none of it. He was determined to squander their resources in a hopeless gesture in Greece. This draws on information from Correlli Barnett's book, The Desert Generals.