The nursing staff at a Bizerte hospital ducked down to avoid the crossfire between French paratroopers and Tunisian soldier fighting near the hospital. An uneasy calm settled on the corpse filled, bullet pocked streets of Bizerte after French and Tunisian troops bowed to a cease fire order issued by the United Nations security council. But in the four days of battle hundreds had been killed and some 1500 wounded in the Tunisian attempt to force the French out of their strategic naval base on the Mediterranean. In spite of the United Nations order to withdraw to their prebattle positions, the forces of both countries stood firm, with the French occupying all of the city except its Arab quarter. In an attempt to settle the dispute, United Nations Secretary General Hammarskjold flew from New York to Tunisia.
Photo measures 9 x 6.25 inches. Photo is dated 07-24-1981.
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