 By the time Rowell arrived in the Middle East, Morshead and most of the troops had departed.Rowell filed regular reports on the progress of the war in the Mediterranean, and processed Australian prisoners of war who had been liberated from the Italians.In December 1943, Rowell took up the appointment as Director of Tactical Investigation at the War Office in London vice Lieutenant General Alfred Reade Godwin-Austen at the instigation of Richard Casey.