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Strategically, Madagascar lay in an important position. It guarded the British convoy line around the southern tip of Africa, and the large island's long coastlines could serve as submarine bases for the Axis navies, particularly the long range Japanese submarines. Indeed, by early 1942, the Japanese Navy had considered expanding their influence into the Indian Ocean, and many submarines did enter the area, not to mention the successful Indian Ocean Raid conducted in late Mar to early Apr 1942.

With the position of the French Vichy government uncertain, Operation Ironclad was devised to take control of the French colony in mid-1942. The operation was so secretive that even the Free French command was not alerted of this operation until the landing operations had already started.

On 5 May 1942, under the overall command of Major General Robert Surges, 13,000 British troops landed near the harbor of Diego Suarez on the northern tip of the island with air support from aircraft of the Indomitable and Illustrious. The obsolete battleship HMS Ramillies provided some naval gunfire support as well. A great deal of intelligence was provided by reconnaissance aircraft of the South African Air Force. French Governor General Armand Léon Annet's army of 6,000 Madagascan and Senegalese and 3,000 French troops were defeated two days later. The port became a major port for supplies to come in to support the subsequent campaign.

On 29 May, Japanese submarines I-10, I-16 and I-20 arrived with their midget submarines, damaging Ramillies and sinking an oil tanker on the day of their arrival. The British, too, sent in reinforcements. Though losing the British 5th Division to India, the arrival of the 22nd East African Brigade Group, the South African 7th Motorized Brigade, and the Rhodesian 27th Infantry Brigade significantly bolsters British numbers on the island over the summer of 1942.

The second phase of the Madagascar operations took place beginning on 10 Sep when the 29th and 22nd Brigade Groups carried out an amphibious landing at the port of Majunga in northwest Madagascar, followed by another landing at Tamataue on 18 Sep. By end of the month, the capital Tananarive and the nearby town of Ambalavao were secured without significant resistance. On 30 Sep, another landing took place near Tulear in the southern portion of the island. With Tulear secured, British forces declared the Madagascar Campaign a victory.

Remaining French troops continued to resist, however. On 18 Oct, Annet called for an organized counteroffensive near Andriamanalina, but was defeated. He finally surrendered his forces on 5 Nov 1942 near Ilhosy. The Allied forces of mostly British and Commonwealth troops suffered 620 casualties during the Madagascar Campaign; Vichy French casualty numbers were known. In the end, even though German and Japanese naval strategies did not value Madagascar as a remote submarine base as the British feared, Operation Ironclad was extremely valuable to the British. The landing operation offered the British military valuable experience that would directly benefit them for the upcoming Operation Torch in North Africa.

Photographs

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