| Battle of Madagascar | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Indian Ocean theatre of World War II | |||||||||
 King's African Rifles' 25 pdr battery in action near Ambositra in Madagascar against Vichy positions during Operation Stream Line Jane, September 1942. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
Naval only: Australia Netherlands Poland |
Naval only:  Japan | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Robert Sturges Edward Syfret |
 Armand Annet Noboru Ishizaki | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
10,000–15,000 soldiers 6 infantry tanks 6 light tanks 2 aircraft carriers 1 seaplane carrier 1 battleship 6 light cruisers 22 destroyers 8 corvettes 1 monitor 1 minelayer 4 minesweepers 5 assault transports over 81 aircraft[1] |
Vichy France: 8,000 soldiers[2] 6 tanks 35 aircraft[3] 4 warships[4] Japanese Navy 95 soldiers 4 submarines 2 midget submarines 1 reconnaissance aircraft[5] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
|
107 killed 280 wounded 108 died from disease[3] 1 battleship heavily damaged 1 oil tanker sunk 8 tanks destroyed |
152 killed 500 wounded (does not include any casualties caused by disease)[3] 1,000 captured[6] 34 aircraft destroyed 1 midget submarine destroyed 1 midget submarine lost at sea | ||||||||
  Location of Diego-Suarez Bay | |||||||||
The Battle of Madagascar (5 May – 6 November 1942) was an Allied campaign to capture the Vichy French-controlled island Madagascar during World War II. The seizure of the island by the British was to deny Madagascar's ports to the Imperial Japanese Navy and to prevent the loss or impairment of the Allied shipping routes to India, Australia and Southeast Asia. It began with Operation Ironclad, the seizure of the port of Diego-Suarez (now Antsiranana) near the northern tip of the island, on 5 May 1942.[7][8]
A subsequent campaign to secure the entire island, Operations Stream, Line and Jane, was opened on 10 September. The Allies broke into the interior, linking up with forces on the coast and secured the island by the end of October. Fighting ceased and an armistice was granted on 6 November.[9] This was the first big operation by the Allies combining sea, land and air forces. The island was placed under Free French control.[10][11]
- ^ Sutherland and Canwell, pp. 98–109
- ^ Rigge 1980, pp. 103–104.
- ^ a b c Wessels 1996.
- ^ Stapleton, Timothy J. A Military History of Africa p. 225
- ^ Sutherland and Canwell, p. 108
- ^ Winston Churchill, Prime Minister (10 November 1942). "Madagascar (Operations) HC Deb 10 November 1942 vol 383 cc2259-60". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. Archived from the original on 22 May 2014.
- ^ Rigge 1980, p. 103.
- ^ Grehan 2013, p. 18.
- ^ Thomas 1996.
- ^ Rigge 1980, p. 100.
- ^ Grehan 2013, Ch. 9.