Operation Ironclad
Malagasy troops fought in France, Morocco, and Syria during World War II. Prior to the implementation of the Final Solution, Nazi Germany had considered the Madagascar Plan, which would have relocated European Jews to Madagascar. After France fell to the Germans in 1940, the Vichy government administered Madagascar until 1942, when British and Commonwealth troops occupied the strategic island in the Battle of Madagascar. The United Kingdom handed over control of the island to Free French Forces in 1943.