page_title: Battle of Madagascar
section_title: Allied preparations
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Madagascar / Allied preparations
caption_attribution_description: English: Northern Madagascar, Showing Operations for the Capture of Diego Sourez, 5th-7th May 1942.
context_page_description: The Battle of Madagascar was the British 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 near the northern tip of the island, on 5 May 1942.
  A subsequent campaign to secure the entire island, Operation Stream Line 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. This was the first large-scale operation by the Allies of World War II combining sea, land and air forces. Historian John Grehan has claimed that the British seizure of Madagascar before it could fall into Japanese hands was so crucial in the context of the war that it lead to Japan's eventual downfall and defeat.
context_section_description: Force 121 left the Clyde in Scotland on 23 March and joined with South African-born Syfret's ships at Freetown in Sierra Leone, proceeding from there in two convoys to their assembly point at Durban on the South African east coast. Here they were joined by the 13th Brigade Group of the 5th Division – General Sturges' force consisting of three infantry brigades, while Syfret's squadron consisted of the flag battleship HMS Ramillies, the aircraft carriers HMS Illustrious and HMS Indomitable, the cruisers HMS Hermione and HMS Devonshire, eleven destroyers, six minesweepers, six corvettes and auxiliaries. It was a formidable force to bring against the 8,000 men (mostly Malagasy) at Diego-Suarez, but the chiefs of staff were adamant that the operation was to succeed, preferably without any fighting.
  This was to be the first British amphibious assault since the disastrous landings in the Dardanelles twenty-seven years before.
  During the assembly in Durban, Field-Marshal Jan Smuts pointed out that the mere seizure of Diego-Suarez would be no guarantee against continuing Japanese aggression and urged that the ports of Majunga and Tamatave be occupied as well. This was evaluated by the chiefs of staff, but it was decided to retain Diego-Suarez as the only objective due to the lack of manpower. Churchill remarked that the only way to permanently secure Madagascar was by means of a strong fleet and adequate air support operating from Ceylon and sent General Archibald Wavell (India Command) a note stating that as soon as the initial objectives had been met, all responsibility for safeguarding Madagascar would be passed on to Wavell. He added that when the commandos were withdrawn, garrison duties would be performed by two African brigades and one brigade from the Belgian Congo or west coast of Africa.
  In March and April, the South African Air Force (SAAF) had conducted reconnaissance flights over Diego-Suarez and No. 32, 36 and 37 Coastal Flights were withdrawn from maritime patrol operations and sent to Lindi on the Indian Ocean coast of Tanganyika, with an additional eleven Bristol Beauforts and six Martin Marylands to provide close air support during the planned operations.
caption: Map of the assault
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