page_title: Battle of Madagascar
section_title: Ground forces
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Madagascar / Order of battle / Allied Forces / Ground forces
caption_attribution_description: Infantry tank Valentine II in Kubinka tank museum, Russia.
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: 29th Infantry Brigade (independent) arrived via amphibious landing near Diego-Suarez on 5 May 1942
  2nd South Lancashire Regiment
  2nd East Lancashire Regiment
  1st Royal Scots Fusiliers
  2nd Royal Welch Fusiliers
  455th Light Battery (Royal Artillery)
  MG company
  'B' Special Service Squadron with 6 Valentine and 6 Tetrarch tanks
  Commandos arrived via amphibious landing near Diego-Suarez on 5 May 1942
  No. 5 Commando
  British 17th Infantry Brigade Group (of 5th Division) landed near Diego-Suarez as second wave on 5 May 1942
  2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers
  2nd Northamptonshire Regiment
  6th Seaforth Highlanders
  9th Field Regiment (Royal Artillery)
  British 13th Infantry Brigade (of 5th Division) landed near Diego-Suarez as third wave on 6 May 1942.  Departed 19 May 1942 for India
  2nd Cameronians
  2nd Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
  2nd Wiltshire Regiment
  East African Brigade Group arrived 22 June to replace 13 and 17 Brigades
  South African 7th Motorised Brigade
  Rhodesian 27th Infantry Brigade arrived 8 August 1942; departed 29 June 1944
  2nd Northern Rhodesia Regiment
  3rd Northern Rhodesia Regiment
  4th Northern Rhodesia Regiment
  55th (Tanganyika) Light Battery
  57th (East African) Field Battery
caption: A Valentine tank of the type used during the invasion.
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