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- OPERATION IRONCLAD; MADAGASCAR - 5 TO 7 MAY 1942 - by Geoff C Riley [The son of Capt Geoff Rees-Jones mentioned below would like to make contact with the author or his family. Please contact us in the 1st instance.] This is a brief account of Operation Ironclad from the viewpoint of a member of No 5 Commando. Combined Operations Command was not the principal player in this operation against the Vichy French regime - more of an assistant. The total campaign lasted 6 months but the bulk of the special work of Combined Operations and the Commandos was concentrated into a few days in early May 1942.
On March 23 1942 No.5 Commando sailed from Glasgow in the Winchester Castle in one of the largest military convoys to leave Britain at that stage of the war. We totalled 365 men, part of a force which included the 29th Independent Brigade and the 13th Brigade. The convoy consisted of more than 50 Royal Navy Ships and on reaching the Indian Ocean the total force included 3 Battleships, 3 N Aircraft Carriers, frigates, destroyers and corvettes. We carried French Intelligence Officers on board and guessed our destination was a Vichy French administrated colony. Our briefing eventually explained the absolute necessity of stopping the Japanese from taking the Island of Madagascar... it was known they had their eyes on Diego Suarez, the third largest natural harbour in the world. Had they taken control there would have been no El Alamein as we could not have supported the 8th Army in N. Africa or the 14th Army in Burma... and S. Africa would have been under threat.
At dawn on 5 May 1942 we landed at Courrier Bay on the North West Coast of Madagascar some 11 miles from Diego Suarez. (Click on map to enlarge) We were mine swept in ALCs down a channel by Corvettes. There was no opposition - we caught the French forces completely unawares because of a triumph of seamanship by the Royal and Merchant Navies who penetrated coral reefs believed impassable to a force of our size. Above us on cliffs 50 feet high was a battery of Gin guns. We climbed the cliffs and caught the Vichy gunners by surprise. They were asleep and Amen to that! There were French Officers, NCOs and Malagash and Senegalese troops who were herded together and guards put on them. At first light the Vichy counter-attack began. On our flank 40 Colonials with 2 NCOs charged up the hill towards us. We carried out a bayonet charge and the NCOs were killed. The remainder gave up and threw down their weapons. Our casualties were light. Capt "Chips" Heron went forward to take the surrender of a separate party of battery observers on the hill nearby. As they came forward to surrender some grenades were lobbed over from their rear wounding Capt Heron and others. They did not get the chance to surrender again. In sweltering heat we marched against a hot wind across the 18 mile isthmus to Cap Diego loaded heavily with ammo and grenades. There was a fracas with a Troop of Foreign Legionnaires. We shot them before they surrendered. There were 50 wounded. We carried out mopping up operations against Colonial Troops whilst the 2 Brigades took the capital of Antsirane with heavy casualties. A manoeuvre by 50 Royal Marines saved the day. They came off HMS Ramilles in Courrier Bay and boarded the destroyer Anthony. She entered the harbour at 8 o'clock in pitch darkness under fire from every gun which could be brought to bear on her. She ran alongside the wharf with the Marines tumbling over the side to gain the shore. The Commando orders were to attack everything except the barracks and the magazine which were strongly held... but in half an hour they were in possession of both of them. They had accomplished everything with only one casualty. They prevented much street fighting and damage to the town. The official report quotes These 50 Marines created a disturbance in the town out of all proportion to their numbers!! We then sailed to Mombasa to rehearse the next show which was leaping off Destroyers as they came in along the quayside at 30 knots . We then set out to take Majunga the largest port on the W. Coast of Madagascar. The plan was to land right in the docks but the operation went wrong. The landing craft broke down and instead of landing before dawn we went in in broad daylight. The opposing forces opened up on us on a small frontage with 4 machine guns. We had good cover from the Royal Navy which kept our casualties down. We didn't need scaling ladders as we went up that quayside like scuttling rats! I can still see our chaps going down like ninepins out of the corner of my eyes. We experienced street fighting and dealt with snipers from windows. Our first objective was the P.O. to cut communications with the capital of Madagascar, Tannanarive. The second objective was the Residency, the capture of the Governor and the raising of the Union Jack. We took both targets and it was here that I had my first close hand bloody encounter - a face to face, him or me engagement. We had swept into the courtyard and I took up position at the bottom of the balustrade. My chum Matt Bolton was opposite against the other wall. A few yards on my left was the rusting hulk of a car. I chatted to Matt and turned my head to spot a rifle barrel coming into view from behind the car followed by a fez . The wearer stood straight up and dodged to the right. I fired from the hip, killed him, and felt quite horrible. I still don't know to this day if I could have taken him prisoner. Our Captain Geoff Rees-Jones ran in seconds afterwards took a quick look and said dead as a door nail, well done Riley. French casualties were heavy. We re-embarked back to Diego Suarez and transferred to destroyers HMS Arrow, Active and Blackmore. We were escorted by HMS Warspite, the carrier Illustrious, 3 cruisers and 14 destroyers as we sailed for Tamatave, the largest port on the East Coast. We arrived at dawn and formed a semi-circle half a mile from the port docks. Warspite and Illustrious were 10 miles out. We sent in an envoy under white flag to demand unconditional surrender. If he was refused or fired on there was to be a 55 minute bombardment by the destroyers and Warspite's 15in guns. Illustrious would send in Seafires and Swordfishes. After this our destroyers would ram the boom at 30 knots pull hard against the quay and we would leap off. The envoy went in then signalled he was being fired on. Immediately there was a salvo from HMS Birmingham the signal for the bombardment. This lasted 3 minutes in which time 2,000 shells made contact. White flags went up everywhere. Our destroyers steamed in with the boom opened for us by the subdued French. We started the advance on Tannanarive whilst the K.A.R.s advanced from Majunga. The rifles got there first. We then chased the remnants of the French southwards which is another story. In October an Armistice was signed. The whole Island surrendered with the French troops signing up for De Gaulle. We embarked for home arriving in December. We all got leave and I walked in on my family for Christmas. My mother dropped the teapot and my Father (a Great War veteran) came out with his usual remark whenever he saw me, "I don't believe it!" The bad penny had survived once again. ~ Correspondence ~ Don't know if of much interest to you but Anglo-Saxon Tanker SEPIA was with Operation Ironclad convoy early May 1942. Helen 18-03-07.
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