3 Troop, No.5 Cdo Union Flag
Union Flag found amongst the belongings of Major John 'Chips' Heron MC.
The flag has been embroidered with the date, 'Windsor Castle', Tamatave, Majunga & Cap Diego.
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.
They 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 Aircraft Carriers, frigates, destroyers and corvettes.
With No.5 Cdo were French Intelligence Officers. Their briefing eventually explained the absolute necessity of stopping the Japanese from taking the Island of Madagascar...
The Landing
At dawn on 5 May 1942, No.5 Cdo landed at Courrier Bay on the North West Coast of Madagascar some 11 miles from Diego Suarez. There was no opposition - the French forces were caught completely unawares
Above them on cliffs 50 feet high was their first objective – 'Windsor Castle', a battery of 6inch guns.The cliffs were scaled and the Vichy gunners caught by surprise. 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 No.5 Cdo's flank 40 Colonials with 2 NCOs charged up the hill towards us. The Commando carried out a bayonet charge and the NCOs were killed. The remainder gave up and threw down their weapons. British 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.
Cap Diego
In sweltering heat The Commando 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. 50 Legionnaires were wounded.
The Commando's orders were to attack everything except the barracks and the magazine which were strongly held; nevertheless, in half an hour they too were in possession of both. They had accomplished everything with only one casualty.
The Commandos prevented much street fighting and damage to the town. The official report quotes "These 50 Commandos created a disturbance in the town out of all proportion to their numbers!!"
Majunga
No.5 Cdo then sailed to Mombasa to rehearse the next operatio which involved leaping off Destroyers as they came in along the quayside at a speed of 30 knots . They 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 they went in in broad daylight. The opposing forces opened up fire on a small frontage with 4 machine guns. The Commandos were given good cover from the Royal Navy which kept the casualties down. Scaling ladders were not used as they went up that quayside like scuttling rats!
Now they experienced street fighting and had to deal with snipers shooting from windows. The first objective was the Post Office - 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.
Both targets were quickly taken.
Tamatave
No.5 Cdo re-embarked back to Diego Suarez and transferred to destroyers HMS Arrow, Active and Blackmore.They had an escort of HMS Warspite, the carrier Illustrious, 3 cruisers and 14 destroyers as they sailed for Tamatave, the largest port on the East Coast. They arrived at dawn and formed a semi-circle half a mile from the port docks.
Warspite and Illustrious were 10 miles out. An envoy was sent in 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's15in guns. Illustrious would send in Seafires and Swordfishes. After this the destroyers would ram the boom at 30 knots pull hard against the quay and the commandos 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. British destroyers steamed in and the boom was opened by the subdued French...
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