MADAGASCAR AND SOME SETBACKS
I
fl HE landing in Madagascar—it is still premature to speak of the seizure or occupation of the island, which is twice the of England and Scotland—overshadows every other military elopment of the week. It is well that it does, for there has to be , larded at the same time the surrender of Corregidor, the fortress
i Manila Bay where the Americans have held out with courage munificent for almost exactly five months. The losses they have liked are far heavier than any they have sustained, and they Ire detained in that part of the Philippines, even after the
of the Bataan Peninsula, forces which the Japanese could with t advantage have used elsewhere. Ultimate surrender was in. ble, for though some stores appear to have been run through
'outside there could be no hope of the relief of the fortress the absence of that command of the sea which neither the United
es nor this country has established yet in Far Eastern waters.
Japanese thus obtain a naval base of considerable value. To hat news from the Philippines must be added discouraging news to Burma, where the Japanese, after capturing Mandalay, have tessed on up the Burma Road, and across the frontier into hina and invaded Yunnan. The British force there appears to be elanked, and Chinese at Taunggyi have no road open for retreat. ice only hope of reinforcements is from China itself, and though lumgking promises them the situation looks like getting considerably Ilse before it can be improved. The worn-out Allied forces, howit, have avoided being cut off.
Burma may be for the Japanese the gateway to India. That is tat gives the country its vital importance. For us the gateways IIndia are by sea and, with the Mediterranean unsafe for regular !t. by far the most essential road to India is round the Cape of '3%1 Hope. That road a hostile force based on Madagascar could
tuost close to traffic. There is no reason to doubt that if t Japanese could get to Madagascar—and it is more than ble that they could—they would seize the island and establish
fl selves there, and a France which surrendered Indo-China Clout resistance would certainly not have ordered resistance here the name of Laval. The British move, taken in the name of the fled Nations, and no doubt as the result of joint staff conversa,k1s, was abundantly justified, and it has been made none too soon. lac operations still continue, and even if the important naval base Diego Suarez is in our hands, that is a very different matter rta the occupation of the island, which it is imperative to hold key, since there-are various ports and landing-grounds of which kianese invaders might avail themselves. It is therefore by no tlris sufficient to master the small French force in Madagascar.
A substantial garrison must be left there. Perhaps General Smuts can assist in that. There is mention, indeed, already of South African transports, and the admiral in command is a South African.
That Englishmen should find themselves fighting Frenchmen is a profound misfortune, but if Vichy France, studiously subservient to Japan in Indo-China, resolves to resist her former Ally in Syria and Madagascar, there is no alternative. That resistance may no doubt spread. Laval is a tool of the Germans, and the Germans desire nothing so much as open war between Vichy France and Britain. Their desires are unlikely to be satisfied. Laval has indicated that he will make no move towards a breach with the United States, and that even after President Roosevelt had declared his full approval of the British landing in Madagascar and his willingness to co-operate in it actively if necessary ; France could not be at war with Britain without war with the United States too. It is certain, moreover, that Laval could never carry the people with him in such a move. The spontaneous rising of the population at the time of the recent raid at St. Nazaire is eloquent testimony on that point. It is true that St. Nazaire is in Occupied France, but the spirit in Vichy France is little different. There will be few tears shed there over the Madagascar move. As the French London paper France put it on Wednesday : "The preventive operation at Madagascar is the first Allied victory of the spring." It is, and the firmness with which the initiative has been seized is encouraging.
