IN BRITISH HANDS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24912, 11 May 1942, Page 5

IN BRITISH HANDS

NORTH MADAGASCAR RESISTANCE CONTINUES LONDON, May 8. It is authoritatively stated that North Madagascar is now under British control. There are no reports of what is happening in the south. The Vichy radio reports that Madagascar has been transformed into a large theatre of local operations. Resistance continues. The British will have to do much before they can crush it, the radio stated. Vichy troops who landed on the eastern coast south of Diego Suarez are continuing to resist in the mountainous area favourable to guerrillas. The French forces in Madagascar totalled 7000 only, 1300 of whom were engaged in the north, leaving the remainder in the interior of the island. The air force comprised obsolete machines, all stationed at Diego Suarez. The Paris radio states that fighting continues on all fronts on Madagascar. Ten British planes have so far been shot down. The radio station at Antananrivo is still broadcasting, and the French have formed new centres of resistance at Manajary.