WELCOME TO INVADERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 116, 20 May 1942, Page 5

WELCOME TO INVADERS

LOCAL POPULATION OF MADAGASCAR London, May 18. Messages from Durban report the arrival there of a number of British and Vichy casualties from the Madagascar operations. British soldiers told how, when the British ships were first sighted off the island, the local troops who formed the bulk of the Vichy forces were told that the Japanese were attacking Madagascar. The Vichy trooos fought fiercely until they discovered that the invaders were British, and then, in the words of one British soldier, "they packed up.” The general attitude was one of pleasure that the British had come instead of the Japanese. A surprising number of the Vichy • .en showed Free French sympathies, and expressed willingness to co-oper-ate with the British in the defence of . the island. Most of the local population greeted the British with open arms and gave them food and drink. The casualties are being distributed ■ among hospitals in South Africa.