MADAGASCAR (III) 259 
At the end of this trip I began seriously to think of leaving for 
home as the war was taking no decisive course. At this point the 
German onslaught developed and shortly afterwards we heard the 
staggering news of the overrunning of Belgium, the defeat of the 
Allied armies in northern France, and the decision of the French 
Government to capitulate. 
The French in Madagascar were visibly grieved at the thought 
of their beloved mother country being brought under the subjec- 
tion of their hereditary enemies, and their immediate reaction was 
to continue the fight. In a few days the local press in Tananarive 
published telegrams sent by ex-servicemen’s associations and pa- 
triots from all over the country, all to the same effect: to fight on; 
and such headlines as Nous continuerons la lutte jusqu’a la vic- 
toire finale were blazoned across the front pages. 
The Governor-General and the army shared in the surge of 
patriotism, and at this point it needed only the presence of a 
British General or other British emissary to give some backing 
and encouragement for the whole island to have remained on the 
side of the Allies; whereby the entire costly chain of unsavory 
events might have been avoided. As it was, nothing was done. 
While the man in the street was giving vent to outbursts of pa- 
triotism, the Governor-General was beginning to receive instruc- 
tions from the Vichy Government as to the line he must follow. 
This put him in a quandary, and with no backing from the main- 
land he calmly relinquished his post without opposition to a new 
Governor-General, who arrived by air. 
Thus the island of Madagascar became a German satellite at a 
distance of five thousand miles from the homeland, right under 
the nose of a British Dominion. 
All funds from the Allied countries were immediately cut, and 
so I was left with sufficient money to carry on for a few months 
only. 
There was a rumor that British subjects would not be allowed 
to leave the island except by special permission, but I was de- 
termined to make the attempt, particularly as there was still 
contact by boat with neutral countries such as Portuguese East 
Africa. 
With this in view I approached the British Consul in Tana- 
