MADAGASCAR (III1)—CONTD. 279 
According to schedule, we set off to a point some twenty miles 
to the north of Majunga, the last four or five miles being on foot 
through dense bush. 
We reached the sea an hour before sunset and waited anxiously 
under cover. At dusk we eagerly scanned the horizon, and at last 
saw the faint outline of a small boat, but this was soon lost in the 
darkness as there was no moon. While we were waiting we 
flashed a code sign in the direction of the ship with an electric 
torch. 
At last the dark hull of a ship could be seen slowly nosing its 
way towards us, and a few minutes later the crew launched a 
small craft and put ashore. Our moment of liberation had arrived. 
We leapt aboard, and were soon on the coaster being greeted by 
the crew. The evening was lovely as we steamed north in a calm 
sea. It was hard to realize that we were free, and clear of the 
enemy camp. 
The British attack was not due for some days, so we whiled 
away the time on an uninhabited island. The attack was planned 
against the fortress of Diego Suarez—the northern tip of the 
island. It has a natural deep land-locked harbor large enough to 
accommodate a whole navy. The French had concentrated on 
making this impregnable, to the neglect of the rest of the island. 
At any time the British could have sailed into the ports of Tama- 
tave and Majunga without serious opposition, and quickly cap- 
tured the whole island without a fight. Diego Suarez could then 
have been bombed into submission. 
The great moment came, and we carried out the job assigned to 
us. The British convoy arrived on a dark night, and the coastal 
batteries in Courrier Bay were taken by surprise without opposi- 
tion. As the troops advanced towards the fortress, opposition be- 
came stiffer than expected. Field guns and Senegalese troops 
barred the way, and instead of taking the place by shock tactics as 
planned, there was fighting for some days before the French 
capitulated. I had the stirring experience of landing in an invasion 
barge and seeing some of the fighting. 
Although the strong fortified area of Diego Suarez was soon 
taken, its capture had not gone exactly to plan. The High Com- 
mand thought, and rightly so, that the information they had re- 
