Madagascar, 1942
In early 1942, the Vichy French government (who controlled Madagascar) agreed to provide safe harbor and military cooperation with the Japanese government. The Allies were alarmed by the threat to the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean that this would represent. The US had just entered the War, and the UK was still battling the Germans in North Africa, so supplies, troops and materials were stretched thin.
Quick plans were drawn up to send a considerable force to occupy Madagascar, displace the French traitors and repel the Japanese invaders. It was then that General de Gaulle decided that "Operation Ironclad" would be a Free-French lead operation. This led to months of delays and extra deliberations.
In the meantime, the Japanese landed a considerable number of IJA soldiers and light tanks. Intelligence indicated that they would soon start construction of a large airfield and expansion of the Diego Suarez Bay port to accommodate submarines and battleships. Luckily, the first two Japanese cargo ships with construction equipment and engineers were sunk in the Indian Ocean and the Japanese plans were delayed.
The Allied battle plan had included several Tetrarch tanks, but during the negotiations with de Gaulle, many of the extra Tetrarchs were sent to the Soviet Union. In partial payment for the Tetrarchs, the Soviets had provided the British with some BT-5 and BT-7 tank suspension systems and spares. Several battle damaged M3 Stuarts from the North African campaign were modified to accommodate the new suspension system and wider tracks. A larger 2 lb gun was added as well as a turret bustle. The turret coaxial MG and forward hull MG were replaced with .50 cal machine guns. An extra fuel tank was added to the rear of the new Christie tanks.
Five of these tanks were sent to Madagascar via aircraft and helped the Allied forces defeat the Vichy French and contain the Japanese forces until the arrival of larger tanks and more troops in late 1943.
The Christie suspension M3 Stuart "Lapsed Pacifist", Operation Ironclad, Battle of Madagascar, August, 1942:
I used Doc O'Brien's weathering powders for the first time. I may have overdone it, but the powders were easy to use. All of the decals were home made.
It was a fun build! I discovered that the PSA softens a bit in the heat, so I had to glue some track sections together. Picking up the tank would cause the tracks to sag and their weight would pull some of the links apart, especially on the links that had been weakened by the metalizer paint.
