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POWER STRUGGLES IN AFRICA 57

Me

dit

err

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n Sea

Sahara

INDIAN

OCEAN

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Fr

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ANGLO-

EGYPTIAN

SUDAN

EGYPT

FRENCH WEST AFRICA

UNION OF

SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH-WEST

AFRICA

ANGOLA

TANGANYIKA

TERRITORY

BELGIAN

CONGO

CHAD

OUBANGI-

CHARI

ALGERIA

FRENCH NORTH

AFRICA

LIBYA

NIGERIA

CA

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ER

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O

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S

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YE

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C

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G

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FR

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H

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Q

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T

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R

IA

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F

R

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RIO DE ORO

SPANISH MOROCCO

MOROCCO

NYASALAND

MADAGASCAR

SOUTHERN

RHODESIA

NORTHERN

RHODESIA

ITALIAN

SOMALILAND

UGANDA

KENYA

TURKEY

PORTUGAL

SPAIN

GREECE

GOLD

COAST

GABON

M

O

Z

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M

B

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U

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BE

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HU

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ALAN

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TUNISIA

PORTUGUESE

GUINEA FRENCH GUINEA

SIERRA

LEONE

LIBERIA

MAURITANIA

UPPER VOLTA

IVORY

COAST DAHOMEY

FRENCH SUDAN FRENCH NIGER

SENEGAL

THE GAMBIA

RIO MUNI

BASUTOLAND

SWAZILAND

BRITISH

SOMALILAND

ETHIOPIA

FRENCH

SOMALILAND

ERITREA

TRANSJORDAN

SYRIA

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S
e
a
Fr
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L
iv
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po
ol
Cape Verde
Islands
Canary
Islands
Casablanca
Agadir
Ifni
St. Louis
Dakar
Freetown
Lagos
Tananarive
(Antananarivo)
Tangier
Gibraltar
Oran
Mers-el-Kébir
Algiers
Toulon
Djibouti
EUROPE’S AFRICAN COLONIES
Following the fall of France and Belgium, the race was on to secure
their African colonies to the Allied cause and prevent war opening
up on multiple fronts across the continent.
KEY
British possessions
Under British influence
French possessions
Spanish possessions
Belgian possessions
Portuguese possessions
Italian possessions
until 1941
Independent
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946
TIMELINE
Dec 26, 1942
French Somaliland
surrenders to the
British after the
Allied invasions
of Madagascar
and North Africa.
Sep 23, 1942 British forces capture
Madagascar’s capital after landing
troops at Majunga and Tamatave.
After the fall of Belgium and France in
June 1940 (see pp.54–55), Belgium’s
African possessions joined the Allied
war effort. However, the position of
France’s colonies in Africa was more
complex. Just as France itself was
divided—into occupied France and
Vichy France—so were the loyalties of
her colonial possessions. The French
colonists in Algeria stuck firmly by the
Vichy regime, but others—such as Feliz
Éboué, the governor of Chad—were
disgusted by the Vichy capitulation
and supported Charles de Gaulle’s
Free French. For de Gaulle, the colonies
offered a huge reserve of troops with
which he could build an army to regain
France; however, they would also pose a
threat to the Allies if they fell into Axis
hands. These concerns prompted Allied
attacks on the French Fleet in Algeria,
and later on Madagascar (as well as
Syria in the Middle East), and generated
Allied support for de Gaulle’s attempt to
land at Dakar in French West Africa. Yet
suspicion abounded: the French were
wary of British ambition in Africa and
the Middle East, and the Allies—along
with many of the French who supported
them—were unsure of de Gaulle’s
capabilities. Still, by November 1942,
all but one of France’s colonies in
Africa and the Middle East had been
successfully tied to the Allied cause.
British assault on Diego
Suarez, May 5, 1942
Operation Stream,
Sep 10–11, 1942
Operation Jane,
Sep 18, 1942
Operation Line,
Sep 23, 1942
KEY
BATTLE OF
MADAGASCAR
Fearing that the Japanese
Navy would use Vichy-
controlled Madagascar as
a naval base, the British
launched a campaign to seize
the island on May 5, 1942.
Diego Suarez was captured
through an amphibious assault
and, after several months, the
British three-stage assault,
Operation Stream Line Jane,
secured the island by the
end of October.
British Royal Navy Force H attack
on the French Fleet
THE FRENCH FLEET JULY 3, 1940
Concerned that the French fleet might fall under
German control, the British sent a naval formation
(Force H, based in Gibraltar) to intercept it. They
made contact at Oran on July 3 and demanded that
the French fleet surrender. The French admiral
refused, and at 5:54 pm Force H opened fire. In less
than 15 minutes, the French battleship Bretagne
had been sunk, several others had been damaged,
and nearly 1,300 French servicemen had died.
2
French bombing raids on Gibraltar
VICHY FRANCE BOMBS GIBRALTAR
JULY 18–SEPTEMBER 25, 1940
After the British attack on their fleet off
the coast of Algeria, Vichy France broke off
diplomatic relations with Britain. The Vichy
regime authorized retaliatory bombing raids
on the British territory of Gibraltar. On September
24 and 25, the Vichy French Air Force did serious
damage to the British naval base and harbor, and
sank a British armed trawler.
3
1 BELGIAN CONGO
MAY 1940–FEBRUARY 4, 1945
The Belgian Congo remained on the Allied side
during the war. Administered by the Belgian
government-in-exile in London, it provided the
Allies with much-needed raw material, including
gold, coal, copper, and uranium for America’s
atomic bomb program. Congolese troops
also fought alongside the British in several
African campaigns.
Coal mines
Shinkolobwe
uranium mines
Gold mines
Copper mines
Iharana
Antalaha
Tamatave
Vatomandry
Moramanga
Andilanatoby
Nosy Varika
Antanifotsy
Manakara
Farafagana
Ambovombe Taolanaro
Morondava
Maintirano
Soalala
Mitsinjo
Majunga
Andoany
Antsohihy
Ambanja
Ambilobe
Belo Tsiribihina
Tananarive
(Antananarivo)
Diego Suarez
Mayotte Nosy Be
(France)
Comoro
Islands
M
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Cape Saint Marie
M
A
D
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G
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C
A
R
1
2
3
4
5
POWER STRUGGLES
IN AFRICA
The French and Belgian colonial possessions in Africa represented
both a threat and an opportunity to the Allies in 1940. If they
could be kept out of Axis control, these territories promised
vast resources of material and people for the Allied struggle.
US_056-057_Power_struggles_in_Africa.indd 57 22/03/19 2:39 PM