Orders, Decorations and Medals

A very rare Second World War Madagascar operations D.C.M. group of five awarded to Corporal H. Lyle, Royal Scots Fusiliers, who stormed a Vichy machine-gun position in the night attack on Antsirane the day following the landings in May 1942

Distinguished Conduct Medal, G.VI.R. (3126021 Cpl. H. Lyle, R. S. Fus.); 1939-45 Star; Africa Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45, the first with contact marks and edge bruise, and largely officially re-impressed naming, nearly very fine, the remainder good very fine (5) £1800-2200

D.C.M. London Gazette 16 June 1942. The original recommendation states:

‘During the night attack on Antsirane on 6 May 1942, this N.C.O. was leading his section which was fired on from a Pill Box on the east side of the road. He showed conspicuous gallantry and disregard for danger in entering the Pill Box and capturing over a dozen prisoners.’

Harry Lyle, who was from Mauchline, Ayr, was one of just four men awarded the D.C.M. for the opening phase of operation “Ironclad”, the landings in Vichy-held Madagascar in May 1942, in fact the first large scale amphibious assault carried out by the British since the Dardanelles campaign.

On the 5th, with supporting fire from the Royal Navy’s “Force H”, troops of the 13th, 17th and 29th Infantry Brigades - the latter including 1st Battalion, the Royal Scots - and No. 5 Commando, the whole designated “Force 121”, landed in Courrier Bay, some 12 miles from the main objective, the Vichy naval base at Diego Suarez (actually situated to the east of the town proper, at Antsirane). The initial landings proceded without much difficulty, but later in the day strong resistance was encountered, and plans were accordingly set in motion to storm the enemy by night - here, then, Lyle’s encounter with a Pill Box at Antsirane. By dawn, the assault had been accomplished, but at a cost of 105 killed and 283 wounded, versus Vichy losses of 150 killed and 500 wounded.

Following these operations, and the withdrawal of 13th and 17th Infantry Brigades, Lyle and 29th Brigade remained in occupation, and, with the Vichy French Governor steadfastly refusing to surrender, it became necessary to launch further strikes at selected points along Madagascar’s coast - thus the Royal Scots participating in another amphibious landing at Majunga in September. The Regiment was finally withdrawn in mid-October, shortly before the final surrender of the Vichy forces.