Mountbatten, Admiral Lord Louis

Mountbatten, Admiral Lord Louis (1900–79).Born Prince Louis of Battenberg and known as ‘Dickie’ to his friends, Mountbatten was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria. His father, First Sea Lord in 1914, was driven from office because of his German origins. In 1917 the family name was anglicized and his father became Marquess of Milford Haven. Mountbatten's title was therefore a courtesy one until he was ennobled in 1946 as Viscount Mountbatten of Burma.

During the First World War, Mountbatten saw action in Admiral David Beatty's flagship and though he later acquired the reputation of being a playboy he was also immensely ambitious: by 1937 he was a captain. In June 1939 he was given command of the destroyer Kelly and became Captain (D) of 5th Destroyer Flotilla that September, but his sea career was short, colourful, and unsuccessful. His exploits aboard Kelly brought him fame through Noël Coward's film In Which We Serve—a production he did much to promote—and the quality of his leadership was never in question. But within a few months he had nearly capsized, had collided with another destroyer, was mined once and torpedoed twice, and was finally sunk by German aircraft off Crete in 1941 (his ship capsized under full helm at 34 knots). However, his exploits, dashing image, and popularity with the Americans, brought him to the notice of Churchill who, in October 1941, appointed him ‘Chief Adviser’ of Combined Operations, with the rank of acting commodore. Then in April 1942, desperate for offensive action, Churchill made him chief of Combined Operations with the rank of vice-admiral (and the equivalent honorary rank in the other two services). He also made him a de facto member of the Chiefs of Staff committee, an extraordinary position for so young a man.

Though they had been planned prior to his arrival, the raids on Bruneval and St Nazaire were carried out under Mountbatten's aegis. Some historians now judge that his biggest operation, the Dieppe raid, should have been cancelled, and his determination to remount it has prompted one of them to comment that he permitted himself to be driven by the ageless forces of hunger for power and prestige. However, at the time, the Dieppe débâcle did him no visible harm and his drive and charm did wonders for the success of Combined Operations Headquarters. In August 1943 he attended the Quebec conference (see QUADRANT) at which it was agreed that he be promoted acting admiral—the youngest in the history of the Royal Navy—and appointed supreme commander of the newly created South-East Asia Command (SEAC). He took up this position in October, with his headquarters first in Delhi and later at Kandy in Ceylon.

Mountbatten's appointment to SEAC was fraught with difficulties. His US deputy, Stilwell, behaved deviously (see Axiom Mission), his British Cs-in-C questioned his operational jurisdiction over them, the Chinese proved obdurate, and every operational move he proposed was eventually rejected. He was, in fact, a far better diplomat, organizer, and inspirational leader than he was a fighting officer or grand strategist. Early on he identified three areas for improvement which were to have a profound effect on the Burma campaign: he ordered fighting to continue during the monsoon which resulted in the rout of Mutaguchi's Fifteenth Japanese Army in June 1944 after the failure of its Imphal offensive into India; he found solutions which brought a drop in malarial sickness from 84% in 1943 to 13% in 1945 (see also medicine); and he ensured that morale, brought low by neglect and a series of Japanese successes, was restored. He also more than proved his worth during the Japanese Imphal offensive when, contrary to orders but with the backing of Churchill, he diverted US aircraft from the Hump supply route to airlift two divisions from the Arakan to defend Imphal; and he later refused a request from the US Joint Chiefs of Staff for the return of other aircraft that were needed to supply Slim's Fourteenth Army besieged at Imphal.

On 12 September 1945 Mountbatten received the surrender of the Japanese at Singapore, and he remained at his post until May 1946. Honours and awards were showered on him. He was appointed India's last viceroy then first governor-general, and after becoming a viscount was granted an earldom in 1947.

Mountbatten's immense vanity and hunger for publicity and power, coupled with his vaulting ambition and a propensity for realigning the truth, were narrowly outweighed by his colossal energy and charm, and his ability to get things done. He inspired devotion from those he commanded and the grudging admiration of his seniors.

Bibliography

Hough, R. , Mountbatten: Hero of our Time (London, 1980).
Villa, B. , Unauthorized Action: Mountbatten and the Dieppe Raid (Oxford, 1990)
Ziegler, P. , Mountbatten (London, 1985).