Important Events Of August – 27

2021-08-27

Death Anniversary of Lord Mountbatten

Birth:

Louis Mountbatten was born on June 25th 1900 at the turn of the 20th century a time of great upheaval across the globe with the collapse of many empires including the Chinese, Holy Roman, Spanish and the First and Second French empires.
In 1943, Mountbatten was appointed Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command (SEAC). Working along with General William Slim, he directed the summoning up of Burma and Singapore from the Japanese. The SEAC was disbanded in 1946 after which Mountbatten returned home with a rear-admiral rank by his side.

Mountbatten Role In India:

In February of 1947 due to his experience in the region, Louis Mountbatten was appointed Victory of India and was expected to oversee a smooth transition from British India to an independent India no later than the following year.
As diplomatically as was able to he tried to keep India united but against all his efforts, the Muslim leader was adamant on a separate state for his Muslim people, Pakistan. Louis Mountbatten was not on his own in this belief. Mahatma Gandhi, the India leader, was also in favor of a united India but it was not to be.
Pakistan and India became independent at midnight on 14th – 15th August of 1947, one whole year earlier than originally planned.
He worked towards setting a fixed date for the transfer of power from British India to the Indians. At the stroke of midnight on August 14-15, 1947, India and Pakistan attained independence. While most of the British officers evacuated the country, Mountbatten remained in New Delhi, the capital of independent India and served as the country’s first Governor General for ten months until June 1948.

Awards:

Lord Mountbatten, in his life, was lauded with a long list of medals: