- COMBINED OPERATIONS & LORD LOUIS MOUNTBATTEN -

Lord Louis Mountbatten was Combined Operations Adviser from 17/10/41 to 17/3/42  and Chief of Combined Operations from 18/3/42 to 10/43.

 ~ The Early Years ~

Mountbatten was born on 25 June 1900 the younger son of Prince Louis of Battenberg who was Admiral of the Fleet and First Sea Lord in 1914. At the age of 13 Mountbatten entered the Royal Naval College at Osborne where he passed out 15th out of 83 cadets. His service started in the First World War at the tender age of 16. He gained experience of battleships, submarines and destroyers and was an acknowledged expert in signals. He became a well known and respected public figure endowed with energy, spirit, dash and intellectual ability. The Navy shared this view of him as his rise through the ranks would later illustrate. His was a career overflowing with challenges and achievements. Because of this we concentrate here on his time with Combined Operations. [Photo; COHQ 1942: L to R -Willets, Horan, Haydon, Mountbatten, Robb, Wildman-Lushington, Ellis]

 ~ Appointment to Combined Operations ~

In August of 1941 Mountbatten was appointed captain of HMS Illustrious...a command he eagerly anticipated as his ship lay in Norfolk, Virginia for repairs following action in the Mediterranean in January. During this period of relative inactivity he paid a flying visit to Pearl Harbour. He was not impressed with the poor state of readiness and a general lack of co-operation between the Navy and Army including the absence of a joint HQ. Interesting observations in view of what was about to happen to Mountbatten himself and later to Pearl Harbour! An Admiralty signal caught up with him on his return journey to Norfolk. It was a personal telegram from Churchill recalling him, by the fastest possible means, to the UK. The order was not to be challenged or queried. Despite an assurance from Churchill that he was required for "something that you will find of the highest interest" Mountbatten was far from happy to have the command of his dreams snatched away.

The meeting with Churchill at Chequers was not the most harmonious on record but in a visionary briefing Churchill defined the role of Combined Operations Adviser along the following lines;

•  he was to succeed Roger Keyes in charge of Combined Operations

•  he was to develop a programme of Commando raids along the North Sea and Atlantic coastlines of enemy held territory increasing in intensity and designed to tie up German resources that might otherwise be used on other fronts

•  he was to plan and prepare for the re-invasion of Europe. This was to be the overriding priority. In this regard Churchill made the point that all other HQs were on the defensive. Combined Operations had to think offensively.

Mountbatten's military achievements and qualities were not well understood outside naval circles and he was succeeding a man of great renown, 28 years his senior and of much higher rank. Superficially he was not, therefore, the most obvious successor to Keyes. However what Mountbatten had in abundance was tact and diplomacy - personal qualities that were to help overcome inter service rivalries and promote a sense of mutual trust, confidence and common purpose.

 ~ Duties and Responsibilities ~

On taking up his new duties on 27 October 1941 a new directive (job description) had been prepared and approved by the Chiefs of Staff. Unlike Keyes' directive (or his interpretation of it) there was no mention of the Minister of Defence (Churchill). This time around the duties were to be "technical adviser on all aspects of, and at all stages in, the planning and training for Combined Operations." His remit included;

•  coordinating inter-service training

•  running the UK Combined Operations Training Establishments (Inveraray and others) 

•  advising on tactical and technical research and development

•  devising the special craft needed "for all forms of Combined Operations varying from small raids to a full scale invasion of the Continent."

He inherited a Combined Operations HQ (COHQ) that did not measure up to the tasks in hand and he set about major changes to personnel, organisation and communications. There were no planning staff, no signals staff, no training staff and no Chief of Staff and only a token intelligence presence. He immediately set about recruiting the staff he needed and in short order the premises occupied by COHQ at Richmond Terrace were added to. Such were the dynamics of the changes that for some weeks internal communications broke down under the strain! The enormity of the challenge would have daunted many lesser men but within five weeks Mountbatten had produced a set of proposals for the Chief's of Staff and he had the confidence to act upon them before receiving formal approval from them.

Within a few months the Chiefs of Staff knew they had an adviser whose position and standing were clear to all and whose reputation improved with the passage of time. Above all the Chiefs of Staff were prepared to back Mountbatten to the fullest extent. He had, after all, the full backing of the Prime Minister and everyone knew it but there was no question of him abusing his position. Consequent to all this Mountbatten was elevated to Chief of Combined Operations on Mar 18 1942. To a large extent the greatest testimony to Mountbatten's stewardship of Combined Operations is the historical record he left behind.

 ~ Reading material & websites ~

More biographical information outside of the Combined Operations period with many links to other pages.

Richard Hough; Mountbatten:  hero of our time; London : Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980 xiii, 290 p. ISBN 0297778056

Philip Ziegler Mountbatten : the official biography London : Collins, 1985 786 p. ISBN 0002165430

John Terraine The life and times of Lord Mountbatten : an illustrated biography based on the television history London : Hutchinson, 1968 x, 197 p. ISBN 0090888103

Brian Loring Villa Unauthorized action : Mountbatten and the Dieppe Raid Toronto ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1989 xiii, 314 p. ISBN 0195406796

Eugene L. Rasor Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 1900-1979 : historiography and annotated bibliography
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1998 xvii, 139 p. ISBN 0313288763

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