Mountbatten

Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II / the Violent Century: War Leader #6

by Arthur Swinson

Good shape

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Arthur Horace Swinson (1915–1970) was a British Army officer, writer, playwright, and historian. A prolific playwright, he authored more 300 works.

Swinson was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, to Hugh Swinson and Lilla Fisher Swinson. He attended St Albans School. He enlisted in the Rifle Brigade in 1939 and in 1940 was commissioned into the Worcestershire Regiment. In the Far East, he fought at the 1944 Battle of Kohima as a staff captain with the British 5th Brigade, which commanded the 7th Battalion of his regiment. The diaries he kept during the battle are now lodged in the Imperial War Museum. He served until 1946, with postings in Malaya, Burma, Assam and India during World War II. In 1949, he subsequently became a writer and producer at the BBC where he produced a number of programmes for Richard Attenborough.

In 1966, Swinson wrote and published "Kohima," an account of the Battle of Kohima which was fought from April to June 1944 and in which he was a participant. The preface states that Field Marshal William Slim directed Swinson to ensure that Kohima and Imphal are described as twin battles fought under Slim's 14th Army. This Swinson does. Ultimately, however, the book focuses on the experience of the British 2nd Infantry Division. The book is a good adjunct to Slim's "Defeat into Victory" and Masters' "Road Past Mandalay."

Swinson was the author of "Scotch on the Rocks" (1963 and 2005), which told the true story of the wartime wreck of the SS Politician, on which Compton Mackenzie's novel "Whisky Galore" (1947) – and the Ealing Comedy of the same title – were based.

He died in Spain while on vacation, aged 55. He was survived by his wife, Joyce Budgen, and their three children.

Reviews

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

When this book came out in 1971, Lord Louis Mountbatten was still alive, and immensely popular as a both a public figure and a member of the Royal Family. And this is the sort of hagiography one might expect from the period, largely enthusiastic as it tells the story of WWII Naval Officer, creator of Combined Operations for the Allies, Supremo of the British Imperial Pacific Operations, and last Viceroy of India. Arthur Swinson was a mid century British writer of military history, this being one of his last books, and was author of several other Ballantine's series books on WWII. This book is number six in the "War Leader" series within the overall Ballantine's Illustrated History of the Violent Century book collection, and is thus supported by many graphs, maps, line drawings and black and white photos from the era. It is a fun and rapid read, but I think the book show its age and needs to be read with a certain level of filter for the 21st Century reader.

The book is fine, if a bit "boys own-y" in discussing Mountbatten's early life. There was service in WWI and the early command of Destroyers in WWII. Then Churchill offers him higher command - sort of on popularity alone- and Mountbatten actually excels- his personal magnetism was legendary- at getting Combined Ops between traditionally squabbling services to function for Amphibious Assaults for the Allies. Then the move east to take over command in Columbo over British Imperial efforts versus The Japanese. Swinson takes time over all this - and then the being the last Viceroy part gets really short shrift. I feel South Asians may feel the author's applauding of Mountbattens' shortening the the time to partition, and laying all the blame for Violence at the feet of Indian parties and none at the poorly thought out speedy departure of the British to be callous and out of date. This makes for an interesting read as a period piece, but not as a lasting work of nonfiction. I'm certainly going to look for other books on this topic- but I'll be looking for more depth.

There are no adult themes and few graphic violence passages, so this is an OK book for a 11/12 year old Junior Reader, but I think some adult guidance for the last parts of the book on India may be a good idea. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, this is a decent resource on background- but has probably been surpassed by other sources. The Gamer is reading for background- Mountbatten was only a tactical leader for part of his career. The Modeler does get a lot of Diorama ideas if they are intent on Mountbatten as a topic, but not much else. The Military Enthusiast gets a quick look at an Iconic WWII Commander- but will probably only thirst for a deeper dive into this controversial figure. A qualified recommendation on this one from me.