AHAD E LORD MOUNTBATTEN

About the book:

In July 1942, I was suddenly appointed Air Public Relations Officer on Lord Mountbatten's staff. This was probably because I had served in the Royal Air Force Service. Fifteen months later, when he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander for South-East Asia, he gave me full charge of his Inter Command and Inter Records Section. He had not only put me in that position to provide him with information from official documents, but he also included me in his high-level meetings and weekly interviews so that I could provide him with background records. At the same time, he was offered the post of Viceroy of India. Since I was a part of Mountbatten's machine, he made me his press attaché. Coincidentally, all the viceroys who had previously served in India did not have a press attaché on their staff. I have based this book on my notes, letters and memoirs and its purpose is simply to tell a story of the period in which powers were transferred to India. I have provided material for future history in my diaries, I have not narrated history in them. At the same time, these diaries have the status of a kind of eyewitness testimony. They do not issue a “second verdict or fatwa” on India. The storms of events through which I have passed or the personalities whose company I have taken are so close to me that I cannot analyze these events and personalities. Personally, I believe that the benefit of analysis could have been achieved at that time if the atmosphere had been conducive, and the ideas we expressed had been appreciated. If you feel my haste in these diaries, the main reason for this is that the pace of our work was extremely fast and if there is no continuity and order in them, the main reasons for this were the problems that had to be solved as soon as possible.

(Alan Campbell Johnson)

Some about the author:

Alan Campbell Johnson (16 July 1913 – 25 January 1998) had a career spanning four levels: writing, politics, journalism and public relations. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. From 1937 to 1940 he served as political secretary to Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Liberal leader. During this time he also wrote detailed biographies of Anthony Eden and Lord Halifax. The latter earned him the praise of Winston Churchill. He served four years in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War II (1939–45). During this time he was also appointed as Head of the Records Staff to Lord Mountbatten during Combined Operations and as Officer-in-Charge of the Inter-Allied Records Section in the South East Asia Command. He also contested the Salisbury election twice on a Liberal Party ticket. He was also a founding member and managing director of a leading broadcaster and public relations consultancy. The firm provided services to prominent British and other international business circles. "Mission with Mountbatten" is Alan Campbell-Johns' account of the day-to-day running of Lord Mountbatten's third campaign when he served as press attaché to the last Viceroy and first constitutional Governor-General of India, Mountbatten, from 1947. This book was compiled from his diary entries during this period and first published in 1951. Alan Campbell died in the United Kingdom on January 25, 1998, at the age of 85.