Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia Command, visits the officers and men who helped capture Fort Dufferin, Mandalay, Burma, from the Japanese and speaks to various units of 19th Indian Division.

Lord Mountbatten meets officers and receives a salute from them. He meets men from 150th Regiment Royal Armoured Corps and the 7th Light Cavalry. Mountbatten proceeds along a line of Sikh soldiers wearing turbans and stops to chat to several of them. After addressing a group of men he climbs the covered steps on Mandalay Hill and is briefed on the battle as it progressed by Major-General T W Rees, (General Officer Commanding 19th Indian Division) with the help of a map. Mountbatten drives into Fort Dufferin on a jeep and inspects a Stuart ('Honey') light tank. Mountbatten walks around the complex in Fort Dufferin and inspects a damaged building then lowers himself into the turret of an abandoned Japanese tank. He addresses another group of men, various units of the 19th Indian Division, whilst standing next to a flagpole with the Union flag raised. He inspects more damage done to the fort and the walls and walks along the top of a wall.

Notes

See JFU 78 for more coverage of this visit.