Date- 27 August 1979
A family reached Cliffone village in Ireland for a holiday. All the family members left in the morning on a 29 feet long boat named Shadow to catch fish. It was just 15 minutes when the boat exploded. The family of India’s last Viceroy Lord Mountbatten was on this boat. Mountbatten, who spent a long time in water as a British naval officer, also died in the water. Apart from Mountbatten, his two twin grandsons also died in the blast. Mountbatten’s daughter and son-in-law were badly injured in it. Lord Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of India. What was his role in India’s independence, why was a 79-year-old retired old man killed, know in detail in the story… Made Japan surrender in the Second World War
Mountbatten was born in Windsor, Britain in 1900. His father Louis was the Prince of Battenberg. His mother was the granddaughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria. He was very close to Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip. Mountbatten joined the Royal Navy of Britain in 1916. During the Second World War, he showed great bravery while being a part of the Navy. In September 1945, Mountbatten succeeded in making Japan surrender in Singapore in the Second World War. Made the final plan for India-Pakistan partition
Dominic Lapierre and Larry Collins have written about Mountbatten in their book ‘Freedom at Midnight’ that when Britain’s PM Clement Attlee announced India’s independence, the situation in India was getting out of control. On January 1, 1947, Attlee called Mountbatten to meet him. Attlee wanted Mountbatten to become the last Viceroy of India. When Mountbatten reached India in March 1947, the previous Viceroy Lord Wavell handed him a file on which was written – ‘Operation Mad House’. Many formulas for the partition of India were in this file. Mountbatten started reading the file and prepared the blueprint of India-Pakistan partition. It was approved on 15 August 1947 and India was divided into two parts. Mountbatten’s boat was blown up with 22 kg of explosives. Mountbatten remained the Governor General of India till 1948. In 1953, Mountbatten went back to the British Navy. Mountbatten retired from the Navy in 1965. Mountbatten and his family used to spend summer holidays in Classiebon Castle in Sligo County. Like every year, this time too he reached Classiebon but this time an accident happened. An eyewitness had told that the boat broke into pieces due to the blast and all the people in it fell into the water. Hearing the sound of the blast, nearby fishermen reached there and pulled Mountbatten’s family out of the water. Mountbatten’s leg was blown to pieces due to the explosion. Mountbatten died shortly after. Andrew Looney, writer of the book ‘Their Lives and Loves’ written on Mountbatten, writes that 22 kg of explosives were kept on his boat. The blast was so terrible that the boat was blown to pieces. Who killed Mountbatten, still a mystery even after 45 years
The Irish Republican Army i.e. IRA took responsibility for the attack on Mountbatten’s boat. This bomb was planted by two rebels of IRA. This organization wanted to free the whole of Ireland from the occupation of Britain. But the royal family was creating obstacles in this. IRA was angry with this and wanted to teach the royal family a lesson. This was the reason why it targeted Lord Mountbatten, who was very close to the royal family. Then IRA Thomas McMahon and Francis McGirl were arrested in this case. However, later questions started being raised on this claim. An Irish professional criminal named Patrick Holland had claimed that the real culprit was someone else. According to Holland, the accused McMahon had told him in the jail that he had taken the blame for Mountbatten’s murder on himself to save others. His killer is still free outside the jail. Attempts to kill Mountbatten were made earlier too
The IRA had tried to kill Mountbatten several times earlier too. In 1978 itself, an attempt to shoot him failed. Mountbatten was warned by the intelligence department that he should not go to Ireland and that a conspiracy could be hatched to kill him, but he ignored it. Security personnel used to be deployed around Mountbatten. His ship was often security checked and monitored. But the security was removed a few days before his death. Even now, questions are raised as to why Mountbatten’s security was not taken care of despite being so close to the royal family and being a high ranking official. Many other theories had come up regarding Mountbatten’s murder. One report claimed that he was killed by British Intelligence. There was a lot of uproar over this. Many reports have claimed that the US intelligence agency CIA was behind the murder of Lord Mountbatten.
