Editing Lord Mountbatten (section)

=== SEAC and Burma campaign ===
In August 1943, Churchill appointed Mountbatten the Supreme Allied Commander [[South East Asia Command]] (SEAC) with promotion to acting full [[admiral]].<ref name=heath186/> His less practical ideas were sidelined by an experienced planning staff led by Lieutenant-Colonel [[James Allason]], though some, such as a proposal to launch an amphibious assault near [[Rangoon]], got as far as Churchill before being quashed.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8597474/Lt-Col-James-Allason.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/politics-obituaries/8597474/Lt-Col-James-Allason.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |department=Obituary |title=Lt-Col James Allason |newspaper=The Telegraph |location= London |date= 24 June 2011 |access-date=20 September 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[File:Mountbatten address, Singapore 1945.jpg|right|upright|thumb|Mountbatten's address on the steps of Singapore's [[City Hall, Singapore|Municipal Building]] after the surrender]]

British interpreter [[Hugh Lunghi]] recounted an embarrassing episode during the [[Potsdam Conference]] when Mountbatten, desiring to receive an invitation to visit the [[Soviet Union]], repeatedly attempted to impress [[Joseph Stalin]] with his former connections to the [[Russian imperial family]]. The attempt fell predictably flat, with Stalin dryly inquiring whether "it was some time ago that he had been there". Says Lunghi, "The meeting was embarrassing because Stalin was so unimpressed. He offered no invitation. Mountbatten left with his tail between his legs."<ref>{{harvp|Montefiore|2004|p=501}}.</ref>

During his time as Supreme Allied Commander of the Southeast Asia Theatre, his command oversaw the [[Burma campaign (1944–1945)|recapture of Burma]] from the Japanese by General [[Sir William Slim]].<ref name=heath187>{{harvp|Heathcote|2002|p=187}}</ref> A personal high point was the receipt of the Japanese surrender in Singapore when British troops returned to the island to receive the formal surrender of Japanese forces in the region led by General [[Itagaki Seishiro]] on 12 September 1945, codenamed [[Operation Tiderace]].<ref>{{harvp|Park|1946|p=2156, para 360}}.</ref> South East Asia Command was disbanded in May 1946 and Mountbatten returned home with the substantive rank of [[Rear admiral (Royal Navy) | rear-admiral]].<ref name=heath188>{{harvp|Heathcote|2002|p=188}}.</ref> That year, he was made a [[Knight of the Garter|Knight Companion of the Garter]] and created '''Viscount Mountbatten of Burma''', of [[Romsey]] in the [[County of Southampton]], as a [[Victory title#British Empire|victory title]] for war service. He was then in 1947 further created '''Earl Mountbatten of Burma''' and '''Baron Romsey''', of Romsey in the County of Southampton.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/mountbatten_lord_louis.shtml|title=Lord Louis Mountbatten (1900–1979)|publisher=BBC|access-date=19 July 2018|archive-date=27 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727173721/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/mountbatten_lord_louis.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="auto">{{London Gazette |issue=44059 |date=21 July 1966 |page=8227}}</ref>

Following the war, Mountbatten was known to have largely shunned the Japanese for the rest of his life out of respect for his men killed during the war and, as per his will, Japan was not invited to send diplomatic representatives to his funeral in 1979, though he did meet Emperor [[Hirohito]] during his state visit to Britain in 1971, reportedly at the urging of the Queen.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/05/archives/japan-is-not-invited-to-lord-mountbattens-funeral-lord-mountbatten.html | title=Japan is not invited to Lord Mountbatten's Funeral | work=The New York Times | date=5 September 1979 | access-date=9 July 2017 | archive-date=23 January 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180123131634/http://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/05/archives/japan-is-not-invited-to-lord-mountbattens-funeral-lord-mountbatten.html | url-status=live }}</ref>