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Rewriting history? Admiral Lord Mountbatten's efforts to distance himself from the 1956 Suez crisis

Rewriting history? Admiral Lord Mountbatten's efforts to distance himself from the 1956 Suez crisis
Rewriting history? Admiral Lord Mountbatten's efforts to distance himself from the 1956 Suez crisis
The First Sea Lord's offer to resign as an Anglo-French taskforce sailed to seize the Suez Canal in November 1956 became known following his retirement in 1965. Mountbatten oversaw naval preparations with consummate professionalism, although his praise for British forces' seizure of Port Said was tempered by admiration of the French, and not shared by all Combined Operations veterans. David Astor of the Observer actually opposed the invasion, and was passed information by a dissenting Mountbatten. An ageing Mountbatten's criticism of British–French–Israeli collusion led to his advancing an alternative version of events highly favourable to himself, which protagonists such as Lord Hailsham publicly contested.
mountbatten, first sea lord, port said assault, suez canal, combined operations, royal navy
489-508
Smith, Adrian
598edcfe-d65a-4137-ba0e-5318276450a4
Smith, Adrian
598edcfe-d65a-4137-ba0e-5318276450a4

Smith, Adrian (2012) Rewriting history? Admiral Lord Mountbatten's efforts to distance himself from the 1956 Suez crisis. Contemporary British History, 26 (4), 489-508. (doi:10.1080/13619462.2012.676912).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The First Sea Lord's offer to resign as an Anglo-French taskforce sailed to seize the Suez Canal in November 1956 became known following his retirement in 1965. Mountbatten oversaw naval preparations with consummate professionalism, although his praise for British forces' seizure of Port Said was tempered by admiration of the French, and not shared by all Combined Operations veterans. David Astor of the Observer actually opposed the invasion, and was passed information by a dissenting Mountbatten. An ageing Mountbatten's criticism of British–French–Israeli collusion led to his advancing an alternative version of events highly favourable to himself, which protagonists such as Lord Hailsham publicly contested.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 2 April 2012
Keywords: mountbatten, first sea lord, port said assault, suez canal, combined operations, royal navy
Organisations: History

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Local EPrints ID: 336072
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/336072
PURE UUID: 3b7e4a51-0cad-4b7d-bfd6-7d2620a56d03

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Date deposited: 14 Mar 2012 17:13
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 10:39

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