PRIMARY DOSSIER № 03 / 06
MOUNTBATTEN, L.
LAST VICEROY AND FIRST GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA (1947–1948)
Viceroy who accelerated the British withdrawal timeline by ten months, overseeing a hasty partition that displaced 15 million people and caused up to one million sectarian deaths.
PRIMARY INVESTIGATION & FINDINGS
Unilaterally advanced the British transfer of power deadline from June 1948 to August 1947, giving boundary commissioner Sir Cyril Radcliffe only five weeks to partition Punjab and Bengal.
Suppressed the Radcliffe Boundary Award map until two days after Independence Day (17 August 1947) to ensure Britain avoided administrative blame for the unfolding sectarian massacres.
Left provincial administrations with inadequate security forces, leading to the displacement of 15 million refugees and between 500,000 and 1,000,000 casualties.
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