IN 1939 Lord Louis Mountbatten stood on a plank over the side of HMS Kelly, brush in hand, helping his crew splash paint along the destroyer's hull. "War has just been declared, sir," panted the Chief Warden of Signals, leaning over the rail. Mountbatten carried on painting — "So we're not wasting our time," he replied.

Lord Louis was then a ship's captain but six years later, following an unparalleled meteoric rise through the ranks, the Queen's cousin accepted the Japanese surrender in Singapore in the role of Supreme Allied Commander, South-East Asia.

He was unique, having the distinction of being the only sailor who had responsibility for conducting a major land campaign. When, at the age of 43, he was given the role, the Japanese were knocking loudly at the gates of India. Mountbatten had to liberate Burma the hard way, by a long overland slog through the Indian frontier, and astutely recognized much depended on the morale of his troops who had suffered little but hardship and defeat. His method was personal leadership. Wherever a jeep could take him, he went to rally them. "Men," he shouted to a crowd of sweaty, half-naked men in the stifling heat. "You probably think Burma is the forgotten front. You're wrong." To much laughter, he went on: "It's never been heard of!"

Fortunate in having Gen Slim as the inspired leader of the 14th Army and Maj-Gen Orde Wingate, leader of the Chindit Division, who shared his tactical awareness, and backed with massive air support, Mountbatten freed Burma and the Japanese imperial army — the greatest land force it had ever deployed in the field — had been shattered beyond repair.

It was a remarkable triumph. Instead of invading from the sea and seizing the strategic port of Rangoon, the supreme commander had forced his army's way over the 8,000ft mountain rampart which enclosed Burma as a giant horseshoe and marched them through hundreds of miles of trackless jungle, heat and mosquitoes. The preliminary surrender agreement was signed at Rangoon and the final surrender came at Singapore, when Mountbatten received the humiliated General Itagaki.