Picture of Mackenzie

He headed the SOEs Far East operations known as the India Mission, or Force 136 from 1941 to the end of the war.

Its first headquarters were at Meerut, forty miles from Delhi, but in December 1944 it moved to Kandy, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) alongside Lord Mountbatten's South East Asia Command (SEAC) headquarters.

Force 136 covered Burma, Malaya, Thailand, French Indo-China, China, Sumatra. A remarkable tribute to Mackenzie is to be found in a report written by one of SOE's top London-based trouble-shooters after a visit to India and Force 136 in 1944 and is follows,

"No-one can visit India without being impressed by Colin Mackenzie;' it said, 'by his exceptional grip on the working and personnel of his group; by his capacity to simplify and without delay go to the root of any problem; and by his remarkable sense of timing and diplomacy."

"The high regard in which he is held in SEAC, in GHQ India, and in the Viceroy's Department is obvious."

"Not less impressive is the respect with which all members of his group, scattered as it is all over India and China judgement; the faith , have for his they have in his capacity to produce the right solution for all problems; and the personal affection in which he is held"

However Mackenzie was not without his failings.  The first mission that the India mission was to launch against the axis powers was not perfect, and would have lead to disaster if it was not for a series of blunders and errors made by the Axis powers. More can be read on this site in the India mission.

He was eventually to head Force 136 till the end of hostilities in the far east.

Taken from various articles in the press and from The National Archives in Kew London