Major General Michael Tillotson, soldier awarded the Croix de Guerre for courage in Vietnam – obituary

His company came under intense machine-gun and mortar fire from the hills and this was followed by a strong counterattack. Tillotson described “clumps of small men in green uniforms running purposefully towards me with their supporting fire plunging down over their heads from the foothills on the left flank.”

He and his comrades were pinned down behind the padi bunds, or raised footpaths that criss-crossed the paddy fields. One of the Bearcats dropped a napalm bomb; the others strafed the attackers with cannon fire.

Heavy concentrations of artillery fire completed the task of breaking up the enemy attack. Twenty minutes after the end of the operation, helicopters arrived to evacuate the wounded. Tillotson was awarded the Croix de Guerre with bronze palm.

He served in the Malaya Emergency from 1953 to 1955 and as a staff officer based in Singapore from 1964 to 1965 during the “Confrontation” with Indonesia.

In 1958, the East Yorks had amalgamated with the West Yorks to become The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire (PWO). Tillotson returned to regimental duty in 1965 to South Arabia.

The tour ended in August 1966 but 1 PWO went out again on emergency deployment in mid-1967 and stayed until the final withdrawal in November. During the withdrawal of British forces to the port of Aden, Tillotson had temporary command of the battalion. He was Mentioned in Despatches.

In 1967, he moved to the MoD as head of the intelligence staff, with responsibility for intelligence on Soviet and Warsaw Pact armies. As a result of working with Nato allies and the CIA he acquired a lifelong interest in the field of defence intelligence.

He commanded 1 PWO from 1969 to 1971, with most of that time in Cyprus as the resident infantry battalion. This was a role with complex inter-service rivalries and command arrangements, which was not ideal for someone with his drive, operational skills and insistence on high standards.

On leaving Cyprus he was promoted to colonel in an MoD role. He had narrowly missed early promotion to brigadier and it could have been a serious brake on his career path.

In 1974, however, he moved to Hong Kong, where the commander was Lieutenant General Sir Edwin (later Field Marshal Lord) Bramall. He was impressed by Tillotson’s operational experience and by his resolve in challenging decisions with which he disagreed, whatever the risk to his own hopes for advancement. The two became close friends.

On promotion to brigadier, he became chief of staff of the United Nations Force in Cyprus and commander of the British contingent from 1976 to 1978. After a return to the MoD as Deputy Director Army Staff Duties, there followed promotion to major general and appointment as Chief of Staff to the C-in-C UK Land Forces , a role he carried out for three years.

In 1983 Tillotson retired from the Army. He was appointed MBE in 1956, OBE in 1970, CBE in 1976 and CB in 1983. He was Colonel of the Regiment for 10 years.

He remained active in civilian life and was the first secretary general of the Association of Contact Lens Manufacturers. For 30 years, he was the military obituarist for The Times. He published Finland at Peace and War 1918-1993 (1993), With the Prince of Wales’s Own (1995) and the authorised biography of Field Marshal Lord Bramall.

Major General Michael Tillotson married first, in 1956, Angela Wadsworth Shaw. The marriage was dissolved, and in 2006 he married Sybil Osborne; she was his companion for many years and survives him with a daughter and two sons by his first marriage and two stepsons.

Major General Michael Tillotson, born May 12 1928, died May 17 2023