Major General Mike Swindells - obituary

Major General Mike Swindles who has died aged 85, was a career soldier who rose to command his regiment.  He was a National Chairman of Blesma from 1991 to 1996.

In 1969, Maj Gen Swindells assumed command of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers and, two years later, he took the regiment to Detmold in Germany.  Traces of the informality of wartime days were still apparent.  Many of the officers still dressed in jeep coats and tank boots, and wore Service dress hats and earphones wrapped around them on exercises.

Maj Gen Swindells, who has a short fuse and stood no nonsense, soon converted the regiment with its new Chieftain tanks into a highly effective operational unit.  This was not achieved painlessly but his legacy proved to be an enduring one.

He was also fiercely protective of his regiment.  When the brigade commander visited ranges in Germany to observe live fire exercises, which were the culmination of the training year, he was not impressed.  One of the squadrons failed to fire the first tank shell on the dot of 08.00hrs and the gunnery that followed was second rate.

The brigadier, a man renowned for intolerance, summoned the troops and launched into a harangue.  He was reduced to silence within seconds by Maj Gen Swindells, who exclaimed; "How dare you address my regiment like that?  If you have any criticism to make then you should say it to me personally and in private!"

George Michael Geoffrey Swindells was born at Bollington, Cheshire, on 15 January 1930 and educated at Rugby. In 1948, he was called up for National Service and the following year he was commissioned into the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards (5 RDG) who were stationed in Germany at the time.

On his release, he worked in the textile industry but subsequently rejoined his regiment and accompanied the men to Korea. In December 1951, they arrived at Pusan and he commanded a troop of tanks as part of the Commonwealth Division.

The regiment handed over to 1st Royal Tank Regiment in December 1952 and spent a further year on active service based at Shandur on the Suez Canal before returning to Britain. Maj Gen Swindells was adjutant of the Cheshire Yeomanry from 1955 to 1956 and, after attending Staff College, he served with 5 RDG in Germany, Aden and Cyprus, and in staff appointments in Singapore and Brunei. In 1975, he took command of 11th Armoured Brigade at its HQ at Minden, Germany. After a year at the MoD, he was promoted to Major General in 1980 and moved to Bonn as Chief of the Joint Services Liaison Organisation. He returned to the MoD in 1983 and served on the Defence Intelligence Staff. On his retirement from the Army in 1985, he was appointed CB.

Maj Gen Swindells was controller of the Army Benevolent Fund from 1987 until 1997. He was colonel of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers from 1990 to 1995 and National Chairman of Blesma from 1991 to 1996. In 2006, he was appointed national president of the British Korean Veterans Association.

As a younger man, he was a keen polo player and skied until he was 80. He had a deep love of the countryside and was never happier than when he was in the company of those who lived by the land. He enjoyed salmon fishing and gardening.

Mike Swindells was drowned off the coast of Elba while he was on holiday. He was very fit for his age and a competent swimmer, but it is believed that the undertow proved too strong for him.

He married Prudence (Prue) Tully in 1955. She survives him with their two daughters. A son predeceased him.