Major General Michael Frank Reynolds CB
1989-1992 (Queen's)
Major General Reynolds was born in Warwickshire on 3 June 1930.
He was educated at Cranleigh School, and joined the Army in July
1948. After winning the Infantry Prize at Sandhurst, he was commissioned
into the Queen's Royal Regiment in July 1950. He served as a platoon
commander and as the Intelligence Officer (G2) of 1st Bn The Queen's
Royal Regiment in BAOR for a year before being sent to Korea on
loan to 1st Bn The Royal Norfolk Regiment (now 1 R ANGLIAN). In
August 1952, whilst serving as a platoon commander, he was severely
wounded and spent a year in hospital before returning to his Regimental
Depot at Guildford where he was Adjutant and then Training Company
Commander. The General married Anne Truman in June 1955.
During 1956-57 he served at GHQ Middle East Land Forces in Cyprus as GSO3 Plans and Operations (G3) during the EOKA and Suez emergencies and then in 1958 returned to the Regiment to be the last Adjutant of 1st Bn The Queen's Royal Regiment in Iserlohn, Germany before the amalgamation with The East Surrey Regiment in 1959. During this period he won a competitive entry into the Staff College, Camberley, which he attended in 1960. This was followed by promotion to major and a tour on the staff of the Army's Operational Research Establishment at West Byfleet.
In 1964 General Reynolds joined 1st Bn The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment to command C Company in Münster, Germany, for two years and was then posted, as an Infantry exchange officer, to the Canadian National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa. He rejoined 1st Bn The Queen's Regiment in Bahrain to command B Company for a short time before becoming Second-in-Command of the Battalion in 1969. As such he took the Advance Party to Londonderry in August 1969 at the beginning of the present troubles in Ulster. He left the Battalion in March 1970, on promotion to lieutenant colonel, to serve as GSO1 Operations (G3) in HQ AFCENT in Holland.
In July 1971 General Reynolds was appointed to command 2nd Bn The Queen's Regiment, a fully mechanised battalion, in Werl, Germany. During his command the Battalion was twice sent to Northern Ireland at only a few day's notice - first for Operation Demitrius and secondly for Operation Motorman. He then became GSO1 (G3) Operations at Headquarters Northern Ireland in July 1973 but after only 15 months he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier and was given command of the 12th Mechanised Brigade in Germany. During the re-organisation of BAOR in 1976 he became a Deputy Commander of the 2nd Armoured Division, a Task Force Commander and the first Commander of the 5th Field Force.
After attending the Royal College of Defence Studies in London in 1977, General Reynolds became Deputy Adjutant General (ACOS G1) of BAOR for two years. He was promoted to the rank of major general and assumed command of NATO's Allied Command Europe Mobile Force (Land) for three years with his Headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. On completion of this tour he was made Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. He assumed his last active appointment in 1983 when he became Assistant Director of the International Military Staff in Brussels, responsible for Plans and Policy. From July 1984 to November 1986 General Reynolds was Colonel Commandant to The Queen's Division. He retired, as senior Major General in the British Army, in October 1986.
After retiring from the Army the General became a guest speaker on British Army and NATO battlefield tours in the Ardennes. As such he conducted some two thousand officers and NCO's through a specific part of the 1944 'Battle of the Bulge' and he followed this by writing five detailed World War II military histories. He is now an internationally recognised expert on the Waffen-SS and the 1944 Normandy and Ardennes campaigns.
In 1990 Queen Margrethe II of Denmark made General Reynolds a commander First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog and in 1992 Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands made him a Knight of the Order of Orange - Nassau.
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