THE citation for Michael Forrester’s first Military Cross concluded: “This is not the first occasion on which he has distinguished himself. In every operation he has been conspicuous for his leadership, coolness and disregard of personal safety.” He was then only a second lieutenant. This set the pattern for his conduct throughout the Second World War — which had not then begun.

He was elegant and softly-spoken; his presence was one of calm detachment, ideal for the stress of war but evidently less well suited to the scramble for preference in the British Army of the Rhine in the mid-1960s. It may be that he found the Army’s tactical philosophy of the period unrealistic for any battle against the Warsaw Pact forces on the European central front, particularly in the light of his extensive operational experience, and so felt unable to commend it. He was not advanced further after command of a division.

He won his first MC while serving with 2nd Battalion The Queen’s Royal Regiment during the Arab revolt in Palestine in 1939. The communication systems and installations of the British administration, under the League of Nations mandate, were subjected to attack and sabotage as a means of Arab protest against increased Jewish immigration. Wounded in the chest during operations against a terrorist group, he continued to lead his platoon until ordered to the field dressing station, only to re-emerge — rifle in hand — when the battalion HQ was attacked.

Forrester went to Greece in March 1941 with the headquarters of the Commonwealth force diverted there from North Africa to help to defend the country against German invasion. The scale and speed of the attack was devastating; the Commonwealth forces were driven back to the coast as Greece was overrun in three weeks.

He escaped to Crete where he distinguished himself as the liaison officer with the Greek units fighting under the command of the New Zealand Division. As the battle for Crete reached a critical stage, following the German airborne assault on May 20, he went forward on his own initiative and rallied the remnants of a Greek battalion, organised a counter-attack and temporarily restored the local situation. For his gallantry and initiative he was awarded a Bar to his MC.

After attending the wartime Staff College at Haifa, he was appointed brigade major of 132nd Brigade in the 44th Division making ready for the Battle of El Alamein in October 1942. He was wounded in the battle and mentioned in dispatches.

On recovery, he served briefly with HQ 13 Corps in Syria and then HQ 18th Army Group in Algeria, before joining 1/6th Queen’s, as second-in-command, for the final phase of the North African campaign culminating in the capture of Tunis in May 1943.

He was appointed to command the battalion that August, as it was preparing for the Salerno landings with 131 (Queen’s) Lorried Infantry Brigade of the 7th Armoured Division. The landings achieved surprise but the 16th Panzer Division reacted swiftly against the northern bridgehead.

The 7th Armoured Division began to get ashore in the northern sector as the German counter-offensive paused on September 15. Forrester again demonstrated dash, determination and tactical skill in the fight to deepen the beachhead and then break out along Route 18 towards Naples. He led 1/6th Queen’s through the Vietri Pass and on to secure the key bridge at Scafati, over the River Sarno, and on to Vesuviano on September 29. Later, 1/6th Queen’s beat off repeated counter-attacks that night and made rapid progress against determined opposition in the next few days.

Forrester was awarded an immediate DSO for his vigorous leadership under fire. The Mayor of Scafati sent him a telegram of good wishes each year on the anniversary of the liberation of the village by 1/6th Queen’s in 1943, adding wishes for a speedy recovery on the 63rd anniversary in 2006 when an old wound necessitated the amputation of a leg.

Forrester was still in command of 1/6th Queen’s when the 7th Armoured Division was withdrawn from Italy, at the end of 1943, to go to England to retrain for the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. On June 12 the division was launched down the right flank of the 50th Division towards the high ground between the rivers Odon and Orne.

On June 16 and again on the 17th, Forrester’s battalion was subjected to counter-attacks by units of Panzer-Grenadiers. At one point his battalion HQ was in immediate danger of being overrun, but he calmly withdrew it without loss, regrouped and recovered the ground briefly given up. The citation for the Bar to his DSO praised his outstanding courage and cool judgment under fire, emphasising that “never for a moment did he lose control of the main battle”.

He was wounded in Normandy shortly afterwards and, on recovery, returned to Italy as GSO 1 HQ 13 Corps and then as Military Assistant to Field Marshal Earl Alexander, Supreme Allied Commander of the Mediterranean theatre.

Michael Forrester was the second son of James Forrester of Kirklinton, Cumbria, and was educated at Haileybury. He was commissioned as a Supplementary Reserve officer in the Queen’s Royal Regiment in 1936 and received a regular commission two years later.

Like several contemporaries who survived the war with distinction, he had to mark time for several years before regaining command of a battalion. After being an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, and GSO 1 GHQ in Kenya during the Mau Mau insurrection, he transferred to the Parachute Regiment in 1957 to take command of the 3rd Battalion.

He subsequently commanded the 16th Parachute Brigade Group, 1961-63, and the 4th Division in the British Army of the Rhine, 1965-67. While making a visit to Crete in 1966, he was made an honorary citizen of Canea in recognition of his part in the fighting at Galatas on the island in 1941.

He was appointed Director of Infantry in 1968 and was Colonel Commandant of the Queen’s Division 1968 to 1970, when he retired from the Army.

He was lay co-chairman of the Alton Deanery Synod, 1984-88, a member of the Winchester Diocesan Synod, 1988-91, and the vice-president of the Crete Veterans’ Association from 1993.

His marriage to Pauline Fisher in 1947 was dissolved in 1960. He is survived by two sons.

Major-General Michael Forrester, CB, CBE, DSO and Bar, MC and Bar, Commander 4th Division, 1965-67, was born on August 31, 1917. He died on October 15, 2006, aged 89.