Major Michael Stilwell RIP

Kyt · Nov 13, 2008

Major Michael Stilwell - Telegraph

Major Michael Stilwell, who has died aged 88, won an MC in the Adriatic in 1944 while serving with the Commandos.

In January 1944 No 2 Commando established itself on the island of Vis, from where they raided German outposts, garrisons and shipping on the Dalmatian coast. At midnight on July 28 No 2 Commando, comprising some 700 officers and men, landed on the coast of Albania, four miles south of Spilje.

Stilwell, then a captain, was in command of two troops whose task was to attack enemy positions on top of high ground with steep approaches which dominated the area. German sympathisers among the Albanian partisans had alerted the garrison, which laid an ambush for him; but they were spotted just in time and their attack was held. He then led the assault on the ridge, advancing steadily under heavy machine-gun fire until the enemy positions were overrun.

Shortly after seizing an important road, Stilwell was badly wounded. A German jumped out of a slit trench in order to finish him off but, as he was taking aim, a commando ran up and, firing his Bren gun from the hip, shot him dead.

The stretcher-bearers were busy with other casualties, but despite being in great pain Stilwell refused to be carried back to the regimental aid post. He set about helping those near him who had been wounded and arranging for their evacuation.

Many of the garrison were up in the trees and acting as snipers, and the commandos took severe casualties. Unable to overcome the tenacious defences within the time allotted to them, they had to withdraw, but two days later local partisans loyal to the Allies overwhelmed the remnants of the garrison. Stilwell was awarded an immediate MC.

Michael William Stilwell was born at Sintra, Portugal, on July 10 1920 and was educated at the Oratory School, Caversham Park, Reading, where he was captain of the school and of rugby. He was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in August 1940. Four of his younger brothers followed him into the regiment; two of them were killed in action.

Stilwell volunteered for the Commandos and took part in six major raids. In February 1944 he and six of his men were on a motor torpedo boat when they closed with a schooner which had been pressed into service by the Germans. His party concealed itself until it drew alongside and then, accompanied by two sailors armed with cutlasses, sprang aboard. After a roughhouse 17 disconsolate Germans, who were on their way home on leave, surrendered.

In another raid, on the island of Solta, many prisoners were captured. As the commandos were withdrawing, an irate woman stormed out of her house demanding to know why the English from London and the Germans from Berlin were fighting over her garden and which of them was going to repair the wall that they had knocked down.

After recovering from his wounds Stilwell joined the re-formed 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards and served in Palestine on peace-keeping duties. In one action, near Tel Aviv, he had a narrow escape when a roadside bomb exploded prematurely just in front of his bren gun carrier. On another occasion terrorists dug a tunnel under the battalion HQ and filled it with explosives. These were found in time and made harmless. He accompanied the battalion to Libya and Egypt; while in the latter posting, he was sent to Aqaba, Jordan, in command of a company to protect the port against incursions from Israeli forces.

After retiring from the Army in 1954 Stilwell returned to the family house in the Sintra hills and joined the Engineering Company of Portugal. The firm, which had been founded by his father, represents British manufacturers. These have included Rolls-Royce Aero Engines, Westland Helicopters and GEC (UK).

He was a prominent member of the British community and was president of the British Legion, chairman of the Royal British Club and a governor of Queen Elizabeth School. He was appointed CBE in 1979.

He enjoyed riding as well as shooting snipe and partridge. A keen ornithologist, he kept an aviary with a wide range of birds.

Michael Stilwell died on October 7. He married, in 1947, Inez Horgan, who survives him with their four sons and two daughters.
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Antipodean Andy · Nov 13, 2008

An eventful life. RIP.

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Major Michael Stilwell RIP

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