Major General Martin Sinnatt
Tank commander who fought in Korea but sustained the only wound of his career in a reindeer crash
MAJOR GENERAL MARTIN SINNATT, who has died aged 94, saw action in the Korean War and was subsequently the director of Combat Development at the Ministry of Defence.
Advanced units of 1st Royal Tank Regiment (1 RTR) arrived in Korea in September 1952 and the regiment was in the country until the following November. Sinnatt, serving with B Squadron, commanded a troop of Centurion tanks.
Based at the Hook, a ridge of great strategic value above a tributary of the Imjin River, the regiment was supporting the 29th British Infantry Brigade and was closely integrated into the infantry defence plan.
The task of the squadrons was, by day, to harass the Chinese units – destroying command posts and defence works – and to prevent all forms of movement in the daylight. By night, they were to fire, according to a pre-arranged programme, in front of the infantry positions and in support of the infantry’s fighting patrols.
This was a war of the hills with trenches, and defensive fire positions for the tanks on the crests. In addition to regular shelling from enemy artillery and mortar units, Sinnatt and his men had to acclimatise to the harsh Korean winter. Breakfast was an ordeal: everything was frozen hard and milk had to be served with a knife.
Martin Henry Sinnatt was born at Sleaford, Lincolnshire, on January 28 1928. He went to Hitchin Boys’ Grammar School before attending the War Office Selection Board in London on VE Day. That night, he cheered the Royal family and the prime minister Winston Churchill from Whitehall.
Sinnatt joined the Army in July 1945 and attended a university short course at Hertford College, Oxford, before doing his basic training at Catterick Camp with 59th Training Regiment Royal Armoured Corps (RAC).
In 1948, he was commissioned from RMA Sandhurst into the Royal Tank Regiment and joined 1 RTR at Detmold, where they were part of the British Army of the Rhine.
As a keen young officer in command of a troop consisting of two Comet tanks and two Centurions, he also focused on sport, and represented his regiment at swimming and water polo, athletics, rugby, football, squash, hockey and basketball. He also represented the BAOR at rugby and swimming.
The Korean Armistice was signed on July 27 1953, and after that Sinnatt was appointed aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-general Bruce Clarke, who commanded 1st (US) Corps. This was followed by a staff job at HQ Land Forces UK, where Sinnatt was involved in the mobilisation of reservists during the Suez crisis. He subsequently joined 1 RTR in Hong Kong as regimental adjutant.
Sinnatt was posted to Aden as GSO 2 (Plans) at HQ British Forces Arabian Peninsula shortly before it became an Raf-dominated HQ Middle East Command. In 1961, he was involved in planning and implementing the British response to Iraq’s threat to Kuwait and moved to Bahrain to establish the forward base for the British intervention.
He then joined 3 RTR at Detmold as a squadron leader with Centurion and Conqueror tanks and moved with the regiment to Catterick Camp as the RAC training regiment. In his spare time from teaching wireless and gunnery to former civilians, he contributed to amateur dramatic productions at the garrison’s theatre.
In 1964, a staff posting as Military Assistant (Personal Staff Officer) to the Commander-in-chief Allied Forces Northern Europe took him to Oslo. He made frequent visits to military bases across Europe, the most important of which was to take part in the annual exercises of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium.
In the north of Norway, Sinnatt acquired the only wound of his military service when, after a lengthy formal dinner, his sleigh, pulled by a racing reindeer, crashed. He was badly cut above the eye and had to rely on the beast’s local knowledge to get home.
After returning to 3 RTR, then at Fallingbostel, Lower Saxony, and equipped with Centurion tanks, he led the advance party to Tidworth, Wiltshire, where the regiment converted to armoured cars. From 1969 to 1971, he commanded 4 RTR at Hohne, West Germany.
The regiment was equipped with the new Chieftain tank but the multi-fuel engine was liable to break down, and on his first exercise Sinnatt lost a third of his tank strength soon after leaving barracks.
On a divisional training exercise, the regiment was tasked with carrying out a night-assault river crossing. Heavy rain threatened to turn the event into a shambles, but Sinnatt drove to the river bank and dealt firmly with the problem: as chastened officers scurried back to their commands, out of the darkness emerged delighted divisional and brigade commanders. Sinnatt enhanced his reputation for a robust approach to puffed-up individuals and overstated difficulties.
A stint on the directing staff of the National Defence College was followed by promotion to brigadier as Commander RAC at 1st British Corps, Bielefeld, West Germany. He was responsible for the effectiveness of RAC training and supervised the introduction of a series of reconnaissance vehicles.
In 1974, he moved to the MOD as the armoured lead in the Operational Directorate, where he managed the design and development of a wide range of armoured vehicles, helicopters and tank and infantry weapons.
Attendance at the Royal College of Defence Studies in London was followed by promotion to major general and a return to the MOD as Director of Combat Development. His role was to combine strategy, tactics and technology and look some 20 years ahead. Elements of his research are evolving on the battlefields of today.
Sinnatt’s final appointment was that of Chief of Staff, Live Oak, based at SHAPE HQ in Belgium. Established to continue to guarantee military access to Berlin under the 1945 four-power agreements, Live Oak was a crisismanagement organisation. In the absence of a crisis, he found time to reduce his golf handicap to 21.
Sinnatt was a strong, practical, versatile soldier, the best of company and blessed with a sharp intelligence. He was admired and respected by the soldiers he led and received great support throughout his career from his wife, Sue.
After leaving the Army in 1984, he was appointed CB. For nine years, until he retired in 1993, he was chief executive of the Kennel Club.
Martin Sinnatt married, in 1957, Susan (Sue) Clarke. She predeceased him and he is survived by their four daughters.