LESLIE, Clement David Charles Kenneth

Also CLOVER, LASCARIS, MAINWARING, PALMER and THICKETT

It’s extraordinary how often I seem to be nudged by my friends at WW2Talk to look into a subject that is related to PG 49 at Fontanellato. None more so than when I recently stumbled upon a Thread entitled “Award Military Cross, C.D.C.K. Leslie, 2nd Highland Light Infantry attached MO4, camp 49 Italy“

“Capt. LESLIE was captured near RHODES 15th March 1943 whilst employed on a special mission with three other members of his party he tried to escape from a small P/W camp in the mountains of RHODES, but the effort failed when Capt. LESLIE, the first through the wire, was seen by a sentry. Before his transfer to ITALY he also participated in an unsuccessful tunnel scheme.
At the of the Italian Armistice he was imprisoned at Camo 49 (FONTANELLATO) and on 9th September 1943 he left with three other officers. Two days later he continued with a different companion to SAN SEBASTIANO. Towards the end of November 1943 he made an attempt to cross the lines and although he was arrested by a German officer who seemed about to shoot him, he escaped by killing his captor. He prolonged his effort for a further three days, during which was shelled by English guns, before he returned to PESCASSEROLI. He made three more attempts to reach Allied forces before he eventually met a patrol of the Essex Regiment in SAN DONATO on 3rd June 1944. He then returned to guide another P/W to safety and finally led Allied patrols to PESCASSEROLI.
During his stay in PESCASSEROLI, Capt. LESLIE ran an underground News Service for Italians; in this way he did good work by frustrating German propaganda.“

And when I jump onto my go to pages of WO 392/21 what do I find? Yes, ‘Lo and Behold’ – there’s no Camp No. associated with Leslie, C.D.C.K.! So I guess I can now add him to my ever-growing list of people present in PG 49 at the time of the Italian Armistice, which is corroborated by the Nominal Rolls published by Ian English in Appendix 8 of his book “Home by Christmas?”

The great thing about this wonderful find of WO 373/96/471 is that it not only provides proof that LESLIE was in PG 49 at the time of the Italian Armistice, but it also confirms the names of 5 others: –

Award Military Cross Clement David Charles Kenneth Leslie, Highland Light Infantry attached MO4 (48353)
ESCAPES FROM CAMP 49 (FONTANELLATO). ITALY
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AWARDS|
​(1) After the Armistice with Italy, the Italian Commandant of this camp handed over to the Senior British Officer, who organised P/W into companies and ordered them to be ready to march out at five minutes’ notice on the sounding of the alarm by the camp bugler. The alarm was sounded at 1300 hours on 9th September 1943 and everything went according to plan.

(2) I recommend the following officers for the awards shown, brief particulars being given in the enclosures stated opposite their names: –

• Recommended for M.C. (Military Cross)
  • Temporary Captain Clement David Charles Kenneth LESLIE (48535), H.L.I., attd. M.O.4.
• Recommended for “Mentions”.
  • Lieut, Robert Gordon CLOVER (91879), 149 A/Tk. Regt. R.A.
  • Lieut. A. George LASCARIS (202650), I.C., G.S.1(L) attd. R.M.
  • Lt-Col. Hugh Salusbury Kynaston MAINWARING, D.S.O. (30735), R.A., H.Q. 8th Army
  • Lieut. Anthony Robert Morton PALMER (134493), 2 R.T.R.
  • Lieut. James Anderson THICKETT (174827), 72 Fd. Regt. R.A., 150 Inf. Bde.

And further searches for C.D.C.K. Leslie on WW2Talk come up with some fabulous photos which you have to see! And Post #2 includes a full history and a fascinating story by Jennifer Upton (18th December 2017)

linkedin.com

“Having then attended the parachute course at Ringway, he was embarked for the Middle East, where, in late 1942, he applied for a posting to Special Operations Executive (S.O.E.), a successful application in light of his pre-war experience as a yachtsman in Mediterranean waters, in addition to all of his Commando irregular warfare courses. Duly employed by M.O. 4’s Marine Section (a.k.a. Para Naval Force) – a forerunner of S.O.E’s Force 133 – and onetime working alongside the New Zealander Major Donald Stott, a well-known ‘Greek hand’, he was ultimately captured on a special mission near Rhodes in March 1943 and, as cited above, awarded the M.C. for his subsequent escape in Italy. Accompanying research also confirms that Leslie had close contact with the likes of Commander Francis “Skipper” Pool, a former Section D member who had opened up sea routes to occupied Crete and elsewhere, and Major Hon. C “Monty” Woodhouse, another distinguished S.O.E. operative.”