Leslie, Clement David Charles Kenneth

Date of birth:: 1899 (Lincoln/Lincolnshire, United Kingdom)
Date of death:: June 1993
Nationality:: British

Biography

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Military Cross (MC)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Temporary Major
Unit:: MO4, Middle East Branch, Military Intelligence Section 9 (MI9), Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), War Office, British Government
Awarded on:: November 16th, 1944

"Captain Leslie was captured near Rhodes on 15th March 1943 whilst employed on a special mission. With three other members of his party he tried to escape from a small prisoner of war camp in the mountains of Rhodes, but the effort failed when Captain 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 time of the Italian Armistice he was imprisoned at Camp 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 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 he 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 prisoner of war to safety and finally led Allied patrols to Pescasseroli. During his stay in Pescasseroli, Captain Leslie ran an underground News Service for Italians, in this way he did good work by frustrating German propaganda."