Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Leslie Percival Fernandez

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, MM, C de G, (22 March 1918 – 16 July 2009) was an English army officer in

Special Forces Special forces or special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...

during the Second World War who had risen from the ranks. He was notable for having trained

Violette Szabó Violette Reine Elizabeth Szabo, GC (née Bushell; 26 June 1921 – February 1945) was a British-French Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent during the Second World War and a posthumous recipient of the George Cross. On her second mission i ...

, made famous by the 1958 film ''

Carve Her Name with Pride ''Carve Her Name with Pride'' is a 1958 British war Drama (film and television), drama film based on the book of the same name by R. J. Minney. The film, directed by Lewis Gilbert, is based on the true story of Special Operations Executive agen ...

'' starring

Virginia McKenna Dame Virginia Anne McKenna (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author, animal rights activist, and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films '' A Town Like Alice'' (1956), ''Carve Her Name with Pride'' (1958), ' ...

, on which he was an advisor. Fernandez started the war with the

Royal Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communications an ...

but soon transferred to the

Army Physical Training Corps The Royal Army Physical Training Corps (RAPTC) is the British Army corps responsible for physical fitness and physical education and has been headquartered in Aldershot since its foundation in 1860. Its members are all Royal Army Physical Traini ...

, which brought him into contact with SOE agents. In early 1943, as a Colour Sergeant Major, he moved to Military Operations 1 based in Algiers to train for sabotage operations in southern France. In July 1944, Fernandez was dropped by US Air Force Liberator onto a plateau above

Barcelonette Barcelonnette (; , also ; obsolete ) is a commune of France and a subprefecture in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is located in the southern French Alps, at the crossroads between Prove ...

, near

Digne Digne-les-Bains (; Occitan: ''Dinha dei Banhs''), or simply and historically Digne (''Dinha'' in the classical norm or ''Digno'' in the Mistralian norm), is the prefecture of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte ...

on the French-Italian border. The area has a strategically important pass called the

Col de Larche The Maddalena Pass (Italian: ''Colle della Maddalena'' French: ''Col de Larche'', historically ''Col de l'Argentière'') (elevation 1996 m.) is a high mountain pass between the Cottian Alps and the Maritime Alps, located on the border between Ita ...

(Italian Maddalena Pass) between the

Cottian Alps The Cottian Alps (; ; ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between France (Hautes-Alpes and Savoie) and Italy (Piedmont). The Fréjus Road Tunnel and Fréjus Rail Tunnel between Modane and Susa, Ital ...

and the

Maritime Alps The Maritime Alps ( ; ) are a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps. They form the border between the regions of France, French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and the regions of Italy, Italian regions of Piedmont and Liguria ...

. Work to disrupt the possibility of a German counterattack against the US forces on the French side included blowing up the road in the Col de Larche, which remained blocked for two years. For this, Fernandez was awarded the Military Medal. In December 1944, Fernandez received an Emergency Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant with Special Forces and worked with the Italian partisans as a British Liaison Officer. He was also BLO with the

6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who m ...

in the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

before joining as Staff Officer PT to the 1st Allied Airborne Group HQ in London. In 1947 he was listed as an officer with the rank of lieutenant with the Regular Army Reserve of Officers with the

Devonshire Regiment The Devonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that served under various titles and served in many wars and conflicts from 1685 to 1958, such as the Second Boer War, the World War I, First World War and the World War II, ...

as part of the

Wessex Brigade The Wessex Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of the Wessex area of south and south west England. After the Second World War the British Army had f ...

. He received an extension on the reserve list as captain on 18 December 1950, which was renewed on 25 February 1954. He resigned his commission on 1 July 1959, retaining the honorary rank of captain. Meanwhile, Fernandez had joined the

British Foreign Service His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Civil Service, which deals ...

in intelligence, working mainly in Africa and the Middle East. He became

Her Majesty Her Majesty may refer to: * Majesty, a style used by monarchs and wives of kings * Her Majesty (song), "Her Majesty" (song), a 1969 song by the Beatles about Queen Elizabeth II * ''Her Majesty the Decemberists'', an album from The Decemberists * H ...

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

on 4 July 1969 and later

Algeciras Algeciras () is a city and a municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of G ...

when he was appointed OBE. On retirement from

diplomatic service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtain diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to o ...

he joined a shipping company. Fernandez was parachuted at Seyne les Alpes above

Barcelonnette Barcelonnette (; , also ; obsolete ) is a Communes of France, commune of France and a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Departments of France, department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is l ...

. His war surname was then Rodolphe. He was picked up by French partisans and met Charlotte Franquebalme. She was their link and would bring up through the mountains food and material to the resistance. Franquebalme and Fernandez had a civil wedding in July 1945 in Marseilles and left for England by boat. A priest happened to be on the same journey and proceeded to a religious wedding. Franquebalme had three children with him. They divorced in 1957 and although Franquebalme came back to France, Fernandez did see his children and made them travel throughout the world as he had entered the diplomatic service. In 1963, Fernandez married Elizabeth Covington who had two children from a previous union.

Honours and awards

Fernandez was awarded the Military Medal in 1944 and the Croix de Guerre in 1946, and was appointed OBE in 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Leslie 1918 births 2009 deaths Recipients of the Military Medal Officers of the Order of the British Empire British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Military personnel from Bristol Royal Corps of Signals soldiers Royal Army Physical Training Corps soldiers Devonshire Regiment officers British Special Operations Executive personnel British Army personnel of World War II