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{{Short description|Army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}

[[File:Desmond Young book.jpg|thumb|right|Young at an undetermined date]]

Brigadier '''Desmond Young''' [[OBE]], [[Military Cross|MC]] (27 December 1891{{snd}}27 June 1966) was an Australian-born British Army officer, newspaper publisher and writer. He travelled widely in his youth, accompanying his father in his work as a maritime salvage expert. He attended the [[University of Oxford]] but was asked to leave after he failed to attend a single lecture. Young found work in Malaya as a rubber planter and operated a nightclub in London. Shortly after the outbreak of the [[First World War]] he joined the British Army, serving as an officer in the [[King's Royal Rifle Corps]]. He was wounded in action and won a [[Military Cross]] in June 1918. After the War Young worked as a newspaper reporter, editor and publisher in the South African ''[[Cape Times]]'' and the Indian ''[[The Pioneer (India)|Allahabad Pioneer]]''.

Young joined the [[British Indian Army]] in 1941, during the [[Second World War]]. He was appointed to command the [[10th Indian Infantry Brigade]] in the [[North African campaign]]. Young was captured during the 1942 [[Battle of Gazala]] and briefly met the German commander Field Marshal [[Erwin Rommel]]. Imprisoned in Italy he escaped and ended the war as editor of a pro-Allied newspaper in Switzerland. Young published ''[[Rommel: The Desert Fox]]'', a biography of the German general, in 1950 and it was adapted into the 1951 film ''[[The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel]]''. The work has been criticised for its overly positive portrayal of Rommel's actions. In 1960 Young published ''Fountain of the Elephants'', a biography of the French adventurer [[Benoît de Boigne]]. He also wrote two autobiographies.

== Early life ==

Desmond Young was born in Port Adelaide, South Australia in 1891. His father, Frederick William Young was a [[marine salvage]] expert and in his youth Young accompanied him on trips around the world.<ref name="gazette">{{cite news|date=28 June 1966|title=Desmond Young, page 37|language=en|work=The Gazette (Montreal)|agency=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/421253720/|access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> Young matriculated at the [[University of Oxford]] but attended no lectures and was asked to leave.<ref name="nyt">{{cite news|date=28 June 1966|title=Desmond Young, Adventurer, Dies|language=en|work=New York Times (page 45)|agency=ProQuest|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/117205351/C1069A3BBAE3484EPQ}}</ref> He afterwards travelled to Malaya to work as a rubber planter. At one point he ran the Quadrant nightclub in London but claimed the police forced him to leave the business.<ref name=nyt/>

On 12 September 1914, shortly after the start of the [[First World War]], Young joined the British Army in the [[temporary rank]] of [[second lieutenant]].<ref>{{London Gazette
| issue = 28902
| date = 15 September 1914
| page = 7301
}}</ref> On 1 October he was promoted to lieutenant in the 9th battalion of the [[King's Royal Rifle Corps]] and on 13 February 1915 to captain.<ref>{{London Gazette
| issue = 29065
| date = 9 February 1915
| page = 1420
| supp = y
}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette
| issue = 29112
| date = 23 March 1915
| page = 2960
| supp = y
}}</ref> Young was wounded while serving in the trenches of the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] and, while recovering, missed serving in the [[Third Battle of Ypres]].<ref name=nyt/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Liddle|first1=Peter H.|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Passchendaele_in_Perspective/DQiSAwAAQBAJ|title=Passchendaele in Perspective: The Third Battle of Ypres|date=30 January 2017|publisher=Pen and Sword|isbn=978-1-4738-1708-1|page=185|language=en}}</ref> He passed his time in convalescence writing war poetry.<ref name=nyt/> Having returned to the front, on 26 July 1918, at which point he was on the general list of officers, he was awarded the [[Military Cross]] for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty". During an enemy attack he gathered disorganised troops to form a defence around a brigade's headquarters, halting the attack. He afterwards helped distribute ammunition under heavy machine gun fire.<ref>{{London Gazette
| issue = 30813
| date = 23 July 1918
| page = 8860
| supp = y
}}</ref>

After the war Young travelled to South Africa where he found work as a reporter at the ''[[Cape Times]]''. He was later appointed its editor and then its publisher. Young then travelled to India to manage the ''[[The Pioneer (India)|Allahabad Pioneer]]''.<ref name=nyt/>

== Second World War ==

During the Second World War Young received an emergency commission as a second lieutenant in the [[British Indian Army]] on 12 April 1941.<ref>{{London Gazette
| issue = 35203
| date = 27 June 1941
| page = 3698
}}</ref> He rose quickly in rank and held command of the [[10th Indian Infantry Brigade]] during Operation Aberdeen, a 5 June 1942 attack ordered by Lieutenant-General [[Neil Ritchie]] during the [[Battle of Gazala]].<ref name="Stewart">{{cite book|last1=Stewart|first1=Adrian|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Early_Battles_of_the_Eighth_Army/LblOwIWbKz4C|title=Early Battles of the Eighth Army: Crusader to the Alamein Line 1941–42|date=2010|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-3536-0|page=76|language=en}}</ref> The 10th captured all of their objectives at a thinly-held portion of the German line at Aslagh Ridge but subsequent British attacks on the main defensive line failed. A counter-attack by the German [[21st Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|21st Panzer Division]] penetrated the British defences in an area of ground known as The Cauldron and disordered part of Young's brigade.<ref name=Stewart/> A separate attack by the [[15th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)|15th Panzer Division]] struck a gap in the British minefields south-west of Bir el Harmat and destroyed the headquarters of Young's brigade and that of the [[9th Indian Infantry Brigade]]. The 15th Panzer then trapped the remnants of Young's brigade, alongside other units in The Cauldron, and caused them to surrender.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stewart|first1=Adrian|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Early_Battles_of_the_Eighth_Army/LblOwIWbKz4C|title=Early Battles of the Eighth Army: Crusader to the Alamein Line 1941–42|date=2010|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-3536-0|page=77|language=en}}</ref> Young was one of 3,100 men captured on 6 June.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mitcham|first1=Samuel W.|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rommel_s_Desert_War/lQcv5DesWpIC|title=Rommel's Desert War: The Life and Death of the Afrika Korps|date=2007|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-3413-4|page=71|language=en}}</ref>

After his capture a German officer tried to compel Young to order the surrender of a British artillery position. He refused and the incident was interrupted by the arrival of the German commander Field Marshal [[Erwin Rommel]]. Rommel ordered the German officer to cease his actions, advising that Young was not required to issue such an order.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Khanna|first1=K. K.|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Art_of_Generalship/uAmqCQAAQBAJ|title=Art of Generalship|date=7 May 2015|publisher=United Service Institution|isbn=978-93-82652-93-9|page=18|language=en}}</ref> Young was transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp in Italy, where he led the camp's escape committee. He escaped successfully to Switzerland where, by the war's end, he was editor of a pro-Allied newspaper.<ref name="nyt" />

== Later life ==

After the war, Young was appointed director of public relations at the Army's general headquarters in India. He was appointed an [[officer of the Order of the British Empire]] on 12 June 1947 for his work in this role.<ref>{{London Gazette
| issue = 37977
| date = 6 June 1947
| page = 2581
| supp = y
}}</ref> Despite only meeting Rommel once Young was inspired to write a biography of the man.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stewart|first1=Adrian|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Early_Battles_of_the_Eighth_Army/LblOwIWbKz4C|title=Early Battles of the Eighth Army: Crusader to the Alamein Line 1941–42|date=2010|publisher=Stackpole Books|isbn=978-0-8117-3536-0|page=80|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Tablet/oJZvDnCFAJ8C|title=The Tablet|date=1950|publisher=Tablet Publishing Company|page=90|language=en}}</ref> ''[[Rommel: The Desert Fox]]'' was published in New York in 1950; it received some criticism for Young's positive description of the man, with Young's ''[[New York Daily News|Daily News]]'' obituary stating Young had portrayed Rommel a "blue-eyed god who could do no wrong".<ref>{{cite news|date=28 June 1966|title=Desmond Young Dies; Author of 'Rommel', page 476|language=en|work=Daily News (New York)|agency=Newspapers.com|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/463280975|access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref><ref name="history">{{cite book|last1=Niemi|first1=Robert|url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/History_in_the_Media/WVFhcBcv_X8C|title=History in the Media: Film and Television|date=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-952-2|page=86|language=en}}</ref> Young's book was adapted by [[Nunnally Johnson]] into the 1951 film ''[[The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel]]'', with [[James Mason]] in the title role.<ref name="history" />

Young also wrote ''Fountain of the Elephants'', a 1960 biography of the French adventurer in India [[Benoît de Boigne]].<ref>{{cite news|date=31 January 1960|title=Covered With Glory|language=en|work=New York Times|agency=www.proquest.com|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/115210126/C1069A3BBAE3484EPQ}}</ref> He produced two memoirs, ''Try Anything Twice'' and the 1961 work ''All the Best Years''.<ref name="gazette" /><ref>{{cite news|date=5 November 1961|title=Everywhere With Gusto|language=en|work=New York Times|agency=ProQuest|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/115298693/C1069A3BBAE3484EPQ}}</ref> Young moved to [[Sark]], an island in the English Channel governed by a feudal system, around 1962. He was married with two children and died at his home on Sark on 27 June 1966.<ref name=gazette/>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{FadedPage|id=Young, Desmond|name=Desmond Young|author=yes}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Desmond}}
[[Category:1890s births]]
[[Category:1966 deaths]]
[[Category:King's Royal Rifle Corps officers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:British biographers]]
[[Category:British autobiographers]]
[[Category:British World War II prisoners of war]]
[[Category:New Zealand Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Sark]]
[[Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany]]

Desmond Young (British Army officer) - Revision history

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