Alexander Wallace Fielding (26 November 1918 – 19 August 1991) was a British author, translator, journalist and traveller, who served as a

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its p ...

(SOE) agent in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and the East Asia during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in occupied Europe and Asia against the Axis powers, especially

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Biography

Early life

Fielding was born at Ootacamund,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, where his father, Alexander James Lumsden Wallace, served in the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

, as a

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

in the

52nd Sikhs (Frontier Force) The 52nd Sikhs (Frontier Force) was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was raised in 1846 as the 2nd Regiment of Infantry The Frontier Brigade. It was designated as the 52nd Sikhs (Frontier Force) in 1903 and became 2nd Battalion ...

. Fielding's mother Mary Gertrude (née Feilmann) died soon after his birth, on 13 December 1918, and he was largely brought up in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

, France, by his maternal grandparents who adopted the name Fielding. He was educated at

Charterhouse School (God having given, I gave) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , president ...

, and then studied briefly at the Universities of Bonn, Munich and Freiburg in Germany. In the late 1930s Fielding moved to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, where he worked as a sub-editor on ''

The Cyprus Times ''The Cyprus Times,'' also known at ''The Times of Cyprus'' was an English-language newspaper published in Larnaca, in Cyprus from 1880, following the island becoming a British protectorate in 1878. It was founded by Edward Henry Vizetelly, who ...

'' and ran a bar.

Crete

Following the fall of France, Fielding joined the Army, and was commissioned into the

Cyprus Regiment The Cyprus Regiment was a military unit of the British Army. Created by the British Government during World War II, it was made up of volunteers from the Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot, Armenian, Maronite and Latin inhabitants of Cyprus, but ...

as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

on 1 September 1940. After the fall of Crete in May 1941, he joined the

, and was eventually landed in Crete with a supply of weapons and explosives by the submarine , under Commander Anthony Miers. Fielding teamed up with

Patrick Leigh Fermor Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's great ...

, and built an intelligence gathering network which provided detailed information on the movement of Axis troops, shipping, and air transport. He arranged for the transportation to Egypt of hundreds of Allied soldiers left behind after the evacuation, and now being hidden by the Cretans. After six months Fielding returned to Cairo, and was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

on 15 October 1942. Fielding finally returned to Crete with Arthur Reade in November 1942. In November 1943 he successfully concluded a pact between the two rival groups of andartes, the communist-led

EAM-ELAS The Greek People's Liberation Army ( el, Ελληνικός Λαϊκός Απελευθερωτικός Στρατός (ΕΛΑΣ), ''Ellinikós Laïkós Apeleftherotikós Stratós'' (ELAS) was the military arm of the left-wing National Liberat ...

and the EOK, the national organisation of Crete. He was then relieved by Dennis Ciclitira. In Cairo, he became a member of the Tara household created by Bill Stanley Moss.

France

In early 1944 Fielding volunteered to join the French section of SOE, and was parachuted into the south of France in mid-1944, where he was met by two other SOE agents:

Francis Cammaerts Francis Charles Albert Cammaerts, DSO (16 June 1916 – 3 July 2006), code named Roger, was an agent of the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, ...

(codename "Roger") and

Christine Granville Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, (, ; 1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploi ...

(codename "Pauline") of the "

Jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual ...

" network. On 13 August 1944, Fielding, Cammaerts and French agent Christian Sorensen were stopped at a roadblock 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 ...

. An irregularity in Fielding's papers, plus the large amount of cash he and Cammaerts were carrying, aroused suspicion and they were arrested. Granville soon arrived at Digne prison posing as Cammaerts' wife and, using a mixture of bribery and threats, persuaded the Germans to release them. As a result, the men were led out of prison expecting to be shot, and were astonished to be met by Granville, waiting for them with a car.

Post-war

Before the war in Europe ended Fielding briefly returned to Crete; he was one of the first Allied officers to enter liberated Athens. He served in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...

for a few months until the end of the war, and visited

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. He then spent six months in Germany serving with the

Special Intelligence Service The Special Intelligence Service was a covert counterintelligence branch of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) located in South America during World War II. It was established to monitor the activities of Nazi and pro-Nazi ...

, before serving as a United Nations observer in the Balkans in 1946. In 1948 he met Daphne Thynne, the wife of Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath. After her divorce, they were married in 1953 and lived in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

and Uzès. In 1956 Fielding was hired by Michael Powell to act as technical adviser for the filming of Bill Stanley Moss's book ''

Ill Met by Moonlight ''Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe'' is a non-fiction partly-autobiographical book written by W. Stanley Moss, a British soldier, writer and traveller. It describes an operation in Crete during the Second World War to cap ...

'' – the story of Leigh Fermor's and Moss's abduction of General Kreipe, the German commander in Crete. He wrote a number of books; including ''The Stronghold'', an account of SOE's Cretan operations, and a memoir of his own wartime experiences ''Hide and Seek'' (which he dedicated to Christine Granville). In 2014 Folio republished ''Hide and Seek'' with an introduction by Granville's biographer

Clare Mulley Clare Margaret Mulley (born 1969) is an English award-winning author and broadcaster. Her first book, ''The Woman Who Saved the Children: A Biography of Eglantyne Jebb'' (Oneworld, 2009) republished in 2019 to mark the centenary of Save the Chi ...

. He provided the English translations for many of the works of the French novelist Pierre Boulle, including his best-known books ''Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï'' ('' The Bridge over the River Kwai'') and ''La Planète des singes'' (''

Planet of the Apes ''Planet of the Apes'' is an American science fiction media franchise consisting of films, books, television series, comics, and other media about a world in which humans and intelligent apes clash for control. The franchise is based on Frenc ...

''). He translated several books by

Jean Lartéguy Jean Lartéguy (5 September 1920 in Maisons-Alfort – 23 February 2011) was the pen name of Jean Pierre Lucien Osty, a French writer, journalist, and former soldier. Larteguy is credited with first envisioning the " ticking time bomb" scen ...

, as well as works by

Gabriel Chevallier Gabriel Chevallier (3 May 1895 – 6 April 1969) was a French novelist widely known as the author of the satire ''Clochemerle''. Biography Born in Lyon in 1895, Gabriel Chevallier was educated in various schools before entering Lyon École des B ...

, Pierre Schoendoerffer and Jean Hougron. Fielding also collaborated with Patrick Leigh Fermor in a translation from Greek of

George Psychoundakis George Psychoundakis BEM ( el, Γεώργιος Ψυχουντάκης, 3 November 1920 – 29 January 2006) was a member of the Greek Resistance on Crete during the Second World War and after the war an author. Following the German invasion, ...

' book ''

The Cretan Runner George Psychoundakis British Empire Medal, BEM ( el, Γεώργιος Ψυχουντάκης, 3 November 1920 – 29 January 2006) was a member of the Greek Resistance on Crete during the Second World War and after the war an author. Following Ba ...

''. Fielding was related to the actress Vivian Leigh/Hartley through his mother Patricia Mary Jackjee - Gertrude Mary Jackjee married Ernest Hartley - Vivian's mother. His marriage to Lady Daphne was dissolved in 1978. He remarried, to Agnes, daughter of Admiral John H. Magruder of the U.S. Navy and the widow of the artist

Arshile Gorky Arshile Gorky (; born Vostanik Manoug Adoian, hy, Ոստանիկ Մանուկ Ատոյեան; April 15, 1904 – July 21, 1948) was an Armenian-American painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism. He spent the last years of hi ...

Death

Xan Fielding died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

on 19 August 1991, aged 72.Devonshire, Deborah and Fermor, Patick Leigh, "In Tearing Haste," at 275, footnote 1 (2009: John Murray)(). Both writers were dear friends of his.

Publications

* ''The Stronghold: An account of the four seasons in the White Mountains of Crete'' (1953) * ''Hide and Seek: The Story of a War-time Agent'' (1954) * ''Corsair Country: The diary of a journey along the Barbary Coast'' (1958) * ''The Money Spinner: Monte Carlo and Its Fabled Casino'' (1977) * ''One Man in His Time, The Life of Lieutenant-Colonel N.L.D. ("Billy") McLean DSO'' (1990) * ''Images of Spain'' (1991) * ''Aeolus Displayed'' (1992) * ''A Hideous Disguise'' (1994)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fielding, Xan 1918 births 1991 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School British Special Operations Executive personnel British Army General List officers British Army personnel of World War II Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Crete in World War II British expatriates in Cyprus 20th-century British translators 20th-century British male writers Male non-fiction writers British people in colonial India