Philippe Leclerc: The French Desert Fox

This is a great read article - far more of a background story than I had seen before on Leclerc. They just do not make guys like this any more.....

"On the night of August 26, Leclerc led a force of 17 men, five officers, and a priest across the swampy border to the town of Douala in Cameroon. Each was armed only with a pistol. To give himself more authority, Leclerc promoted himself to colonel.

Rallying the colonists, Leclerc captured the town without bloodshed and within a week all of Cameroon was in Free French hands. That same week all of French Equatorial Africa, except Gabon, declared for Free France. Leclerc would lead an expedition to capture Gabon in mid-November. In London, de Gaulle gladly confirmed Leclerc’s promotion to colonel."