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[[File:Desmond Young book.jpg|thumb|right|Young at an undetermined date]]
Brigadier '''Desmond Young''' [[OBE]], [[Military Cross|MC]] (27 December 1891/2{{snd}}27 June 1966) was a New ZealandAustralian-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 NewPort ZealandAdelaide, inSouth 1891Australia orin 18921891. 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
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