Major Clive de Paula - obituary - Telegraph He enlisted in the TA in 1939 and, in 1940, served as a Liaison Officer with the Free French Forces in London. He was then posted to 19 Military Mission as a cipher officer and attached to the French forces that took part in the Norwegian campaign. The following year he moved to Brazzaville, Congo, where General de Gaulle had an HQ, as a member of the Military Mission there. He was under the direction of Colonel Peter Fleming, who was in charge of "D" Division and head of military deception operations in South East Asia. In summer 1941 he was in Cairo. The reality was that the Eighth Army was in no shape to launch an attack on Rommel's forces before the autumn; de Paula was part of a team which had the job of persuading German Intelligence that an attack was imminent. In April 1942 he was in Nairobi, helping with reconnaissance for the amphibious attack on Vichy French-controlled Madagascar that took place the following month. This involved briefings and the dissemination of maps which indicated that the real objective was the Italian-occupied Dodecanese Islands in the Aegean. The garrisons of Kos and Leros were accordingly reinforced. De Paula took part in the assault on Diego Suarez, Madagascar, which achieved complete surprise. He went ashore with the commandos and, as the cipher officer, handled all the messages to and from de Gaulle. After the gruelling Burma campaign de Paula was sent back to London to recuperate. The war in Europe was over and he worked for the finance division of the Allied Control Commission in Germany. Part of his job was to requisition stocks of fine wine looted from France and held by merchants to supply Nazi leaders. After demobilisation in 1946 he joined Robson, Morrow, management consultants, and was made a partner in 1951. The following year he delivered the first paper to forecast the imminent impact of computers on accountancy. In 1967 he was seconded to the Department of Economic Affairs and then the Ministry of Technology, where he subsequently became senior industrial adviser. He was appointed CBE in 1970 and returned to Robson, Morrow as senior partner. In 1971 he became managing director of the Agricultural Mortgage Corporation and, in 1980, chairman of Tecalemit. He was chairman of the International Food and Wine Society from 1980 to 1983 and the author of several business and accounting publications. De Paula was a founder member of 21 SAS Regiment (Artists) Volunteers and served from 1947 to 1956. In retirement he enjoyed fly-fishing, travel and walking. Clive de Paula married first, in 1950, Pamela Quick. She predeceased him. He married secondly, in 1983, Wendy Hall, who survives him with a stepson from his first marriage. Major Clive de Paula, born November 17 1916, died October 27 2013