On 24 June 1942, Leie was officially appointed as "Gruppenkommandeur" (group commander) of I. "Gruppe" of JG 2. Leie thus succeeded "Hauptmann" Ignaz Prestele in this capacity who had been killed in action on 4 May 1942. He saw action in the air battle of the Dieppe Raid on 19 August and claimed a Spitfire shot down north of Dieppe. This was his last claim on the Western Front. He was the shot down and wounded, bailing out of his Focke Wulf Fw 190 A-2 ("Werknummer" 0326—factory number) southwest of Abbeville.