Vladimir Peniakoff was granted a commission in the Libyan Arab Force -a
company which he transformed into a commando-unit, with the idea of
operating behind the enemy lines. But it was as a lone operator that
Vladimir became known.- being taken to and from behind enemy lines by that
famous unit, the Long Range Desert Group. Towards the end of the desert
campaign Vladimir was asked to form a raiding unit of his own -the outcome
being the "No 1 Long Range Demolition Squadron". During their travels with
the L.R.D.G., the New Zealanders found his real name Peniakoff too much of
a tongue-twister, so he was dubbed "POPSKI" by those brave and resourceful
soldiers. When Vladimir hesitated in choosing a name for his new unit,
General Sir John Hackett, who was then in charge of Special Operations in
the Middle East, dubbed his unit into "Popski's Private Army". The
formation of the unit, however, didn't take effect until just before the
battle of El Alamein, and P.P.A. was therefore too late to take part in the
battles for Egypt and Libya, but it made contributions to the fighting in
Tunisia and Algeria. After the desert and North Africa campaign, P.P.A.
operated extensively in Italy and Austria up to the last day of the war.
MORE...
http://user.online.be/ppa_preservation_society/blad6.htm
AND
Yunnie's account is an honest, extremely personal, expose of the thrills
and occasional pitfalls of life with Popski and his men. He captures the
tumultuous nature of fighting in a nomadic unit that drifted between
British and American command, but whose contribution to the Allied war
effort in North Africa and Italy remains immeasurable. This is, above all,
a book in praise of adventure and freedom, and the true story of 'a small
group of men who enjoyed World War II'. FROM
http://www.greenhillbooks.com/booksheets/fighting_with_popski.htm
AND
http://www.regiments.org/milhist/uk/specfor/popski.htm
AND
Welcome to Popski's page.
http://www.magma.ca/~ihesketh/popski.html
Astrolabes, Jeeps and stout hearts
"Popski" was Major Vladimir Peniakoff, DSO.
He was born in Huy, Belgium to Russian emigre parents on March 30, 1897,
was educated in Britain, and worked and lived in Egypt between the wars.
Becoming bored with the drinking and adulteries of the colonial elite, he
took up the hobby of exploring the desert, and learned to deal with desert
Arabs and to navigate in the Sahara in an old Ford sedan somewhat crudely
but descriptively named the "Pisspot".
When World War II broke out, he joined the British 8th Army, and was
assigned to the Libyan Arab Force, a body of Arab refugees from the Italian
colonial regime, in British service. This force was never effectively used,
and Peniakoff was sent instead as a spymaster and saboteur into Libya,
where he led the Libyan Arabs, who hated the Italians, in spying, sabotage,
and the rescue of Allied prisoners and aircrew.
He got the nickname "Popski" because the ANZAC radiomen at 8th Army
Headquarters couldn't remember how to spell Peniakoff. So they dubbed him
Popski, after a hairy little Bolshevik character in a popular British comic
strip of the period.
<snip>
After the war, Peniakoff wrote his memoirs under the title Private Army,
which has been reprinted in paperback in recent years as Popski's Private
Army and offered by the Military Book Club. (The US edition omits the
introductory chapters about Peniakoff's pre-war desert experience.)
The book is a forthright telling of a special kind of men in war. First,
Peniakoff is an excellent writer, with a fine grasp of language. Second,
his writing is completely and sometimes brutally honest in his
recollections: even his most embarrassing failures are included. Third, the
experiences of Popski and the men who followed him were as varied and
interesting as that of any other warrior or adventurer in history.
Till Bellski and his men.
