Popski's Private Army (Cassell Military Paperbacks)

Product Information

During WW2, Peniakoff sustained two injuries to his left hand: the first, during the desert campaign, resulted in the loss of a finger, while the second, towards the end of the war in Italy, necessitated amputation of the entire hand. [7] Willett, John, "Popski" MacGibbon and Kee 1954. Out of print but usually available at a price. This book is written as a companion to "Private Army" and does not treat Popski's military career in detail.

It's about 31 x 22 mm, straight up the center and across the base. The front looks to be a plain white but the rear looks more like a white/brass mix, hard to say. The other telling factor that determined the path of a battle was that there was just one tarmac road along the coast and this had to be used to supply the forward troops of either army with fuel, ammunition and other supplies. It was when this ‘line of communication’ got over extended that either army’s advance came to a grinding halt and went into reverse and this happened to both armies several times before the final advance of the Eighth Army from El Alamein to Tunis. Montgomery made sure that he would have the equipment and sufficient supplies to sustain the distance before he launched the final battle. Plaque 5]: POPSKI'S PRIVATE ARMY/ NO. 1 DEMOLITION SQUADRON/ 27TH LANCERS & PORTERFORCE/ IN MEMORY OF/ LIEUTENANT-COLONEL ANDREW HORSBRUGH-PORTER DSO AND BAR,/ THE MEN OF 27TH LANCERS/ AND THE 54 OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL DURING THE WAR/By a mix of bluff, persistence, and some lies, he got himself appointed a company commander in the Libyan Arab Force. With it he saw some action around Tobruk, and in May 1942 he was given command, as a major, of a detachment to be known as the Libyan Arab Force Commando. When the Second World War broke out, the 42-year-old Peniakoff applied to serve in the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Navy, but was rejected. He was accepted by the British Army, and assigned to garrison duties as an Arabic-speaking junior officer in the Libyan Arab Force (LAF). Not satisfied, Popski left his post and formed the Libyan Arab Force Commando (LAFC), a small group of British and Libyan soldiers who operated behind the lines in the Jebel Akhdar area of Cyrenaica. [3] On Sunday, March 30, 2008, Popski’s birthday, the PPA Memorial was unveiled by Sir Robert Crawford CBE, director-general of the British Imperial War Museum, assisted by Captain Campbell, and dedicated in the presence of nearly 250 PPA, LRDG, SAS, and Partisan veterans, relatives, and friends. It sits in the center of the Allied Special Forces Association’s Memorial Grove within the British National Memorial Arboretum (inspired by the USA’s Arlington Cemetery) in Staffordshire, in the very center of the United Kingdom.

Popski went off recruiting, looking for men who were, or would soon be with training, expert in navigation; as drivers, machine gunners, mechanics; and in demolitions. Time was short for training, for Popski had been warned that PPA would take part in the landing at Anzio, so the newcomers were kept at it day and night in the snow-covered mountains. But at the last minute PPA’s participation in the Anzio landing was cancelled. It was a bitter blow. Aborted Operation AstrolabeWith careful navigation by our search and rescue expert, comparing notes with our historian, we arrived later in the day at the area we believed to be Qaret Ali. Throughout our drive south from the oasis the mysterious berm dominated the western skyline. We set up a base camp a short distance from the feature and began to organise for our search. BBC News story about the 2007 discovery in the desert of a bag lost by an LRDG despatch rider (incorrectly thought to be a PPA despatch rider) during the war. It was a small unit of 22 Senussi Arabs, a British sergeant, and an Arab officer—an independent command—and it had no transport. For that and his supplies, he had to rely on the LRDG. For five months he operated behind the Axis lines in the Jebel Akhdar, the lushly forested and mountainous area between Benghazi and Derna in Libya, keeping a road watch and reporting Axis traffic along the coast, rescuing shot-down airmen, and ambushing when he could.

Two days later, Campbell’s patrol charged a battery of 88mm guns and captured it together with 300 troops. Two other patrols sailed across the Gulf of Venice and helped clear the Germans out of Iesolo. In 10 days, while killing and wounding many Germans, they had taken 1,335 prisoners and captured 16 field guns and many other weapons. It was a good haul, and it was PPA’s last battle. Events proceeded rapidly as the Germans and Italians were chased out of North Africa almost before PPA really got going. A joint LRDG-PPA patrol discovered the gap in the mountains that let Montgomery's armour outflank Rommel’s Mareth Line defences, and PPA was among the first elements of 8th Army, pushing West, to meet the British 1st Army and American 2nd Corps, pushing East, in Tunisia in early 1943. Many PPA raiding and reconnaissance operations were carried out around the time of the Kasserine Pass fighting, including taking the surrender of 600 Italians, alongside British and American forces.

Object Details

At the end of the war Popski’s Private Army sailed some of their jeeps on RCLs to Venice, where they drove around St. Mark's Square, the only wheeled vehicles ever to have been there. The unit was disbanded four months later on 14 September 1945, after hunting for Himmler, disarming Italian partisans and discouraging Josip Broz Tito’s partisans from encroaching on Austrian and Italian territory. PPA crossed the rivers Po and Adige and ran into a large force of Germans at Chioggia. Using bluff, as Popski would have done, Caneri laughed off the fact that he had only nine men in three jeeps, saying there were large forces behind him, and persuaded the German commander that to continue fighting was hopeless. The commander surrendered his 700 men. Throughout history, governments and military commanders have tried to keep their communications secret by the use of codes and ciphers.

In the 36 months of its existence, 20 of them spent on operations, PPA had been more of a brotherhood than a military unit, a brotherhood created and led by Popski. Though at its peak it numbered no more than about 120 men, its contribution to the war effort was impressive. EVENTS PROCEEDED RAPIDLY AS THE GERMANS AND ITALIANS WERE CHASED/ OUT OF NORTH AFRICA ALMOST BEFORE PPA REALLY GOT GOING. A JOINT LRDG-/PPA PATROL DISCOVERED THE GAP IN THE MOUNTAINS THAT LET MONTGOMERY'S/ ARMOUR OUTFLANK ROMMEL'S MARETH LINE DEFENCES, AND PPA WAS AMONG/ THE FIRST ELEMENTS OF 8TH ARMY, PUSHING WEST, TO MEET THE BRITISH 1ST/ ARMY AND AMERICAN 2ND CORPS, PUSHING EAST, IN TUNISIA IN EARLY 1943./ BBC News story about the discovery in the desert of a bag lost by an LRDG despatch rider (incorrectly thought to be PPA) during WWII. THE PPA MEMORIAL WAS FUNDED BY PPA VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES AND FRIEND, AND ERECTED IN 2008 BY FOPPA/ THIS PLAQUE WAS GIFTED IN 2010 BY MICHAEL BLAKE AND ROBERT CUMMINGS IN MMEORY OF TROOPER PAT BLAKE

The expedition had been organised by Popski’s Private Expeditions, an informal group who share a love of open-top desert travel and whose name obviously pays homage to one of the most unique special forces units of WWII, Popski’s Private Army. After years of Moroccan trips, we were looking for something new and in late 2018 it occurred to us that there might just be long-lost vehicles waiting to be discovered in Tunisia. Research started early in 2019 with the study of several WWII-era accounts from the PPA and LRDG as well as old War Office maps dated 1941. The PPA commanding officer, Major Vladamir Peniakoff, known to all as Popski, left detailed accounts of where the vehicles had been hidden. His 2iC, Captain Bob Yunnie, also described the location in his wartime account. Slowly, as the evidence began to accumulate, a plan was hatched to undertake an expedition in search of the lost patrol vehicles. His father took him to England, where Peniakoff resumed his studies at St John's College, Cambridge, reading mathematics. He initially had conscientious objections to participation in World War I, but by his fourth term at Cambridge his views had altered, and he went to France to volunteer as a gunner in the French artillery. He was injured during his service with the French Army and was invalided out after the Armistice in November 1918. [2] It is a tribute to the soundness of Popski's methods that, unlike many small units built around one man's vision, the PPA continued on efficiently after the loss of their charismatic leader. As before, Jean Caneri took command, and the PPA finished up its operations around Ravenna, then went into reserve for four months. The PPA had been continuously in action for more than six months. Caneri found a camp for them in the Apennines, engaged a crew of Alpine ski instructors, and taught the PPA to ski. He also made sure they didn't have any transport available. "You know what [the men] are like", he said to Yunnie later. Throughout the bitter winter weather and fighting of 1944 and 1945 PPA undertook their operations ahead of regular forces, in support of British, Canadian, Indian and Polish armoured, infantry and Commando units. They located targets for the Allied Air Force, chased Germans out of rear-areas, saved bridges, captured many prisoners and guns, and accepted the surrender of the entire German garrison at Chioggia. THE SUMMER OF 1943 WAS SPENT IN ALGERIA AND TUNISIA RECRUITING AND/ TRAINING NEW VOLUNTEERS FROM THE LRDG, SAS, COMMANDOS ND ROYAL/ ARMOURED CORPS FOR THE FIGHT IN ITALY, BRINGING THE UNIT'S SIZE UP TO ABOUT/ 35 ALL RANKS, WITH TWO FIGHTING PATROLS AND A SMALL HQ./