276°
Posted 20 hours ago

Popski's Private Army (Cassell Military Paperbacks)

£9.9£99Clearance
ZTS2023's avatar
Shared by
ZTS2023
Joined in 2023
82
63

About this deal

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. Unlike other European powers, Britain entered the twentieth century without a secret police force. However, in 1883 the London Metropolitan Police had formed a Special Branch to combat Irish nationalist terrorism.

Popski was by now in command of both the partisans and PPA. He appointed Giuseppi Ferri, the university professor, to be civilian governor of Camerino and his brother, the major, commander of partisans, and stayed in Camerino for several days helping to set up a civilian administration until the arrival of the official Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory (AMGOT). He then led PPA north across the Potenza looking for more action. The commandos immediately went ashore and took up positions to cover PPA’s landing. Popski went in with them and met Yunnie on the beach. Yunnie reported that, because his message confirming the landing point reconnaissance inland had shown heavy German traffic everywhere, the German Army was now in retreat. He said he did not think PPA had any chance of survival in the crowded enemy situation.Popski's Private Army, officially No. 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA, was a unit of British Special Forces set up in Cairo in October 1942 by Major Vladimir Peniakoff. Popski's Private Army was one of several raiding units formed in the Western Desert during the Second World War.

South Vietnamese Special Forces ( LLDB), later reformed as South Vietnamese Special Mission Service 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.Friends of PPA online part of the PPA Memorial, Official Register of PPA Personnel, PPA Roll of Honour, PPA Awards, PPA War Establishments and other information. For the invasion of Italy, PPA was attached to the British 1st Airborne Division, and Popski had his men trained to take their jeeps and equipment in by gliders. But then the 1st Airborne Division was sent in by sea to the port of Taranto on the heel of the boot of Italy, and Popski and a patrol of five jeeps landed with the advance elements of the division on September 9, 1943. That meeting led to a friendship that lasted for the rest of Vic’s life, he died last Monday aged 101, three days short of his 102nd birthday. Together, we co-wrote his three-volume memoir: Rifleman: A Front-Line Life, King’s Cross Kid and Soldier, Spy plus an eBook, Dresden: A Survivor’s Story. The destroyed historical centre of Dresden, after the allied forces bombing of 13/14 February 1945. Photograph: HANDOUT/AFP via Getty Images Italy had signed an armistice with the Allies two days before the landing, and although the landing was unopposed the military and political situation ashore was very confused. The Germans, considering the Italians traitors, were occupying more Italian territory, and information on German strength and activity in the Taranto area was urgently needed. While the 1st Airborne set up a defense perimeter around the port, Popski took his jeeps off to find answers and locate possible landing grounds for the Royal Air Force between Taranto and Brindisi.

As soon as he was able to get replacement jeeps, Popski made his way to the mountain village of Sarnano, 40 miles southwest of Fermo, where Yunnie and his four men met him. They set off in 10 jeeps to the River Chienti, hoping to cross it and get behind the German lines. Although secret at the time, the story of the courage and skill of agents like Violette Szabo, Adolphe Rabinovitch, Odette Sansom, George Starr and Noor Inayat Khan have become better known in recent years. 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 Astrolabe Peniakoff died on 15 May 1951 of a brain tumour at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London. His body was buried in the graveyard of St. Leonard's Church, Wixoe, Suffolk. Popski's Private Army (A legendary Commander's Incredible True Story Of World War II Commando Combat)

Want to read more?

He never got over Dresden and the trauma destroyed his first marriage. Happily, his second marriage to Bett was long and happy. Vic came to hate war and knew it was sometimes necessary but was never the solution.

In 1924 Peniakoff emigrated to Egypt, where he worked as an engineer with a sugar manufacturer. During this period of his life he learned to sail, fly and navigate vehicles through the desert, and also become a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Peniakoff was a polyglot who spoke English, Russian, Italian, German, French and Arabic well. 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. Vladimir Peniakoff ‘Popski’ founded and led a specialist raiding unit known as Popski’s Private Army (PPA) officially titled No.1 Demolition Squadron. Other units - such as the famous Special Air Service (SAS) - are still active and although their work is still a closely guarded secret, they have been involved in high profile missions that captured world attention. In the middle of September 1944, the Allies broke through the German Gothic Line stretching across Italy from Pesaro on the Adriatic to La Spezia on the Tyrrhenian Sea, but the German divisions commanded by Field Marshal Albert Kesselring retreated very slowly, fighting stubbornly for every river and canal crossing and defensive feature.

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.

Asda Great Deal

Free UK shipping. 15 day free returns.
Community Updates
*So you can easily identify outgoing links on our site, we've marked them with an "*" symbol. Links on our site are monetised, but this never affects which deals get posted. Find more info in our FAQs and About Us page.
New Comment