Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Vladimir "Popski" Peniakoff (Russian: Владимир Дмитриевич Пеняков ''Vladimir Dmitriyevich Penyakov'', 30 March 1897 – 15 May 1951) was the founder and commanding officer of No. 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA, colloquially known as "

Popski's Private Army 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 Dese ...

", during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Early life

Vladimir Peniakoff was born on 30 March 1897 in

Huy Huy ( or ; nl, Hoei, ; wa, Hu) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. Huy lies along the river Meuse, at the mouth of the small river Hoyoux. It is in the ''sillon industriel'', the former industrial ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, to affluent Jewish Russian emigre parents where his father, Dmitri, owned and operated an aluminium factory. Peniakoff began an engineering degree at

Free University of Brussels University of Brussels may refer to several institutions in Brussels, Belgium: Current institutions * Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), a French-speaking university established as a separate entity in 1970 *Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), a D ...

at the age of 15 before his studies were interrupted by the German invasion of Belgium in August 1914. 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 the conflict, 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 An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

in November 1918. In 1924 Peniakoff emigrated to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

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 Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

who spoke English, Russian, Italian, German, French and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

well.

World War II

Peniakoff was commissioned as a second lieutenant on the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

General List The General Service Corps (GSC) is a corps of the British Army. Role The role of the corps is to provide specialists, who are usually on the Special List or General List. These lists were used in both World Wars for specialists and those not allo ...

on 4 October 1940, serving in the

Libyan Arab Force The Libyan Arab Force, also known as the known as the Sanusi Army, consisting of five infantry battalions made up of volunteers, was established to aid the British war effort. With the exception of one military engagement near to Benghazi, this fo ...

. He commanded the unit known as "Popski's Private Army" in the Middle East and Italy. He was eventually promoted to lieutenant colonel. He was given the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

'' Popski'', from a ''

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'' cartoon character, by Captain

Bill Kennedy Shaw William Boyd Kennedy Shaw OBE (26 October 1901 – 23 April 1979) was a British desert explorer, botanist, archaeologist and soldier. During the Second World War he served with the British Army's Long Range Desert Group, and the Special Air S ...

(the LRDG's Intelligence Officer) because his signallers had problems with the name "Peniakoff". During the conflict he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

on 26 November 1942, and on 26 April 1945 he was appointed a Companion of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

(DSO). 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. Post-war, in 1947, he was made a Belgian Officier de l'Ordre de la Couronne avec Palme and awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 avec Palme. Peniakoff became the British-Russian liaison officer in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

before demobilisation, naturalisation and achieving fame as a British writer and broadcaster. In 1950 he wrote the book ''Private Army'' about his experiences; it sold very well, was reprinted several times that year, and has continued to be reprinted (also titled ''Popski's Private Army'') well into the 21st century.

Personal life

In Egypt he married Josephe Louise Colette "Josette" Ceysens, an Egypt-born Belgian, on 10 November 1928 and had two daughters, Olga and Anne, born in 1930 and 1932. After receiving his commission he divorced Josephe in March 1941 and sent the family to South Africa. On 2 April 1948 he married Pamela Firth in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Death

Peniakoff died on 15 May 1951 of a brain tumour at the

National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (informally the National Hospital or Queen Square) is a neurological hospital in Queen Square, London. It is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It was the ...

in London. His body was buried in the graveyard of St. Leonard's Church,

Wixoe Wixoe is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located on the northern bank of the River Stour, two miles south-east of Haverhill, in 2005 its population was 140. It consists largely of Victor ...

, in the County of Suffolk.

References

Sources

* :: --- ''Private Army''. Jonathan Cape. 2nd Edition, foreword by General Sir John Hackett, minor revisions, 1951. :: --- ''Popski's Private Army''. Cassell Military Paperbacks, 2004. . :: ''Translated into Swedish (1951), German (1951), Italian (1951), French (1953), Hebrew (1954), Spanish (1955), Serbo-Croat (1957).''

External links

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.
PPA Preservation Society
personnel database, photos and information.
Popski's Private Army
a comprehensive synopsis of the PPA story, by Allen Parfitt. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peniakoff, Vladimir Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge British Army General List officers Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War II Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Officers of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Recipients of the Croix de guerre (Belgium) 1897 births 1951 deaths Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society French Army soldiers English Jews English people of Russian-Jewish descent Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Belgian Jews Belgian people of Russian-Jewish descent Free University of Brussels (1834–1969) alumni Belgian expatriates in Egypt