No. 1 Demolition Squadron
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Popski's Private Army, officially No. 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA, was a unit of British
Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
set up in
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in October 1942 by
Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
Vladimir Peniakoff Lieutenant-Colonel 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, ...
. Popski's Private Army was one of several raiding units formed in the Western Desert during the
Second World War 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 opposin ...
. The squadron also served in
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, and was disbanded in September 1945. No. 1 Demolition Squadron was formed specifically to attack
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Rommel's fuel supplies, in support of General Montgomery’s offensive at El Alamein,Peniakoff, 1950. p. 204. at the suggestion of Lieutenant-Colonel John Hackett. The unit became operational on 10 December 1942 as an 8th Army
Special Forces Special forces and special operations forces (SOF) are military units trained to conduct special operations. NATO has defined special operations as "military activities conducted by specially designated, organized, selected, trained and equip ...
unit. After the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and the
Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...
(SAS), PPA was the last and smallest of the three main irregular raiding, reconnaissance, and intelligence units formed during the North African Campaign. Actor
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, who served as an RAF intelligence officer during the Second World War, stated he was attached as liaison officer to this unit.


Background

When the
Second World War 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 opposin ...
broke out, the 42-year-old Peniakoff applied to serve in the
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, 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 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 ...
(LAF). Not satisfied, Popski left his post and formed the
Libyan Arab Force Commando Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...
(LAFC), a small group of British and Libyan soldiers who operated behind the lines in the Jebel Akhdar area of Cyrenaica. On his return to Cairo in the middle of 1942, Peniakoff was invited to join a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) raid in the area he had just left. In doing so, he learned much about their procedures, but also lost his left little finger to an Italian bullet. He was awarded the
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(MC) for his previous intelligence reporting and petrol dump raiding while leading the LAFC for three months behind enemy lines, and for the operation with the LRDG. While he was away, the LAFC was disbanded. 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 (the LRDG's Intelligence Officer) because his signallers had problems with the name "Peniakoff". In fact Popski was born of Russian Jewish parents who had emigrated to Belgium, although he was educated in Britain; Willet's book on Popski includes many interviews with his Jewish family.


Formation, and initial actions

Shortly after this No. 1 Demolition Squadron was formed, the smallest independent unit of the British Army at 23 men all-ranks. The original officers of the unit were three friends who had served together in the Libyan Arab Force: Popski, Robert Park Yunnie and Jean Caneri. Lieutenant Colonel John Hackett, who co-ordinated British raiding operations, asked Peniakoff to give the new unit a cover name, but vacillated. The unit's name ultimately came from Hackett's exasperation at Popski's delay: "You had better find a name quick or we shall call you Popski's Private Army"—"I'll take it". PPA was unusual in that all officer recruits reverted to lieutenant on joining, and other ranks reverted to private. The unit was run quite informally: there was no saluting and no drill, officers and men messed together, every man was expected to know what to do and get on with it, and there was only one punishment for failure of any kind: to be immediately
returned to unit Returned To Unit or RTU refers to a military member being returned to their home base or home unit, either due to their being medically unfit, their requesting to be withdrawn from training, or their being unfit for training or otherwise disorderly. ...
. It was also efficient, having an unusually small
headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
. Events proceeded rapidly; the Germans and Italians were expelled from Egypt and Libya shortly after PPA became active. A joint LRDG-PPA patrol discovered the gap in the mountains that let
Bernard Montgomery Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence and t ...
launch an outflanking move around
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's defense at the
Mareth Line The Mareth Line was a system of fortifications built by France in southern Tunisia in the late 1930s. The line was intended to protect Tunisia against an Italian invasion from its colony in Libya. The line occupied a point where the routes into T ...
. The PPA was also among the first elements of Eighth Army (moving west) to link up with the British First Army and American
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(advancing east) in Tunisia in early 1943. Many PPA raiding and reconnaissance operations were carried out around the time of the Battle of Kasserine Pass, including taking the surrender of 600 Italians. The summer of 1943 was spent in Algeria and Tunisia recruiting and training new volunteers from the LRDG, SAS, Commandos and 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. For a short while PPA experimented with using 1st Airborne Division's gliders to deliver them and their
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s behind the Axis lines in Sicily, but their part in that operation was cancelled at the last minute.


Italy

In September 1943 an advance patrol of PPA sailed to
Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...
on board the and headed inland, where they discovered the hitherto unknown weakness of the
German 1st Parachute Division The 1st Parachute Division (german: 1. Fallschirmjäger-Division) was an elite German military parachute-landing division that fought during World War II. A division of paratroopers was termed a ''Fallschirmjäger'' Division. For reasons of sec ...
opposing 1st Airborne. As a result of this success Popski was allowed to increase the size of PPA to 80 all ranks; throughout the Italian Campaign about 100 men were actually deployed at any one time. Three fighting patrols, each of 18 men in six jeeps, and one Tactical HQ patrol of four jeeps were formed and given great autonomy. Each jeep was armed with .50in and .30in machine guns, giving the patrols immense firepower for their size. The men trained hard for amphibious, mountain and parachute operations, demolition and counter-demolition, reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. They were deployed in many roles, often clandestine, and for several months even operated as regular front line troops, holding a sector of the
Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
front line, badly depleted after the withdrawal of forces for the D-Day landings in Normandy, nipping around in their jeeps to fool the Germans into believing that they were opposed by much larger units. Several operations used
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s or small landing craft called RCLs (manned by 7
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who became known as "Popski’s Private Navy") to sail up the
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and get behind the German front line, escorted by the Royal Navy’s Coastal Forces. Throughout the bitter winter weather and fighting of 1944 and 1945 PPA undertook their operations ahead of regular forces, in support of British,
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,
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and
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armoured,
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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. At various times PPA worked alongside other secret units such as the LRDG, SAS, No. 1 Special Force (
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),
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, ‘A’ Force and
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. Along the way they adopted many strays, including Russian, Italian and German POWs, Italian regulars and partisans, both royalist and communist. Popski was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in November 1944, during joint operations (such as “Porterforce”) with the
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and Italian partisans of the 28th Garibaldi Brigade, to liberate
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. Shortly afterwards he lost his left hand to a German rifle-grenade. At the end of the war Popski’s Private Army sailed some of their jeeps on RCLs to
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, 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
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, disarming Italian partisans and discouraging
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’s partisans from encroaching on Austrian and Italian territory. By this time PPA personnel had gained between them a DSO, a Distinguished Conduct Medal, 6 MCs, 10
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, and 14
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;
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had personally requested an account of the unit’s exploits.


See also

* Private army


Notes

This text is adapted from the "PPA Story" on two plaques at th
PPA Memorial
in th
Allied Special Forces Grove
at th
National Memorial Arboretum


Select bibliography

''This list includes the first edition of each of 'the big five' books on PPA, starting with Popski's own bestseller. Since the early editions are hard to find, a recent edition is also listed for each book: where these have been retitled, the changed title is listed.'' ;Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir Peniakoff DSO MC * :: --- ''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).'' ;Captain Robert Park Yunnie MC, Popski's second in command, leader of "B" patrol * :: --- ''Fighting with Popski's Private Army''. Greenhill Books, 2002. . ;Corporal Ben Owen, Yunnie's gunner * :: --- Astrolabe Publishing, 2006. Available from the Friends of Popski's Private Army. ;Lieutenant-Colonel John Willett, friend of Popski, intelligence officer in 8th Army * ;Signalman Les White, signaller in "S" Patrol. * ;Captain John Campbell, leader of "S" Patrol. *


Articles

* Silvio Tasselli, ''Popski's Private Army (P.P.A.)'' - Rivista Storica n. 9 - Novembre 1994 (Italian)


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.
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.
books about PPA
listing the 5 major books in all their editions, and details of unpublished books. {{British Commando units of the Second World War, state=collapsed Commandos (United Kingdom) Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
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