POPSKI’S PRIVATE ARMY

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26117, 20 May 1950, Page 3

POPSKI’S PRIVATE ARMY

[Reviewed by L.R.H.] Private Army. By Vladimir Peniakoff. (“Popski”). Jonathan Cape. 512 pp. Newcomers to the 2nd New Zealand -Expeditionary Force in Italy oiten used to inquire what was meant by the shoulder flash “P.P.A.,” sometimes to be seen worn by rugged types in unorthodox uniform. The answer they often received from a straightfaced Kiwi of older vintage was that the initials stood for “Protestant Politiical Association.” Puzzling as that explanation was, it was just as easy to believe as the true explanation, that “P.P.A.” stood for “Popski’s Private Army.” The British Army seldom used such imagination in christening Army units. But Popski’s Private Army was nd ordinary unit, nor did it take ordinary assignments. Its job was not the fic-tion-type cloak and dagger work, but' a specialised, tremendously dangerous warfare all of its own, usually well behind the enemy lines. The total complement seldom exceeded 100, and the jobs done were of inestimable value to the Allied cause.

If any Army unit earned the title of a “one-man-show,” it was Popski's Private Army, because for all its active, life it was completely under the guidance of its founder, creator and commanding officer, LieutenantColonel Vladimir Peniakoff, D. 5.0., M.C., a Belgian born of Russian parents. He brought to .the science of war, this middle-aged foreigner who managed to wangle a British Army commission in spite of a’low medical grading, a completely unorthodox disregard for red tape" and red tabs—the red tape of the administration units and the red tabs of the very senior officers who peopled them in Cairo. Algiers, and Caserta.

In civilian life, Peniakoff was an executive of an Egyptian sugar refinery. His hobby was travelling the uncharted deserts in an old Model A Ford he had specially adapted for desert trips.- When he joined the British Army in the Middle East he outwitted the staff officers who tried to station him permanently in a garrison force of Arabs, and began long exploratory trips, with the odd piece of sabotage included, into the desert he knew so well, piercing the Italian-held lines, sending back information to Cairo about enemy troop movements and managing to persuade the Arab tribesmen that the British forces were much stronger than they were, and certain to win. In Egypt he joined his desert navigation talents to those of the legendary Long Range Desert Group, in which he met and served with many New Zealanders. The esteem in which he holds New Zealand soldiers is almost embarrassingly high. Once after being wounded in company with New Zealanders on the famous raid on the Italian airfield of Barce he was admitted to the New Zealand General Hospital at Helwan. Afterwards he spent most of his spare time with New Zealanders. “In a way.” he said, “the pleasure I took in being admitted as an honorary member of the (New Zealand) community was a peculiar form of snobbishness, for I consider the New Zealanders to be a superior kind of humanity, but my friendships were sure and easy such as I have never experienced with other people.” There are other, similar, references throughout the book.'

Some of Peniakoff's exploits' would be hard to believe —except that, undeniably. thev are chronicled as fact in the official records of the Army. For instance, with a jeep, a driver and little more than self-confidence to aid him. he landed in Taranto and made a reconnaissance right through German-held territory in Southern Italy before the main campaign began there late in 1943, Usin£ an Italian accent when he spoke to' Germans, and a German accent when he spoke to Italians, he bluffed his way through hundreds of miles, ending with the remarkable achievement of managing to secure" from a German major the complete ration strength of all the Reichwehr units in the locality. (He achieved this feat by selling to a German senior officers’ mess a remarkably cheap line of good Italian vino.)

“Private Army” undoubtedly plays down the drama of the achievements of Colonel Peniakoff’s men. It all sounds so easy, written in cold print. But it never was. never could have been, less than a remarkable test of men’s courage, resource and quickness of decision. Nor were they ever spies.

Several times wounded (near the end of the war he lost one hand in an action when he was directing Italian partisans). Colonel Peniakoff was a soldier in a class of his own. He had a sense of humour. He himself suggested that his unit should be called “Popski’s Private Army”— since British officers, finding Peniakoff hard to pronounce, had christened him Popski in any case. He was an individualist, demanding (and receiving) the highest standard from his men. And above all he was a man of a rare courage given to few men to possess. “Private Army” is certain to find a resting place on the bookshelves of many men of the 2nd N.Z.E.F.—perhaps alongside the complementing official histories describing the work of the Long Range Desert Group.

CAPTURE IN CRETE 111 Met by Moonlight. By W. Stanley Moss. George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd. (192 pp.) This story of the capture in Crete of a German general by two young British officers, assisted by Cretan partisans, has all the quality of a John Buchan romance. It was only one of the raids made in Crete and elsewhere by British soldiers acting as secret agents, and comes straight from the diary of the author, who, with his friend. Major “Paddy” Leigh-Fermor, performed the remarkable feat of capturing General Karl Kreipe, divisional commander in Crete, from under the very noses of German troops and conveying him to Egypt. The cool courage, endurance, and daring enterprise of these handsome and gay young men, and hundreds of others like them, are something that mere words fail to convey. Captain Moss has the rare literary ability to tell a tale with a maximum economy of words. His style is simple, plain, and straightforward, and his story the more sincere because of his complete modesty in telling it. Any reader who is not thrilled to the core by this romantic adventure will be entirely lacking in imagination. It is to be hoped that Captain Moss will tell in future books the stories of more of his adventures as a British agent. The book is well illustrated with photographs and maps. _ _ _