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BakerSteele Publishing
Popski's Private Army
Popski's Private Army
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Though T E Lawrence's masterpiece, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, is strictly incomparable, here is a book which, for several reasons, inevitably recalls it.
The exploits of Popski's Private Army were the subject of rumours which grew into full-sized legends. Around 'Popski' himself the stories flourished -- free and fanciful. He now tells us the facts about himself and the army he raised and commanded. His correct title is Lt.-Col. Vladimir Peniakoff, DSO MC. Born in Belgium of Russian parents, he was educated privately and at Cambridge. Regarding England as his country, he "loved it with a somewhat ridiculous fervour". In the intervals of business in Egypt he studied the literature of the desert and made independent explorations. Abandoning his commercial career in 1940, he served first with the Libyan Arab Force, but had soon realized his ambition -- which was to raise and train a small fighting unit to operate behind the enemy lines.
Popski's Private Army --the smallest independent British unit --came officially into being in November 1942. Under his command the whole art of war was reduced to the scale of a unit one hundred and twenty strong. He sometimes writes with almost self-effacing modesty, but the book is dyed with his personality, and it explains the success of his leadership in unorthodox methods of warfare.
His cool recital of audacious actions in the North African desert and in Italy makes this one of the most exciting, most remarkable and most personal books inspired by the war. Exceedingly frank in his opinions when he encounters inefficiency, he is generous in praise for the good soldier and good man.
The exploits of Popski's Private Army were the subject of rumours which grew into full-sized legends. Around 'Popski' himself the stories flourished -- free and fanciful. He now tells us the facts about himself and the army he raised and commanded. His correct title is Lt.-Col. Vladimir Peniakoff, DSO MC. Born in Belgium of Russian parents, he was educated privately and at Cambridge. Regarding England as his country, he "loved it with a somewhat ridiculous fervour". In the intervals of business in Egypt he studied the literature of the desert and made independent explorations. Abandoning his commercial career in 1940, he served first with the Libyan Arab Force, but had soon realized his ambition -- which was to raise and train a small fighting unit to operate behind the enemy lines.
Popski's Private Army --the smallest independent British unit --came officially into being in November 1942. Under his command the whole art of war was reduced to the scale of a unit one hundred and twenty strong. He sometimes writes with almost self-effacing modesty, but the book is dyed with his personality, and it explains the success of his leadership in unorthodox methods of warfare.
His cool recital of audacious actions in the North African desert and in Italy makes this one of the most exciting, most remarkable and most personal books inspired by the war. Exceedingly frank in his opinions when he encounters inefficiency, he is generous in praise for the good soldier and good man.
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