After being rejected by the Royal Navy and RAF, ‘Popski’, a Belgian of Russian ancestry by birth, joined the Libyan Arab Force (LAF) and later formed his own unit, LAF Commando. 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. This became known as the ULTRA programme, and was increasingly successful from 1941 onwards in penetrating German enciphered radio traffic. 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. Peasant Revolt in Ethiopia: The Tigray People's Liberation Front, 1975-91,' Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0521026067, 164.

The Enigma was an electro-mechanical enciphering machine, ultimately produced in large quantities for the German Armed Forces. When they started to ford the river, Corporal Cameron, Popski’s driver and friend, was killed, and Lieutenant Rickwood, in command of a patrol, was accidentally shot in the stomach after the action, by one of his own men carelessly cleaning his gun. He joined a boxing club, formed a jazz band and got himself recruited as a grease monkey at Brooklands race track. It maintained close relations with the governments-in-exile both for recruiting purposes and to coordinate resources and objectives. It was Vic practising a routine he had learned more than 50 years earlier in the Western Desert, when Rifleman Gregg was assigned to Vladimir Peniakoff, the founder of “Popski’s Private Army”, a unit of British special forces.All used books might have various degrees of writing, highliting and wear and tear and possibly be an ex-library with the usual stickers and stamps. Popski moved his base to Besceglie at the foot of the Matese mountains and put the men to hard training while he worked on a plan to operate behind the German lines. It was just a pinprick for the Axis forces, but with other raids by the LRDG and SAS (Special Air Service) deep in Axis-held territory it forced the Germans and Italians to beef up their rear-area security when Rommel needed all the troops he could find for the Alamein front. In 5 May 1980, the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy in London to end a siege that had started on the 30 April.

Officially upgraded to Groups status, but actually just an overstrength single battalion with 6 rifle companies.

They had traveled via Cassino and north along Route 6 to reach the hills but found no Germans there. Popski rushed them off with the wounded to Tozeur, 200 miles away through enemy territory, while the others walked. The new establishment allowed for six officers (one major, two captains, and three lieutenants) and 74 other ranks, including wireless operators, armorers, and mechanics. After his time with Popski he was transferred to the Long Range Desert Group, driving wounded soldiers hundreds of miles.

He went to France and worked in a factory until accepted for the French Army in which he saw some action with the artillery and was wounded. Dust Jackets are not guaranteed and when still present, they will have various degrees of tear and damage. 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.

During the raid, he saw women, men and children trying to escape the flames in huge water tanks set up by the fire brigade and boiling to death; he saw others burning in molten tarmac and yet others sucked into the air with their heads on fire, their bodies exploding in the heat. Special Operations Executive (SOE) had been set up in 1940 to coordinate and carry out subversive action against German forces in occupied countries, including France. They accounted for many vehicles, aircraft, and supplies and sundry other items including 600 Italian prisoners. For the next three months they raided German outposts, destroyed fuel and ammunition dumps, ambushed convoys, and liberated villages. They had almost reached Tozeur when they were picked up by Henry’s Patrol of the LRDG and taken to Tozeur.

Invented in 1923, the first models were marketed for commercial company use, as a counter to industrial espionage. On Sunday, March 30, 2008, Popski’s birthday, the PPA Memorial was unveiled by Sir Robert Crawford CBE, director-general of the British Imperial War Museum, assisted by Captain Campbell, and dedicated in the presence of nearly 250 PPA, LRDG, SAS, and Partisan veterans, relatives, and friends. The work of MI6 was a closely guarded secret - its role and very existence was not officially recognized until the Intelligence Services Act of 1994 and the authorised history of the service ends in 1949. May contain markings such as bookplates, stamps, limited notes and highlighting, or a few light stains.Most nights PPA and the partisans would drive down to the river and shoot up German convoys on the other bank. They were obviously not Italian peasants, and when Popski stopped them he found they were Russian soldiers captured at Smolensk and sent to work in the Todt Organization, Germany’s labor establishment, in northern Italy.