Author: Vladimir Peniakoff Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN: 9781474609692 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
In October 1942, with the sanction of the army, Vladimir Peniakoff (nicknamed Popski) formed his own elite fighting force. By befriending and enlisting desert Arabs, he was able to penetrate deep into German territory without being detected - over the next year, 'Popski's Private Army' carried out a series of raids behind the German lines that were truly spectacular. A bestseller when it was first published in 1950, POPSKI'S PRIVATE ARMY is a classic account of the war in the desert, and later in Italy, as seen through the eyes of a maverick soldier, hailed as the Second World War's answer to T.E. Lawrence.
Author: Vladimir Peniakoff Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson ISBN: 9780304361434 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 437
Book Description
In October 1942, with the sanction of the army, Vladimir Peniakoff (nicknamed Popski) formed his own elite fighting force. By befriending and enlisting desert Arabs, he was able to penetrate deep into German territory without being detected - over the next year 'Popski's Private Army' carried out a series of raids behind the German lines that were truly spectacular. A bestseller since its first publication in 1950, POPSKI'S PRIVATE ARMY describes the war in the desert, and later in Italy, as seen through the eyes of a maverick soldier. Its author has been hailed as the Second World War's answer to T.E. Lawrence.
Author: Park Yunnie Publisher: Greenhill Books ISBN: Category : History Languages : en Pages : 396
Book Description
This is the story of Popski's famous fighting unit, in the words of his second-in-command. Captain Bob Yunnie, MC, aka Park Yunnie, became the first recruit to the special unit founded in Cairo by Major Vladimir Peniakoff (Popski). As Eighth Army advances towards Tripoli, PPA sets out in jeeps across the desert to mount raids behind the Mareth Line. Yunnie relives the ensuing action at Gafsa and Kasserine, and vividly depicts the sorties which took the men straight across the German Line of Command. As Tunis falls to the Allies on 7 May 1943, PPA train for raids on the Italian mainland. They are dropped by RAF gliders in central Italy, where they set about blowing up strategic targets while waiting for the Allied landings. Yunnie is given his own patrol, and in the narrative that follows, colourful characters flit in and out of the front-line action in the mountains of Southern Italy. Yunnie's account is an honest, extremely personal, expose of the thrills and occasional pitfalls of life with Popski and his men. He captures the tumultuous nature of fighting in a nomadic unit that drifted between British and American command, but whose contribution to the Allied war effort in North Africa and Italy remains immeasurable.
Author: Lt.-Col. Vladimir Peniakoff DSO MC Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing ISBN: 1786258722 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 796
Book Description
In October 1942, Vladimir Peniakoff (nicknamed Popski) formed his own elite fighting force in the North African desert. Over the next year ‘Popski’s Private Army’ carried out a series of daring raids behind the German lines that were truly spectacular—freeing prisoners, destroying installations, spreading alarm. This, one of the classic memoirs of the Second World War, is their story. ‘A story of adventure...which has no rival in the literature of any war.’—DAILY EXPRESS ‘This is certainly among the best of war books...splendid writing.’—THE OBSERVER ‘One of the small handful of really first-class war books. A superb story of adventure told masterfully, brilliantly.’—EVENING STANDARD ‘His courage, resourcefulness and qualities of leadership deservedly gained him a high reputation. He has now shown that he also possesses unusual literary talent.’—THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
Author: William Seymour Publisher: Pen and Sword ISBN: 1844153622 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 361
Book Description
This is the first comprehensive history of all the British Special Forces, from their beginnings during the Second World War to the Falklands War. The birth of many of the Special Forces was controversial - they were accused of being 'private armies' and a waste of valuable manpower that could have been better used within the regular forces. Their existence was justified only by their successes. The secrecy that still surrounds some of the Special Forces makes writing an authoritative history no easy task. William Seymour's fascinating narrative draws on a wide variety of documentary sources and eye-witness accounts from surviving members of the Forces. The Special Forces covered are: The Commandos, the Special Boat Section, Combined Operations Pilotage Parties, the Long Range Desert Group, Popski's Private Army, The Special Air Service, the Special Boat Squadron and Raiding Forces, and the Royal Marines Special Forces. From the chaungs of Burma to the African desert, the Greek islands to the D-Day landing beaches, Special Forces played a vital part in Allied victory in the Second World War.
Author: Ben Macintyre Publisher: Crown ISBN: 1101904178 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 337
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible untold story of World War II’s greatest secret fighting force, as told by the modern master of wartime intrigue—now a limited series on Epix! “Reads like a mashup of The Dirty Dozen and The Great Escape, with a sprinkling of Ocean’s 11 thrown in for good measure.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times ONE OF NPR’S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR • “Rogue Heroes is a ripping good read.”—Washington Post (10 Best Books of the Year) Britain’s Special Air Service—or SAS—was the brainchild of David Stirling, a young aristocrat whose aimlessness belied a remarkable strategic mind. Where most of his colleagues looked at a World War II battlefield map and saw a protracted struggle, Stirling saw an opportunity: given a small number of elite men, he could parachute behind Nazi lines and sabotage their airplanes and supplies. Defying his superiors’ conventional wisdom, Stirling assembled a revolutionary fighting force that would upend not just the balance of the war, but the nature of combat itself. Bringing his keen eye for detail to a riveting wartime narrative, Ben Macintyre uses his unprecedented access to the SAS archives to shine a light on a legendary unit long shrouded in secrecy.
Author: Michael F. Dilley Publisher: Casemate ISBN: 1612001831 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 280
Book Description
The array of new technologies that came on the scene in the early 20th century resulted in widely varied new forms of military special operations once civilization embarked on its greatest war. Suddenly, fighting men could be delivered by parachute, submarine, glider, jeeps, and fast amphibious craft deep into enemy territory to perform special tasks; yet others would continue to perform missions the same as their ancestors in previous wars—on foot using stealth, endurance and patience. This work contains discussions of the employment of various special purpose, special mission organizations during World War II. These units operated in Allied and Axis countries and in various theaters of war including Europe, North Africa, the Pacific, Asia, and the continental United States. Representing every major combatant, the operations include various kinds of raids, intelligence gathering missions, support to partisan/guerrilla groups, prisoner rescues, direct-action missions, and at least two where the object was simply to steal something. Some missions would have been officially denied if the operations had been caught in the act. The book is divided into two sections: Behind Enemy Lines and Behind Friendly Lines, to demonstrate that special-purpose organizations can be employed wherever needed, even in areas controlled by military units of their own or allied countries. Many of the units described run the gamut of special mission types, from commando to parachute units, reconnaissance to sabotage units, and partisan training units as well as those with combined missions. Many of the operations described in this book continue to serve as templates for modern Special Operations missions, while still others—the first attempts of their kind—continue to serve as examples of what not to try under the circumstances. Michael F. Dilley served for 20 years in the U.S. Army’s Military Intelligence branch. After retiring from the Army, the author served for about ten years as an employee of the Department of Defense, then as a contractor for various U.S. Government agencies in several fields for 15 years. Author of several books and many articles, a number of these chapters are based on his previous writings for the legendary Behind the Lines magazine.
Author: Vladimir Peniakoff
Author: Vladimir Peniakoff
Author: Vladimir Peniakoff
Author: Park Yunnie
Author: Lt.Col.Vladimir Peniakoff
Author: Lt.-Col. Vladimir Peniakoff DSO MC
Author: Vladimir Peniakoff
Author: William Seymour
Author: Ben Macintyre
Author: Michael F. Dilley