Private Army by Vladimir Peniakoff - published 1950 - this Corgi edition 1965. The mission: “Sow despondency and alarm.” A riveting eyewitness account of the British Army’s first forays into special forces’ irregular warfare in the north African theatre of the Second World War. ‘Popski’ is a charmingly erudite writer and one who has no ego. He willingly tells of as many cock-ups as triumphs, and gradually the reader becomes bewitched by his unorthodox and self-taught approach to waging war behind enemy lines. Following victory over Rommel’s Afrika Korps, the story crosses the Med to Italy - where the action is at its most gripping. Reminiscent in the desert chapters of Lawrence’s Seven Pillars prose, this one’s a real gem. ( )

Nothing wrong with the book per se, but it's not my usual genre and it didn't pull me in fast enough. I set it down, and when it surfaced again months later, I had other things I wanted to read. Looking at the page I left it at, the beginning of chapter two, I realized that his style, ponderous and deliberate, probably didn't help:

"Improvisation and dash are foreign to my nature, unknown risks make me uncomfortable; I am never so happy as when I can spend my time making cautious preparations. Slow and unhurried, I have of course many times let golden opportunities slip by, unused...." and so on and on. I think my golden opportunity to read the book also slipped by, unused.

The very definition of chutzpah.

Read, enjoy, wonder. ( )

War at the micro level - the experiences of a very small, autonomous unit fighting in North Africa and Italy, during World War II. Operating behind enemy lines, Popskis Private Army (PPA) was fashioned and led by the maverick Vladimir Peniakoff, a Belgian of Russian extraction, who was not a professional soldier. Evocative, immediate, it is a good read, one of the infinite strand of the world engulfing conflict. ( )

Vladimir Peniakoff was a Jewish Russian emigre educated in England. After WWI, He filtered out to Alexandria and was a desert traveller before he ended up in the Eighth army. Well, he would have put it that he "co-operated" with the British Army. Popski was a good organizer, and was capable of running competent long range desert operations which he did in North Africa until the campaigning moved to Italy. His stint as a reconnaissance officer there is also covered in useful detail. It remains an entertaining book, as well as serving as the basis of an extended WWII fantasy TV series called "Rat Patrol". ( )