Commonly repeated, not supported
Myths and corrections
A lot of what is written about Popski’s Private Army online is wrong. Here are the claims that come up most often, and what the records actually show.
Why so many errors?
One book, repeated
Almost everything written about PPA goes back to Peniakoff’s own memoir. Wikipedia’s article is based on the memorial plaques, which were written largely from that memoir, and most other pages copy Wikipedia. The Friends of PPA website, which held the unit’s roll, has gone. In that gap, AI-generated pages have started to invent details, and those are now being copied too. We correct claims here only where a record shows otherwise, and we say when a question is still open.
The name
Commonly said“Popski” was a Morse-code or wireless abbreviation of “Peniakoff”.
ActuallyNo source supports this, and “Popski” isn’t shorter in Morse anyway. British signallers couldn’t manage “Peniakoff” over the radio, and “Popski” was already a familiar name: a villain in the Daily Mirror cartoon strip Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.
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Commonly said“No. 1 Demolition Squadron” was chosen to make the enemy think there were more squadrons.
ActuallyNo source says so. The name was a cover name that described the unit’s task, and it was given to the smallest independent unit in the British Army.
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Peniakoff
Commonly saidHe was born in Brussels.
ActuallyHe was born at Huy, in the Belgian province of Liège, on 30 March 1897. Brussels is where he began university.
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Commonly saidHe read engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge.
ActuallyHe read mathematics at St John’s College, Cambridge, and left without a degree. His engineering studies were at the Free University of Brussels.
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Commonly saidHe worked for the “Egyptian Sugar Company”.
ActuallyNo source confirms that name. The sources say only that he worked for a large French-owned sugar company in Egypt.
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Commonly saidHe lost fingers in North Africa, or lost his right hand.
ActuallyHe lost one finger of his left hand at Barce in September 1942, and the whole left hand north of Ravenna on 9 December 1944.
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Commonly saidHe held Polish and Italian decorations.
ActuallyOnly Belgian foreign honours are documented.
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North Africa
Commonly saidPopski led the Barce raid in October 1942.
ActuallyThe raid was on 13/14 September 1942, and it was led by Maj John Easonsmith of the LRDG. Peniakoff went along for intelligence work.
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Commonly saidPopski won his Military Cross for the Barce raid.
ActuallyThe MC was for three journeys into the Jebel Akhdar with the Libyan Arab Force Commando, April to August 1942. The raid is only the last line of the recommendation.
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Commonly saidPopski destroyed a 450,000-gallon fuel dump.
ActuallyThe MC recommendation says 50,000 gallons, destroyed at Giovanni Berta on 17 August 1942.
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Commonly saidPPA found the gap that let the Eighth Army outflank the Mareth Line.
ActuallyThe pass used was Wilder’s Gap, found by Capt Nick Wilder of the LRDG. PPA took part in the reconnaissance, but didn’t find the route.
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The unit
Commonly saidPPA was part of the LRDG, a Commando unit, or descended from Middle East Commando.
ActuallyNone of these. It was an Eighth Army unit that used LRDG transport. The LRDG’s commander refused to take it under command. Its forerunner was the Libyan Arab Force Commando.
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Commonly saidPPA worked with the SBS.
ActuallyNo record shows it. PPA’s amphibious work was done with the Royal Navy’s Coastal Forces.
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Commonly saidPPA served in Greece or the Aegean.
ActuallyIt didn’t. That was the LRDG and the SBS.
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Commonly saidPPA had 17 New Zealanders.
ActuallyThis figure comes only from an AI-generated web page, and is probably a confusion with the LRDG, which had many New Zealanders. PPA had at least one: Sgt E. “Kiwi” Sanders.
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Commonly saidPPA’s jeeps were the only wheeled vehicles ever to enter St Mark’s Square.
ActuallyPPA did drive five jeeps round the Piazza San Marco in Venice in April 1945. The “only ever” part can’t be verified, and is almost certainly untrue.
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The badge
Commonly saidThe PPA badge contains a secret Morse-code message.
ActuallyBadge specialists reject this. The marks are decoration carried over from Peniakoff’s pre-war bookplate.
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Popular culture
Commonly saidChristopher Lee served with PPA.
ActuallyHe didn’t. The Friends of PPA checked the unit’s war diary and found no mention of him, and historians including Gavin Mortimer and Adrian Weale reject the claim. Lee served in the RAF.
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Commonly saidPPA appears in SAS: Rogue Heroes.
ActuallyIt doesn’t. The series is about the SAS.
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Seen something we’ve missed?
If you’ve come across a claim about PPA that you think is wrong, or you can prove one of ours wrong, tell us.