Popski's Private Army, officially No. 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA, was a unit of British Special Forces set up in Cairo in October 1942 by Major Vladimir Peniakoff. Popski's Private Army was one of several raiding units formed in the Western Desert during the Second World War. The squadron also served in Italy, and was disbanded in September 1945. No. 1 Demolition Squadron was formed specifically to attack Field Marshal Rommel's fuel supplies, in support of General Montgomery’s offensive at El Alamein, at the suggestion of Lieutenant-Colonel John Hackett. The unit became operational on 10 December 1942 as an 8th Army Special Forces unit. After the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) and the Special Air Service (SAS), PPA was the last and smallest of the three main irregular raiding, reconnaissance, and intelligence units formed during the North African Campaign. Actor Christopher Lee, who served as an RAF intelligence officer during the Second World War, stated he was attached as liaison officer to this unit. Background When the Second World War broke out, the 42-year-old Peniakoff applied to serve in the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Navy, but was rejected. He was accepted by the British Army, and assigned to garrison duties as an Arabic-speaking junior officer in the Libyan Arab Force (LAF). Not satisfied, Popski left his post and formed the Libyan Arab Force Commando (LAFC), a small group of British and Libyan soldiers who operated behind the lines in the Jebel Akhdar area of Cyrenaica. On his return to Cairo in the middle of 1942, Peniakoff was invited to join a Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) raid in the area he had just left. In doing so, he learned much about their procedures, but also lost his left little finger to an Italian bullet. He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for his previous intelligence reporting and petrol dump raiding while leading the LAFC for three months behind enemy lines, and for the operation with the LRDG. While he was away, the LAFC was disbanded. He was given the nickname Popski, from a Daily Mirror cartoon character, by Captain Bill Kennedy Shaw (the LRDG's Intelligence Officer) because his signallers had problems with the name "Peniakoff". In fact Popski was born of Russian Jewish parents who had emigrated to Belgium, although he was educated in Britain; Willet's book on Popski includes many interviews with his Jewish family. Formation, and initial