Частная армия П.

V gody Vtoroĭ mirovoĭ na soldat Gitlera i Mussolini v Severnoĭ Afrike i Italii navodilo uzhas neobychnoe podrazdelenie: poi͡avli͡ai͡asʹ iz niotkuda, likhie parni obstrelivali vraga s desi͡atka pozit͡siĭ odnovremenno, szhigali sklady i aėrodromy, zastavli͡ali kapitulirovatʹ t͡selye garnizony. Tak deĭstvovali boĭt͡sy pod nachalom russkogo ėmigranta vo vtorom pokolenii Vladimira "Popski" Peni͡akova, skolotivshego sobstvennyĭ batalʹon pod krylom vooruzhennykh sil Velikobritanii, chtoby sei͡atʹ strakh i unynie v tylu vraga. Vpervye izdannye na russkom memuary Peni͡akova "Chastnai͡a armii͡a Popski" - khladnokrovnyĭ rasskaz, napisannyĭ avanti͡uristom i dzhentlʹmenom, gde druzhba s arabami-senussi, iznuritelʹnye stranstvii͡a po pustyne i goram, izdevki nad tupostʹi͡u armeĭskogo komandovanii͡a, doblestʹ i smertelʹnai͡a opasnostʹ stanovi͡atsi͡a slagaemymi odnoĭ iz samykh udivitelʹnykh istoriĭ Vtoroĭ mirovoĭ voĭny.

During World War II, the soldiers of Hitler and Mussolini in North Africa and Italy were terrified by an unusual unit: appearing out of nowhere, dashing guys fired at the enemy from a dozen positions at the same time, burned warehouses and airfields, forced entire garrisons to surrender. This was how the fighters acted under the command of the second-generation Russian emigrant Vladimir "Popsky" Penyakov, who put together his own battalion under the wing of the British armed forces to sow fear and despondency behind enemy lines. Penyakov's memoirs, "Popsky's Private Army," published for the first time in Russian, is a cold—blooded story written by an adventurer and a gentleman, where friendship with Senussi Arabs, exhausting wanderings through the desert and mountains, mockery of the stupidity of the army command, valor and mortal danger become the components of one of the most amazing stories of the Second World War.