On November 1, he took his DUKWs across the River Savio and met a band of partisans of the Garibaldi Brigade led by Ateo Minghelli. He taught me two lessons: Popski’s “Never get into something if you don’t know how you are going to get out,” and the lesson Vic had learned in the army: “Rick, when things are going wrong, put the kettle on and have a brew.

But across the river they ran into heavy opposition and barely escaped destruction by mortars as they retired. Other units - such as the famous Special Air Service (SAS) - are still active and although their work is still a closely guarded secret, they have been involved in high profile missions that captured world attention. The British Government Code and Cipher School was set up in 1939 at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, and devoted large resources to breaking the various Enigma ciphers. Together, we co-wrote his three-volume memoir: Rifleman: A Front-Line Life, King’s Cross Kid and Soldier, Spy plus an eBook, Dresden: A Survivor’s Story.

Although secret at the time, the story of the courage and skill of agents like Violette Szabo, Adolphe Rabinovitch, Odette Sansom, George Starr and Noor Inayat Khan have become better known in recent years. The task of the 1st Airborne at Taranto was to ease pressure on the American Fifth Army at Salerno, but before leaving Taranto the lightly armed airborne troops, without air, armor, or artillery support, needed to know enemy positions and strength. Unable to cross the river because of the large number of Germans in the area, Popski pulled back to Sarnano, then crossed a 4,000-foot mountain range to the small town of Bolognola, where he came upon a band of 300 partisans. He filched a Sergeant Major Waterson from the King’s Dragoon Guards (an armored car regiment), a ferocious looking one-eyed Corporal Locke from the LRDG, a young surveyor named Petrie from a survey unit, and several drivers from the Royal Army Service Corps.

While the 1st Airborne set up a defense perimeter around the port, Popski took his jeeps off to find answers and locate possible landing grounds for the Royal Air Force between Taranto and Brindisi. Here Yunnie met agents of “A” Force (M19), who were engaged in rescuing Allied airmen shot down in enemy territory; the agents brought the airmen to the coast and commandos took them out. The purpose of MI5 was to protect Britain's secrets while MI6's task was to find out the secrets of potential enemies abroad.

The bridge across the Chienti had been destroyed, and German troops were in strength along the road on the other side. In the sharp, short raid, the LRDG patrols set 24 planes on fire, damaged another 12 with bombs and machine-gun fire, and destroyed 10 trucks and a fuel tanker and trailer. He was parachuted back into Norway with a mission and supplies provided by MI6 - and his wartime actions earned him medals including the Distinguished Service Cross.

The new establishment allowed for six officers (one major, two captains, and three lieutenants) and 74 other ranks, including wireless operators, armorers, and mechanics. Demolition Squadron, PPA, was a unit of British Special Forces set up in Cairo in October 1942 by Major Vladimir Peniakoff. In 5 May 1980, the SAS stormed the Iranian embassy in London to end a siege that had started on the 30 April. German and Italian planes were assisting Rommel and bombing the island bastion of Malta in the Mediterranean. That meeting led to a friendship that lasted for the rest of Vic’s life, he died last Monday aged 101, three days short of his 102nd birthday.Lieutenant-Colonel Vladimir "Popski" Peniakoff DSO MC FRGS (Russian: Владимир Дмитриевич Пеняков Vladimir Dmitriyevich Penyakov, 30 March 1897 – 15 May 1951) was the founder and commanding officer of No. When it left Cairo in October 1943, Popski’s Private Army consisted of Popski, Captain Bob Yunnie, 12 other ranks, and three Arab soldiers from the Libyan Arab Force.