Great show, I used to watch it.
Posted on 08/23/2006 6:45:57 PM PDT by blam
British to adopt the tactics that beat Rommel
By Oliver Poole in Amarah
(Filed: 24/08/2006)
The soldiers of the Queen's Royal Hussars will today board a fleet of stripped-down Land Rovers, festooned with weapons and equipment, bound for the depths of the Iraqi desert.
Their mission is to adopt tactics pioneered by the Long Range Desert Group, the forerunners of the SAS, more than six decades ago in the campaign against Rommel in North Africa. They will leave Camp Abu Naji, the only permanent base in Maysan province near the local capital of Amarah, and head into the remote region near the border with Iran.
Rather than staying in a fixed spot well known to enemy fighters in the most violent of all the Iraqi provinces under British control, they will live, camp and fight on the move. Roaming through the sparsely populated areas of Maysan, an area as large as Northern Ireland, they will travel without heavy armour that would become bogged down in the sand dunes and sleep under the stars.
advertisement Resupply will come from air drops or transport aircraft landing on temporary runways. Lt Col David Labouchere, the regiment's commander, said that when they needed to act they would "surge" from the wilderness.
"Maysan is and will always be a problem child," he said. "These people are a little like Texans - armed and against anyone who is not one of them. They do not like foreigners and we are a foreign tribe in their midst."
The men are stoical about the prospect of living in gruelling desert conditions. One captain said: "Those who have been on desert training exercise are less keen. They know that after six days, you realise this is not so special after all. But it is good not to be a fixed target any more. Being here is very wearing on the nerves."
The Army stresses that this redeployment is not linked to constant mortar and rocket attacks on the old base of Camp Abu Naji. There, troops have endured a sustained attack, shredding nerves and marking their time with blood and lost limbs.
At least 281 mortars and rockets have hit the camp since the Hussars arrived in April. In the early months of the British presence, attacks were limited to one or two rounds a night. Now the Shia militiamen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the fiercely anti-western cleric, have taken to firing barrages. One night in May, 54 mortar rounds detonated one after another.
On Tuesday, while the troops worked to pack up the camp, 17 more 122mm mortar shells came in, causing such fires that the camp ran out of fire-suppressant foam. The exact number of injured has not been made public.
Today the Union flag that has fluttered over the camp since the British arrived in April 2003 will be taken down and the base handed over to the local Iraqi authorities.
Brig James Everard, the commander of British forces in south-eastern Iraq, stressed that responsibility for security in Maysan province would not be transferred to Iraqi control.
The adoption of tactics from an older era of British desert warfare would allow proper control of the border area for the first time, he said. America has frequently alleged that weapons and volunteers are being brought in by Iran. One of the first tasks of the Queen's Royal Hussars will be to discover whether this is true.
Khe Sanh was getting a round a minute around the clock.
"Special Forces never win major conflicts- they just assist."
Major conflicts maybe. However, I for one wouldn't consider the action in Iraq to be considered a "major conflict".
I think we should scale back our deployment and begin thinking about more innovative strategy's like this. We are fighting a guerilla resistance in Iraq that is much less organized than the VC. Some SF operators backed up by some airborne or marine units can handle anything the millitia's or resistance can throw at us.
We are nothing more than sitting targets in our bases right now. There is a very high probability we may soon be going head to head with Iran, we don't want major stationary concentrations of troops. A sneak attack with missles and possibly wmd could cause massive losses at our operating bases.
Our boys need to be deploying to desert outposts near the frontier with Iran and gearing up for taking on the Mullahs. Our politicians haven't woken up yet, but they won't have a choice for long I'm afraid.
Yeah, Baby!
Is this supposed to be "good" or "bad"?
Yeah. But the Brits were reading all the Enigma traffic out of Africa and Italy - and they still couldn't beat him.
All the bad guys have to do is follow the oil trail.
My favorite was always Combat. Still like watching the reruns of Sgt. Saunders.
Thanks. I still remember the opening...
Popski and his private Army.
They had a somewhat more friendly sea to swim in,
and the idea was not to control territory.
Rat Patrol + Combat + 12 O'Clock High
I read a book about it many years ago and am looking for leads on a few books about this.
My favorite was always Combat. Still like watching the reruns of Sgt. Saunders.
Haha, they used to run those for us in Vietnam.
hunter/killer fire teams/squads/platoons.... everybody Iraqi gets an identity card/with photo/dna/fingerprint
no card-jail then background interview till cleared.
We've got the computer database , people to do analysis and intel is the key. but we go into the night and hunt.
every mullah that preaches hate to America... gone
neighbors talk... surveillance drones take photos and then keep getting information of who knows who, who goes where, who worships in which mosque....
over and over 24/7/364.... and after each verifiable ID, we snatch and interrogate the enemy....then kill them.... all of them...over and over.
start beating in doors and looking for computers/video cameras/weapons.... and then off to get interrogated.
nothing but nightmares for years to come about the evil that lurked in the night and made the bad men disappear.
First Telecast: September 18, 1964 Last Telecast: January 13, 1967 This show takes place in mid 1942 through 1944 during World War II. It follows the 918th Heavy Bombardment Group, part of the 8th Bomber Command of the US Eighth Air Force. Army Air Force Brigadier General Frank Savage is asked to take over the 918th by General Pritchard.
Thanks for the new knowledge. I have never heard of that TV show.
Check out Vladimir Peniakoff. (Popski)
Popski's Private Army was one of the group of irregular Special Forces units spawned by the British in the Western Desert during World War II.
The founder and commanding officer was Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) Vladimir Peniakoff DSO MC who had some unconventional ideas about discipline and techniques. He was nicknamed "Popski" by the LRDG's Intelligence Officer Bill Kennedy Shaw because the signallers had trouble with his surname (see Lancelot Speed).
The unit was formed as No 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA in 1942. Specialising in raids (but not quite in the same form as the SAS or Long Range Desert Group), PPA caused problems to the enemy for a short while in North Africa and mainly in Italy.
They also caused a certain amount of problems to the more conservative members of their own side, and more than one staid senior officer got into trouble for encountering a member of the unit in the street and putting the man on a charge because he answered "Popski's Private Army" when asked what his unit was.
There are six known major publications about PPA:
Popski’s own story – Popski’s Private Army, Cassell Military Paperbacks.
Captain Bob Yunnie’s story (Popski’s 2nd in command) – Fighting with Popski’s Private Army, Greenhill Military Paperbacks (the original edition was called Warriors on Wheels).
Corporal Ben Owen’s story (Captain Yunnie’s gunner) – With Popski’s Private Army, Astrolabe Publishing, available from the Friends of Popski's Private Army.
Popski’s biography by his friend John Willett (8th Army Intelligence Officer, youngest Lt. Colonel at age 29. It was John Willett who pointed out to Popski the historical importance of the Basilica of Sant Appolinaris in Classe) – Popski, a life of Vladimir Peniakoff, MacGibbon and Kee, 1954.
Captain Ricky Rickwood’s story – The Khaki Sheep. Sadly, this book is thought to be completely lost as only 100 copies were ever printed in Germany just after the war.
Captain John Campbell’s story – The Green Box. This is currently only in manuscript, was thought lost but recently rediscovered after 30 years, and is now being revised.
There are currently two organisations working closely together to research and preserve PPA history and to locate PPA veterans and relatives:
The PPA Preservation Society (Belgium): ppa.ps@pandora.be
The Friends of PPA (UK): fppa@popski.com
More information can be found on the PPA-PS website: http://users.pandora.be/ppa
Many pictures of recent PPA reunions can be seen at: http://www.beanpix.com/gallery/friendsofppa
At the time of this minor update (24 April 2006) there are 15 (out of 217) PPA veterans known to be still alive.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popski%27s_Private_Army"
You can see clips of all your favorite shows on YOUTUBE. You can hear the theme songs at MYTHEMES.TV
Being fly crazy as young kids, a friend who later went on
to being a cropduster, and who tried to convince me to fly crew on a B-25 during the Bay of Pigs, we would always watch
12 O'clock High.
His father who was a Ball Turret gunner during the war would always leave the room.
Remember 'The Gallant Men' ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gallant_Men
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