Post-war, in 1947, he was made a Belgian Officier de l'Ordre de la Couronne avec Palme and awarded the Belgian Croix de guerre avec Palme.

By a mix of bluff, persistence, and some lies, he got himself appointed a company commander in the Libyan Arab Force. With it he saw some action around Tobruk, and in May 1942 he was given command, as a major, of a detachment to be known as the Libyan Arab Force Commando. PPA crossed the rivers Po and Adige and ran into a large force of Germans at Chioggia. Using bluff, as Popski would have done, Caneri laughed off the fact that he had only nine men in three jeeps, saying there were large forces behind him, and persuaded the German commander that to continue fighting was hopeless. The commander surrendered his 700 men. In Austria, PPA was disbanded and its members returned to their former units. Popski stayed in Austria, working as the liaison officer between the British and the Russians for that sector until 1946, when he was demobilized. He settled in England and married his second wife Pamela. Popski died in London in May 1951 of a brain tumor—famous from his writing, radio broadcasts, and best-selling book about PPA.Popski moved his base to Besceglie at the foot of the Matese mountains and put the men to hard training while he worked on a plan to operate behind the German lines. The operation was to be named Astrolabe. On Sunday, March 30, 2008, Popski’s birthday, the PPA Memorial was unveiled by Sir Robert Crawford CBE, director-general of the British Imperial War Museum, assisted by Captain Campbell, and dedicated in the presence of nearly 250 PPA, LRDG, SAS, and Partisan veterans, relatives, and friends. It sits in the center of the Allied Special Forces Association’s Memorial Grove within the British National Memorial Arboretum (inspired by the USA’s Arlington Cemetery) in Staffordshire, in the very center of the United Kingdom. From the American area, he led his men on raids against the Axis forces north and west of the Mareth Line. In jeeps, each armed with a .30-caliber and .50-caliber Browning machine gun, they raided airfields and shot up aircraft, ambushed convoys, and did as much damage as they could until the war in North Africa ended. They accounted for many vehicles, aircraft, and supplies and sundry other items including 600 Italian prisoners. Of more importance was the confusion the tiny force caused the Germans and Italians. The PPA in the Invasion of Italy This Enigma Machine, like the one in this photograph, was invented in 1923 and the first models were marketed for commercial use as a counter to industrial espionage. But various German government and armed forces adopted the machine as a tool to maintain secure radio communications.

In his absence, Jean Caneri took command of PPA and led it on operations until snow bogged down the jeeps. He then organized training for everyone in parachuting, skiing, and mountain climbing. Friends of PPA online part of the PPA Memorial, Official Register of PPA Personnel, PPA Roll of Honour, PPA Awards, PPA War Establishments and other information. In April, Bob Yunnie obtained a compassionate home posting upon the death of his only son, and a recently recruited young lieutenant from the 27th Lancers named McCallum took his place as patrol leader. Patrol leaders were now McCallum, Captain John Campbell, and Lieutenant Steve Wallbridge. Three nights later, Popski arrived in an LCT with 30 members of PPA, 12 jeeps, and a detachment of 73 commandos of No. 9 Commando who would hold the beachhead while PPA landed and then return with the LCT. He knew, however, that Tunisia would be a very different battleground from the Jebel Akhdar. Travel without being spotted would be much more difficult, and enemy airfields, fuel dumps, and convoys would be much better protected. Popski’s men needed more training, and for this he took them to the LRDG’s base at Zella. At Zella, Lieutenant Jean Caneri joined him. Caneri, a lawyer before the war, took charge of PPA’s administrative affairs and proved a great asset.Popski went off recruiting, looking for men who were, or would soon be with training, expert in navigation; as drivers, machine gunners, mechanics; and in demolitions. Time was short for training, for Popski had been warned that PPA would take part in the landing at Anzio, so the newcomers were kept at it day and night in the snow-covered mountains. But at the last minute PPA’s participation in the Anzio landing was cancelled. It was a bitter blow. Aborted Operation Astrolabe On April 21, Caneri led all PPA, with his headquarters organized as a fighting patrol, into the watery maze around Lake Comacchio where, with the partisans of the Garibaldi Brigade and units of the 27th Lancers, they fought Germans for seven days. McCallum and his gunner were killed when a Panzerfaust anti-tank weapon destroyed their jeep as McCallum was leading his patrol into a village on the lake. PPA vehicles are shown during a 48-hour rest and refit period on the campus of the University of Padua, Italy, in the spring of 1945.