Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall

I’ve been knocked out with something (maybe COVID-19, but who knows) for the last couple of weeks and hadn’t finished a book in that time until today. I tried a couple of light thrillers (Cussler and MacLean) but couldn’t concentrate on them.
Spike Milligan’s ‘Adolf Hitler, My Part in his Downfall’ broke my reader’s block. It’s a very silly, but also insightful autobiographical account of Milligan’s time in the army during WW2, this first volume focussing on his conscription and training. It’s definitely “of its time”(translation: a bit racist - there is one scene where Milligan gets covered in oil and does a Paul Robeson impression ), but aside from that there is a lot to enjoy. When he’s funny, he’s very show more very funny, and the combination of silly puns and the episodic nature of the book (i.e. you don’t have to pay too much attention) made it perfect for reading on my sick bed. show less

The only reason this isn't a 4-star read is that it wasn't long enough! Either that or my anticipation of future volumes in Spike Milligan's war memoirs had me getting ahead of myself. This first volume covers the beginning of WW2 up until his unit landed at Algiers in 1943. In it you will find plenty to chuckle over: dry-witted British humour, uproariously funny barracks-room humour (cue indulgent eye-rolling), and the mere presentation of situations that make you laugh at their absurdity. A prime example of the latter is the tale of D Battery's 9.2 howitzer, which they were supposed to train on but for which they did not have any ammunition. So when they practised firing, instead of firing a round they would have to shout "BANG!" in show more unison. And if you like so-horrible-they're-funny wisecracks, you will find those in abundance. "Can you play 'The Maple Leaf Forever'?" a Canadian officer asks Spike's band as they play at an army dance. Spike replies, "No sir, after an hour I get tired."

Speaking of music, Spike also spends part of the book talking about his beginnings as a jazz musician, playing in bands with his army comrades and even getting a chance to play with other talented amateur musicians on a BBC recording. There's also a great story about how they smuggle their instruments on board the ship taking them to Algiers, and another about stealing a double bass, whose introduction is footnoted with ""I haven't mentioned this before because I've been waiting for the original owner to die." What a rascal! There are many such antics in this book, which is really to be expected since he's writing about men in their 20s and younger.

But all levity aside, Spike does not shy away from the real impact of war. He writes movingly about visiting his family on leave and realizing just how deeply the war has affected them, and he details two rather gruesome incidents involving injuries to personnel: one accidental (involving a smoke shell jammed in a gun) and one deliberate (involving a Tommy gun). And in his introduction he notes that the friends he lost to the war were always in the back of his mind as he wrote.

Now that I've read this one I can't wait to start the second volume, entitled "Rommel?" "Gunner Who?" which looks to be a bit longer than this one. If you like British humour, particularly The Goon Show and others of that ilk, or WW2 memoirs, or even jazz music, this is worth a look. show less

Spike Milligan at his best!

I haven't read this since I was in my middle teens and I'm pretty sure I couldn't put it down then either.

I can remember my Dad coming to my room late at night to check if I was ok, because laughing so much.

Whilst Spike is often hilarious, his turn of phrase is often lovely and there are many insights into the day to day feelings of the young men off to a terrifying and uncertain fate.

As was the case almost half a century ago, I will be reading all of this series in the coming weeks.

Brilliantly funny and incisive. Although this is first rate comedy, there is a poignancy about it, as there should be with any reflections on war. Perhaps comedy is the best medium for writing about the horror of war?

Goon Show-style humour has never been entirely to my taste, but even so I was a bit surprised that I didn't find much to enjoy in this book. The combination of witty comedic writer and war memoir – being a World War Two buff, myself – seemed certain to fire my interest, but I struggled with this first volume of Spike Milligan's memoirs. The insights into Milligan's war experiences are paltry and the laughs weren't as plentiful as I expected – and poorly set up. The absence of any storytelling nous is a drag, and the book can't be said to be well-written or organised. Humour and war memoir can be done together – see George MacDonald Fraser's unimpeachable Quartered Safe Out Here – but it's not a roaring success here. Good show more title, though. show less

What larks! Memoir of a young recruit in the last War. Not that any actual combat or hardship occurs. Just japes, execrable puns, irreverence, “silly buggers”. For Spike Milligan, this jaunty silliness all crystallised a decade later of course in the Goon Show, much-loved diversion of the postwar years. This book was on my father’s shelves, coming out of those years, and that and its arresting title may have given it more authority than I now realise it merits. Its certainly not a comic or wartime classic, but served perhaps as a chiming recollection for the generation that were called up in the War of the humourless military and adult bureaucraies they endured; but also, Goon-Show-adjacent, of the energy and mischief of youth.

Funny, and yet so sad: I'm usually not one to read autobios, but since it is Spike Milligan I made the exception. It was funny, just as I expected it to be, but there were parts that were very moving and sad; as should be expected I suppose for a WWII novel. His accounts of the absurd are always dead on hilarious, and I found myself reading a passage over and over and just cracking up.
I knew that Spike suffered from depression, and I think in parts it was very apparent. The places that are especially poignant are when he relates a humorous tale, and then explain how he visited the place years later, and how the memories are too much for him to bear. In one particular paragraph he laments: "Oh, Yesterday, how you plague me!"
I love Spike show more Milligan and his comedy, and have read several run-of-the-mill internet bios on him but his own biography really brings him to life. A great read! show less