Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (Spike Milligan War Memoirs)

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The preface anticipates the book will be part of a trilogy; years later, the cover of the fourth volume said: "Don't be fooled this is the last, volume four of the war memoirs." Ultimately, however, Milligan published seven volumes covering his war service, his first nervous breakdown and reallocation to rear-echelon duties, his demob and early years trying to break into the entertainment industry. In Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall, having been stung by a critic who called the biographies unreliable, Milligan wrote, "I wish the reader to know that he is not reading a tissue of lies and fancies, it all really happened." [1] The first three books were also released in an abridged single volume, cutting out most of the tangents and "Hitlergrams", called "The War Memoirs", and parts 5-7 as "The Peace Memoirs".

Spike was awarded an honorary knighthood and CBE for his services to entertainment, and also the British Comedy Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award. A BBC poll voted him as the ‘funniest person of the last 1000 years’. His poem ‘On the Ning Nang Nong’ was voted Britain’s funniest poem. Some Goon Show scripts feature the names of places where the regiment was encamped. Bexhill, Pevensey Bay, and "Robin's Post" (a private house used by the regiment) each have a script named for them. Drill Sergeant Nasty: Several are depicted, including BSM "Jumbo" Day, and a bombardier "who will remain a nameless bastard". Sgt Jeordy Dawson has shades of this but proves much more personable and reasonable in the long run.Milligan is at home with his family. His mother is digging the air-raid shelter when Neville Chamberlain announces that Britain is at war with Germany. The family response is for Spike, his father and brother to produce boyish drawings of war machines (the drawings are included in the book), which are taken to the War Office. They try climbing it one day, and upon reaching the top Spike mentions how old it is, whereupon his fellows suddenly become irrationally afraid that it'll fall over. Spike (Terence Alan) was born to British parents in India, where his father, an army captain, was stationed in Poona (Pune). The family lived in India and Rangoon (Yangon) before returning to Britain when Spike was twelve.

Distinguished Gentleman's Pipe: Bombardier Syd Price smokes one, which Milligan says has a bowl so large "he hid in it during air raids." Milligan himself takes up pipe-smoking in Rommel? Gunner Who?, so as to not have to smoke the disliked V cigarettes.

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America Won World War II: At one point the regiment parades through an Italian village in triumph only to realise the cheering crowds are yelling 'Hail the Americans!' Anyway I recommend this book. There are moments of what might be called political correctness but this is Spike Milligan. A man of his time and not. Tom is promoting his new movie Valkyrie - you have to pronounce it Valk-eye-ree - in which he plays Claus von Stauffenberg, leader of the failed plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944. Spike's silliness is infectious and the book contains a winning combination of word play, self deprecating humour and social history. And, a very credible evocation, of the life of a conscript at the start of the war right down to the smelliness of the army uniforms and how nobody got the correct size. The book contains plenty of surprising and frequently outrageous anecdotes, many of which are loud out loud funny.

This has to be one of the funniest war memoirs ever written. Spike brings his trademark manic eye to bear on his own experiences as a gunner in World War II and, while some of the events are tragic (obviously) you still barely get a chance to breathe between laughs. For all the privations of army life, it is clear that Spike had a lot of fun during this period, and the humour that was to make his name with the Goons and beyond is here in abundance. That said, Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall ends just as Spike's regiment arrives in Algiers for its first taste of action and, whilst there is some tragedy in this memoir, things will inevitably get more serious from here on in. Simple yet effectively stirring and utterly believable because this was exactly how everybody felt in those days. Only Sane Man: Milligan presents himself like this, which is hilarious in itself when you know the level of nuttiness in his works.I don't know if this is for everyone, did the first paragraph made you laugh? Then go for it, it's like that the entire time. General Failure: Major Jenkins, who is loathed by his troops for his devotion to military bullshit and who demotes Milligan from Lance-Bombardier to Gunner for no better reason than that Milligan is more popular than he is. Of course, Milligan admits to being an Unreliable Narrator so there may have been better reasons than that.