Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall (book)
Encyclopedia
Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall, published in 1971, is the first of Spike Milligan's
war autobiographies. The book spans from when Britain declares war on Germany to when Milligan lands in Algeria
as a part of the Allied liberation of Africa.
The preface anticipates that 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", and ultimately 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."
The presentation is an unusual format freely mixing narrative anecdotes, contemporaneous photography, excerpts from actual diaries, actual letters, rough sketches, and performance programs, along with comic sketches and absurd fake memoranda from ranking Nazi officials. However, with regard to Milligan's veracity, the hard facts are usually apparent. Milligan says in the preface: "All the salient facts are true". And at the end of the preface: "There were the deaths of some of my friends, and therefore, no matter how funny I tried to make this book, that will always be at the back of my mind: but, were they alive today, they would have been the first to join in the laughter, and that laughter was, I'm sure, the key to victory".
The book was made into a film and adapted into a stage play.
I swore I would never write another novel. This is it".
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
.
Milligan receives a letter marked O.H.M.S.
, which his uncle advises him not to open. After some weeks similar letters arrive marked "Urgent". Eventually he opens one containing a "cunningly worded invitation to partake in World War II". About then, in an attempt to impress girls at a gym, he slips a disc, whereupon he's hospitalized to determine whether he's faking. After three months of avoiding call-up, he is given "a train ticket and a picture of Hitler reading "This is your enemy"". He searches the train, but can't find him.
. It starts with Milligan joining his regiment (56th Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery) late, and immediately being singled out as a troublemaker. He learns disrespect for certain officers within a few sentences, and commences sniping:
Milligan talks to soldiers returning from Dunkirk, and sees his first German plane. His regiment is equipped with the obsolete BL 9.2 inch Howitzer
. Training included the crews shouting 'bang' in unison as they had no shells to practice with. A shell from World War 1 is eventually found, and they make strenuous attempts to fire it for practice. It's a dud. A year passes, Milligan trains, the summer months are pleasant.
With the introduction of the new C.O. Major Chater Jack, Milligan meets an officer for whom he has great respect ("one who I would have followed anywhere"). 1940 ends and the 19th Battery has the luxury of being billeted in an empty girls' school. The book quotes at length from the regimental war diary, describing an extraordinary day when the War Office (now the Ministry of Defence) was alerted to a sea invasion — in what was intended to be an exercise. The author now confesses that he, in error, left the word "PRACTICE" out of a transmission.
Edgington and Milligan write "reams" of scenes that Milligan reckons were the beginnings of The Goon Show
. Amid the continued army stories, Milligan mentions a topic he returns to, the (actual) exceptional ability of their artillery battery. By August 1942 they had learned driving skills and how to shoot machine guns. In December 1942 Milligan drinks a toast with his family that will prove to be the last for ten years. On January 8, they head to sea.
Their band has been warned by an officer that if they smuggle their instruments on board, the instruments will be thrown overboard. Later in voyage, after a miserable passage, the officer asks if the instruments are actually on board (which they are), and will the band please play to entertain the men. Algeria comes into view.
The Sanitary Orderly mistakenly cleans the latrine with petrol, an officer lights a cigarette, causing second degree burns on the bum.
, Arthur Lowe
and Bill Maynard
, with Spike Milligan guest starring as his own father.
A stage play has live musical numbers by Ben Power and Tim Carroll, who also directs. This production has been touring the UK since July 2009 and continues until the summer of 2010.http://www.spikeswar.com
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan Patrick Seán "Spike" Milligan Hon. KBE was a comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright, soldier and actor. His early life was spent in India, where he was born, but the majority of his working life was spent in the United Kingdom. He became an Irish citizen in 1962 after the...
war autobiographies. The book spans from when Britain declares war on Germany to when Milligan lands in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
as a part of the Allied liberation of Africa.
The preface anticipates that 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", and ultimately Milligan published seven volumes covering his war service, his first nervous breakdown
Nervous breakdown
Mental breakdown is a non-medical term used to describe an acute, time-limited phase of a specific disorder that presents primarily with features of depression or anxiety.-Definition:...
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
Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall
Spike Milligan's fourth volume of war autobiography, Mussolini: His Part in My Downfall, spans from landing in Salerno, Italy, September 23, 1943, to his being invalided. While this is only four months, the text is nearly as long as the three earlier volumes together...
, 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."
The presentation is an unusual format freely mixing narrative anecdotes, contemporaneous photography, excerpts from actual diaries, actual letters, rough sketches, and performance programs, along with comic sketches and absurd fake memoranda from ranking Nazi officials. However, with regard to Milligan's veracity, the hard facts are usually apparent. Milligan says in the preface: "All the salient facts are true". And at the end of the preface: "There were the deaths of some of my friends, and therefore, no matter how funny I tried to make this book, that will always be at the back of my mind: but, were they alive today, they would have been the first to join in the laughter, and that laughter was, I'm sure, the key to victory".
The book was made into a film and adapted into a stage play.
Prologue
The prologue consists of only two sentences, which in itself represents the word-play humour that was Milligan's hallmark: "After PuckoonPuckoon
Puckoon is a comic novel by Spike Milligan, first published in 1963. It is his first full-length novel, and only major fictional work. Set in 1924, it details the troubles brought to the fictional Irish village of Puckoon by the Partition of Ireland: the new border, due to the incompetence of the...
I swore I would never write another novel. This is it".
Part 1
Milligan is at home with his family. His mother is digging the air-raid shelter when Neville ChamberlainNeville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
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
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
.
Milligan receives a letter marked O.H.M.S.
O.H.M.S.
O.H.M.S., an acronym for On Her Majesty's Service or On His Majesty's Service - is an official franking commonly seen on correspondence from government departments in countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, recognising the British monarch as the head of state.In Canada, O.H.M.S may be written on...
, which his uncle advises him not to open. After some weeks similar letters arrive marked "Urgent". Eventually he opens one containing a "cunningly worded invitation to partake in World War II". About then, in an attempt to impress girls at a gym, he slips a disc, whereupon he's hospitalized to determine whether he's faking. After three months of avoiding call-up, he is given "a train ticket and a picture of Hitler reading "This is your enemy"". He searches the train, but can't find him.
Part 2
Part 2 lasts 13 pages, much of it illustrations by Milligan or photographs. He begins his months in military training at Bexhill-on-SeaBexhill-on-Sea
Bexhill-on-Sea is a town and seaside resort in the county of East Sussex, in the south of England, within the District of Rother. It has a population of approximately 40,000...
. It starts with Milligan joining his regiment (56th Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery) late, and immediately being singled out as a troublemaker. He learns disrespect for certain officers within a few sentences, and commences sniping:
- "I suppose," said Suitcase, "you know you are three months late arriving?"
- "I'll make up for it sir, I'll fight nights as well!"
Milligan talks to soldiers returning from Dunkirk, and sees his first German plane. His regiment is equipped with the obsolete BL 9.2 inch Howitzer
BL 9.2 inch Howitzer
The Ordnance BL 9.2 inch howitzer was the principal counter-battery equipment of British forces in France in World War I. It equipped a substantial number of siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery...
. Training included the crews shouting 'bang' in unison as they had no shells to practice with. A shell from World War 1 is eventually found, and they make strenuous attempts to fire it for practice. It's a dud. A year passes, Milligan trains, the summer months are pleasant.
Part 3
Part 3 begins a year previously, and launches into a favorite Milligan literary aside — a long discussion of setting up musical shows, including names of songs, instruments, and players. It is playing jazz that he meets his lifelong friend, Harry Edgington, a man "with moral scruples that would have pleased Jesus". (In the biographies, Milligan variously portrays himself as licentious or unusually chaste.) The group of pick-up military musicians practices for a month, then are asked to give their first gig in Bexhill Old Town Church Hall. (Milligan's military career shifts between his duties as a gunner and musical performances.) Milligan notes that before the winter of 1940 they were entertaining nightly, which he later saw as his first steps into show business. Milligan is left off long enough to go to a BBC musician contest, where, as trumpet player, he wins a recording session with an established artist. He cuts his first records, then returns to barracks.With the introduction of the new C.O. Major Chater Jack, Milligan meets an officer for whom he has great respect ("one who I would have followed anywhere"). 1940 ends and the 19th Battery has the luxury of being billeted in an empty girls' school. The book quotes at length from the regimental war diary, describing an extraordinary day when the War Office (now the Ministry of Defence) was alerted to a sea invasion — in what was intended to be an exercise. The author now confesses that he, in error, left the word "PRACTICE" out of a transmission.
Edgington and Milligan write "reams" of scenes that Milligan reckons were the beginnings of The Goon Show
The Goon Show
The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme...
. Amid the continued army stories, Milligan mentions a topic he returns to, the (actual) exceptional ability of their artillery battery. By August 1942 they had learned driving skills and how to shoot machine guns. In December 1942 Milligan drinks a toast with his family that will prove to be the last for ten years. On January 8, they head to sea.
Their band has been warned by an officer that if they smuggle their instruments on board, the instruments will be thrown overboard. Later in voyage, after a miserable passage, the officer asks if the instruments are actually on board (which they are), and will the band please play to entertain the men. Algeria comes into view.
- "We were issued with an air-mail letter, in which we were allowed to say we'd arrived safe and sound....From now, all mail was censored. We were no longer allowed to give the number of troops, measurements of guns and ammo returns to the German Embassy in Spain. This, of course, would cut down our income considerably."
The Sanitary Orderly mistakenly cleans the latrine with petrol, an officer lights a cigarette, causing second degree burns on the bum.
- "A sort of British loss of face. He was our last casualty before we actually went into action. Next time it would be for real." (p. 146)
Adaptations
Film Adolf Hitler: My Part in his Downfall (1972) was produced by Gregory Smith and Norman Cohen, and directed by Norman Cohen. It stars Jim DaleJim Dale
Jim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
, Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe
Arthur Lowe was a BAFTA Award winning English actor. He was best known for playing Captain George Mainwaring in the popular British sitcom Dad's Army from 1968 until 1977.-Early life:...
and Bill Maynard
Bill Maynard
Walter Frederick George Williams , better known by the stage name Bill Maynard, is an English comedian and actor.-Early life and career:...
, with Spike Milligan guest starring as his own father.
A stage play has live musical numbers by Ben Power and Tim Carroll, who also directs. This production has been touring the UK since July 2009 and continues until the summer of 2010.http://www.spikeswar.com