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War Memoirs #2
'Rommel?' 'Gunner Who?': A Confrontation in the Desert
This is the second volume of Mr Milligan's reminiscences of World War II.
209 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
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802 people want to read
About the author
Spike Milligan
286 books300 followersTerence Alan Patrick Seán Milligan, known as Spike, was a comedian, writer and musician. He was of Irish descent, but spent most of his childhood in India and lived most of his later life in England, moving to Australia after retirement. He is famous for his work in The Goon Show, children's poetry and a series of comical autobiographical novels about his experiences serving in the British Army in WWII. Spike Milligan suffered from bipolar disorder, which led to depression and frequent breakdowns, but he will be remembered as a comic genius. His tombstone reads 'I told you I was ill' in Gaelic.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 130 reviews
March 26, 2017
The second volume in Milligan's war memoirs concentrates on his time in North Africa. This volume is more poignant than the first but that was inevitable, really, as his friends started to be killed.
One passage has him describing some typically zany Goon-type humour with one of his mates in his outfit and then he slams it shut with the sentence 'He had eight days left of his young life left to live.' You can't help thinking 'well, fuck'.
Speaking of bad language, Milligan really ramps up the casual use of racist, sexist and homophobic language in this one. While this is undeniably period-accurate, and I wouldn't criticise him for using it for the sake of authenticity, I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me a little. I guess you can take the guy out of the 21st century but you can't take the 21st century out of the guy.
The laughs are just as abundant, though, and I was still laughing uproariously throughout. At two days per book, I'm going to be done with this series in no time!
One passage has him describing some typically zany Goon-type humour with one of his mates in his outfit and then he slams it shut with the sentence 'He had eight days left of his young life left to live.' You can't help thinking 'well, fuck'.
Speaking of bad language, Milligan really ramps up the casual use of racist, sexist and homophobic language in this one. While this is undeniably period-accurate, and I wouldn't criticise him for using it for the sake of authenticity, I'd be lying if I said it didn't bother me a little. I guess you can take the guy out of the 21st century but you can't take the 21st century out of the guy.
The laughs are just as abundant, though, and I was still laughing uproariously throughout. At two days per book, I'm going to be done with this series in no time!
October 14, 2018
Uproariously funny
A comic genius. I read this in less than a day. He keeps you engaged all of the time. A word of warning. Don't have any drinks nearby as you're likely to spill them or choke on them from laughing.
He has a rare talent of finding humour in the most trying of circumstances. It was a depressing place. This volume deals with the desert: the heat,the mosquitoes the locals and the enemy. Who would want to be there? He is without doubt a gifted storyteller
A comic genius. I read this in less than a day. He keeps you engaged all of the time. A word of warning. Don't have any drinks nearby as you're likely to spill them or choke on them from laughing.
He has a rare talent of finding humour in the most trying of circumstances. It was a depressing place. This volume deals with the desert: the heat,the mosquitoes the locals and the enemy. Who would want to be there? He is without doubt a gifted storyteller
August 27, 2019
I mean, if you can overlook the racism here then this is a pretty good book. The problem is that not everyone will be able to overlook it, and it feels like kind of a big deal here because even though it was published back in the seventies, Milligan was kind of old at the time and I guess he was of a generation and all that.
Otherwise, there’s quite a lot to like here, if only because of its historical significance. It’s fascinating to follow in Milligan’s footsteps as he and his army unit take on an African campaign, and while I find his humour hit and miss, the hits make up for the misses.
All in all, I’ve been enjoying reading Milligan’s war diaries so far, but I do also need to take them a little bit at a time to stop them from becoming too tedious. I’d say they’re the kind of books I’ll read once, but only once. But I’m glad they’re a part of my collection.
Otherwise, there’s quite a lot to like here, if only because of its historical significance. It’s fascinating to follow in Milligan’s footsteps as he and his army unit take on an African campaign, and while I find his humour hit and miss, the hits make up for the misses.
All in all, I’ve been enjoying reading Milligan’s war diaries so far, but I do also need to take them a little bit at a time to stop them from becoming too tedious. I’d say they’re the kind of books I’ll read once, but only once. But I’m glad they’re a part of my collection.
August 12, 2012
‘Rommel’ ‘Gunner Who?’ is the second book in a seven book series charting the experiences of Spike Milligan during and immediately after the Second World War. Born in 1919 in India to an Irish father serving in the British Indian Army and English mother, and passing away in 2002, Milligan is widely regarded as one of Britain’s most famous and influential comedians in the second half of the twentieth century, known for his surrealist and off-beat sketches and wise-cracks, influencing acts such as Monty Python, Kenny Everett and Eddie Izzard. Prior to the war he performed as an amateur jazz trumpeter in London, a role he continued whilst serving in North Africa and Italy, and after being wounded and hospitalised in Italy he ended the war as a full time entertainer. After being demobbed he shot to fame as one of the co-creators and principal writer of The Goon Show, one of the most popular radio programmes of the 1950s. By the late 1950s he was writing for television and regularly appearing on the small screen. He was also a noted writer, poet and playwright.
I read the first six of the Milligan war diaries when I was a teenager in the 1980s and I still have four of them, this one being the earliest I have. ‘Rommel’ ‘Gunner Who?’ focuses on Gunner Milligan’s time in Algeria, especially on the battle for Tunis, and draws extensively from his war time diary including sketches and photographs. It also includes joke pictures and little comedy scripts. It’s probably about 25 years since I first read the book so it was interesting to go back and take another look. In many ways it still holds up. The narrative is engaging and witty, blending in pathos in just right measure. Milligan’s story is interesting, traversing across North Africa swapping artillery bombardments, being mortared and shot at, witnessing death and destruction, letting off steam in bars, and the camaraderie of young men in engaged in a dangerous endeavour. In other ways, it seems quite dated, especially in relation to the politically incorrect language. Several times, racist jokes are made at the expensive of the locals and
places are described in racist terms, for example, he calls a couple of settlements ‘a wog village’. In this sense it is a product of its time, but Milligan was well aware of such racist sentiments at the time of its writing given criticisms of some of his other works which in trying to address racial stereotyping reproduced what it sought to counter (I’m thinking here of the television programme Curry and Chips). As autobiographies go, it’s a largely enjoyable and informative read. As I remember it, the next two books in the series were the best ones – Monty, His Part in My Victory and Mussolini, His Part in My Downfall.
I read the first six of the Milligan war diaries when I was a teenager in the 1980s and I still have four of them, this one being the earliest I have. ‘Rommel’ ‘Gunner Who?’ focuses on Gunner Milligan’s time in Algeria, especially on the battle for Tunis, and draws extensively from his war time diary including sketches and photographs. It also includes joke pictures and little comedy scripts. It’s probably about 25 years since I first read the book so it was interesting to go back and take another look. In many ways it still holds up. The narrative is engaging and witty, blending in pathos in just right measure. Milligan’s story is interesting, traversing across North Africa swapping artillery bombardments, being mortared and shot at, witnessing death and destruction, letting off steam in bars, and the camaraderie of young men in engaged in a dangerous endeavour. In other ways, it seems quite dated, especially in relation to the politically incorrect language. Several times, racist jokes are made at the expensive of the locals and
places are described in racist terms, for example, he calls a couple of settlements ‘a wog village’. In this sense it is a product of its time, but Milligan was well aware of such racist sentiments at the time of its writing given criticisms of some of his other works which in trying to address racial stereotyping reproduced what it sought to counter (I’m thinking here of the television programme Curry and Chips). As autobiographies go, it’s a largely enjoyable and informative read. As I remember it, the next two books in the series were the best ones – Monty, His Part in My Victory and Mussolini, His Part in My Downfall.
January 4, 2021
Short review:
Utterly bonkers and brilliant. This memoir of Gunner Milligan's time in North Africa is anarchical, insane, inane, silly and very very funny.
If you love The Goons and Monty Python you'll love this but if you find those programmes silly and childish then I wouldn't bother with this either.
I loved it.
Full review:
This is the second volume in Terence Alan ‘Spike’ Milligan’s autobiography/reminiscences about his experiences during World War Two, which is in seven parts. That sounds a lot but they are so hilarious, engaging, anarchic and interesting, as well as sad and moving at times, that you will whizz through them in no time.
This volume covers 19 Battery, 56th Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery’s journey from Bexhill-on-Sea (East Sussex) to Algeria. He describes their experiences there: getting into action, the boredom of waiting for something to happen, the terror of being fired at, and the main facet of army life: ‘Hurry up and wait’, which means you have long periods of doing nothing while waiting for orders, then when they arrive everything has to be done at a hundred miles an hour. This volume covers all of their Algerian campaign and the beginnings of their participation in the campaign to liberate Tunis – in Tunisia, funnily enough!
The book is an interesting record of the war at that time and in those places because Milligan conducted extensive personal research. He used his own diary and those of his erstwhile comrades, as well as letters, photographs and his own drawings made at the time. He uses archive photos as well, particularly because he did not have a personal photo of the battery’s Humber Snipe Wireless Truck, as well as many others completely unrelated to WWII but he uses to good effect with ridiculous and hilarious captions.
This book is very funny and you will laugh aloud, but it is also poignant at times and an interesting record of army life during WWII. I have read it several times and will again, no doubt.
UPDATE: 03.01.2021
I have very recently finished reading the third volume of Alan Moorhead's trilogy about the North African campaign, The End in Africa. Having done so, I immediately re-read this book by Spike Milligan because Spike's regiment was in the First Army that Moorhead was based with for most of that difficult and bloody episode. Moorhead provides a lot of detail about the military actions and the the feelings of the men involved. Milligan's book gives a highly detailed account of his life in a heavy artillery regiment only just behind and on the front line. Moorhead provides maps that show many of the places in which Milligan served and passed through, so reading the two together gives a more vivid picture of the whole thing. I recommend you do so.
Utterly bonkers and brilliant. This memoir of Gunner Milligan's time in North Africa is anarchical, insane, inane, silly and very very funny.
If you love The Goons and Monty Python you'll love this but if you find those programmes silly and childish then I wouldn't bother with this either.
I loved it.
Full review:
This is the second volume in Terence Alan ‘Spike’ Milligan’s autobiography/reminiscences about his experiences during World War Two, which is in seven parts. That sounds a lot but they are so hilarious, engaging, anarchic and interesting, as well as sad and moving at times, that you will whizz through them in no time.
This volume covers 19 Battery, 56th Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery’s journey from Bexhill-on-Sea (East Sussex) to Algeria. He describes their experiences there: getting into action, the boredom of waiting for something to happen, the terror of being fired at, and the main facet of army life: ‘Hurry up and wait’, which means you have long periods of doing nothing while waiting for orders, then when they arrive everything has to be done at a hundred miles an hour. This volume covers all of their Algerian campaign and the beginnings of their participation in the campaign to liberate Tunis – in Tunisia, funnily enough!
The book is an interesting record of the war at that time and in those places because Milligan conducted extensive personal research. He used his own diary and those of his erstwhile comrades, as well as letters, photographs and his own drawings made at the time. He uses archive photos as well, particularly because he did not have a personal photo of the battery’s Humber Snipe Wireless Truck, as well as many others completely unrelated to WWII but he uses to good effect with ridiculous and hilarious captions.
This book is very funny and you will laugh aloud, but it is also poignant at times and an interesting record of army life during WWII. I have read it several times and will again, no doubt.
UPDATE: 03.01.2021
I have very recently finished reading the third volume of Alan Moorhead's trilogy about the North African campaign, The End in Africa. Having done so, I immediately re-read this book by Spike Milligan because Spike's regiment was in the First Army that Moorhead was based with for most of that difficult and bloody episode. Moorhead provides a lot of detail about the military actions and the the feelings of the men involved. Milligan's book gives a highly detailed account of his life in a heavy artillery regiment only just behind and on the front line. Moorhead provides maps that show many of the places in which Milligan served and passed through, so reading the two together gives a more vivid picture of the whole thing. I recommend you do so.
March 12, 2023
A very humorous, original, entertaining, yet sometimes poignant memoir about the author’s experiences in the British Army during World War Two. There are lots of puns and funny sentences that are classic ‘Spike Milligan’ lines.
Spike Milligan fans should find this book a very satisfying and interesting reading experience.
This book was first published in 1974.
Spike Milligan fans should find this book a very satisfying and interesting reading experience.
This book was first published in 1974.
October 25, 2020
Once and future dance musician, and war time Gunner, Spike Milligan Continues in Vol 2 of his war time cracked memoirs, “Rommel ? “Gunner Who?”. While Volume 1 covers his time making time, music and girl friends in England, Volume 2 has is artillery regiment in North Africa where they will eventually get into the fighting. Milligan continues his back talking, dry, pun based fast repartee, but there is a trend toward his awakening to the fact that he and his friends are increasing danger. To borrow an American artillery term, they are now “Danger Close”.
For most modern readers and especially my fellow Americans a lot of the English-Irish and old school military language and humor may not travel well. What was irreverent can sometimes read as hostile. As a former Navy Man, I suspect much of the reported back talk is a combination of what “I wish I had said” and war time bravado.
My bottom line is that this is from the trenches, if not yest front line wartime reality. For me, Rommel? Is authentic enlisted man, cum humorist coping with the insane sanity of waiting for battle. For example:
“If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it.” The variation I knew was:
The beatings will continue until moral improves. For the rest this is about as dark as his humor gets a more typical example, quote:
Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on mental grounds.'
'That's how I got in, sir.'
'Didn't we all?'
Note the implied reference to an officer. An officer who will go with the joke. In book 1 there was almost no mention of officers and rarely do they get in a word. Milligan’s world is no longer the flat land of the barracks but daily contact with officers., They are almost never seen as great men, but now there is some idea of them as not all fools dreaming of heroics.
Milllgan continues to be the underdog using humor and music to keep a version of himself, but everywhere is a growing sense of North Africa is a dangerous place.
Of interest to me is that he is writing at a time when the allies are winning. Naturally he has little good to say about the Americans, but there is no sense that he or his fellow soldiers feel like they are winning. Fear of the German is naturally high. There is some up and back movement, the first casualties and the reality of in-coming rounds. Mostly his artillery unit is advancing. I think comparative memoirs by American soldiers tended to relate more doggedness over a notion of “Home by Christmas”; but a GI memoir of the same period was likely to state that America Arms were going to prevail, and that the job was something the dog faces were going to do.
For most modern readers and especially my fellow Americans a lot of the English-Irish and old school military language and humor may not travel well. What was irreverent can sometimes read as hostile. As a former Navy Man, I suspect much of the reported back talk is a combination of what “I wish I had said” and war time bravado.
My bottom line is that this is from the trenches, if not yest front line wartime reality. For me, Rommel? Is authentic enlisted man, cum humorist coping with the insane sanity of waiting for battle. For example:
“If a man dies when you hang him, keep hanging him until he gets used to it.” The variation I knew was:
The beatings will continue until moral improves. For the rest this is about as dark as his humor gets a more typical example, quote:
Keep talking, Milligan. I think I can get you out on mental grounds.'
'That's how I got in, sir.'
'Didn't we all?'
Note the implied reference to an officer. An officer who will go with the joke. In book 1 there was almost no mention of officers and rarely do they get in a word. Milligan’s world is no longer the flat land of the barracks but daily contact with officers., They are almost never seen as great men, but now there is some idea of them as not all fools dreaming of heroics.
Milllgan continues to be the underdog using humor and music to keep a version of himself, but everywhere is a growing sense of North Africa is a dangerous place.
Of interest to me is that he is writing at a time when the allies are winning. Naturally he has little good to say about the Americans, but there is no sense that he or his fellow soldiers feel like they are winning. Fear of the German is naturally high. There is some up and back movement, the first casualties and the reality of in-coming rounds. Mostly his artillery unit is advancing. I think comparative memoirs by American soldiers tended to relate more doggedness over a notion of “Home by Christmas”; but a GI memoir of the same period was likely to state that America Arms were going to prevail, and that the job was something the dog faces were going to do.
February 25, 2019
Spike Milligan is one of those legendary comedians who gets namechecked by lots of comedians I admire, and I’m aware of his role as a co-founder of The Goons, but I’ve never actually seen much of his stuff, and I haven’t read any of his books. So when I found this in a charity book sale, I figured it was a good excuse to try him out.
This is Volume 2 (of 7) of his WW2 memoirs, covering January to May 1943, in which his artillery unit arrives in Algeria and fights its way to Tunis. It’s a mix of embellished diary entries, fake dialogue between Hitler and other Nazi officials (and occasionally Churchill, Mussolini and others), drawings and humorously illustrative photos (many of them not actually from WW2). And I’m not really sure what to make of it.
On the one hand, there’s a lot of funny bits, and the slapdash, jumbled narrative (such as it is) conveys what it’s like to be a soldier on the ground without the benefit of a bigger picture of what’s going on. On the other hand, I’m not really a fan of war memoirs, though they’re better when they’re funny. Still, I think Milligan didn't strike the right balance between refusing to take the war seriously and conveying the seriousness of what it was like to be in the war. (The casual racism, sexism and homophobia of the time doesn’t help, although at least it’s honest.) I don’t think this will put me off investigating Milligan further, but I don’t think I’ll be checking out any more of his war memoirs for awhile.
This is Volume 2 (of 7) of his WW2 memoirs, covering January to May 1943, in which his artillery unit arrives in Algeria and fights its way to Tunis. It’s a mix of embellished diary entries, fake dialogue between Hitler and other Nazi officials (and occasionally Churchill, Mussolini and others), drawings and humorously illustrative photos (many of them not actually from WW2). And I’m not really sure what to make of it.
On the one hand, there’s a lot of funny bits, and the slapdash, jumbled narrative (such as it is) conveys what it’s like to be a soldier on the ground without the benefit of a bigger picture of what’s going on. On the other hand, I’m not really a fan of war memoirs, though they’re better when they’re funny. Still, I think Milligan didn't strike the right balance between refusing to take the war seriously and conveying the seriousness of what it was like to be in the war. (The casual racism, sexism and homophobia of the time doesn’t help, although at least it’s honest.) I don’t think this will put me off investigating Milligan further, but I don’t think I’ll be checking out any more of his war memoirs for awhile.
April 21, 2021
Spike Mulligan was a genius. I tried his airplane curse on crazy drivers and it didn't work for me either. I will always treasure the mental picture of Mulligan standing in a hole holding a bit of foliage, them having water poured on him. He was being "watered" by order of his commanding officer!
November 21, 2023
Not as funny as the first book but still very amusing. Some of the humour is definitely dated, Spike would probably be cancelled if he was around today, something he wouldn't have given a shit about I'm sure.
March 13, 2020
Spike Milligan patřil mezi ikony anglického humoru. Jeho televizní pořad Goon Show je svým absurdním humorem považovaný za předskokana Monty Pythonů… ostatně, taky na něm někteří spolupracovali. Čili, když jsem si téhle knížky všiml, rozhodl jsem si ho prověřit v praxi.
"Utíral jsem si čímsi, co kdysi bývalo ručníkem, cosi, co kdysi bývalo lidským tělem. "
Zadní strana obálky říká něco o protiválečné satiře. Což je velmi přehnané tvrzení. V podstatě jsou to Milliganovi válečné zápisky, po válce rozvedené a beletrizované. To v praxi znamená, že to nemá děj, jsou to jen střípky z Afrického tažení, v nichž se zase tolik nebojuje, spíš se vojáci baví o chlastu, jídle, sexu a jiných ušlechtilých zálibách. Vůbec mě překvapilo, že se tahle kniha nevyhýbá vulgaritám – což nevím, jestli je otázka překladu, nebo prostě takhle zněla i v originálu. Působí to realisticky, k tématu se to hodí, jen jsem si vždycky myslel, že romány ze sedmdesátých let si museli vystačit jen s nějakým tím „kruci“. A když už jsme u překladu, tak je vidět, že se překladatel snažil, ale stejně máte často pocit, že tam byl vtip, který válku nepřežil. Zvláště když si Milligan hodně potrpí na hraní se slovy. Ale i tak tam dost hezkého zůstává, třeba když Milligan jednoho z vojáků charakterizuje, že ho určitě rajcovalo osahávat sedla na kolech malých holčiček.
"Měl ve zvyku škrábat se na hřbetu levé ruky, kdykoliv se zamyslel, a proto si také hřbet levé ruky nikdy neškrábal."
Je to živý, chaotický, občas tam někdo padne, občas se tam i střílí a něco bouchne, ale to se děje tak mimochodem, všechnu pozornost na sebe strhává Milliganovo vyprávění a výměny hlášek mezi vojáky. Nemá to příběh, nemá to děj, je to prostě jen zábavně napsaný válečný deník. Jako zdroj informací o stylu jedné z anglických komiksových ikon je to zajímavé a chvílema pořád legrační, ale nemyslím, že by to bylo moc čtivo pro běžného českého čtenáře.
"Utíral jsem si čímsi, co kdysi bývalo ručníkem, cosi, co kdysi bývalo lidským tělem. "
Zadní strana obálky říká něco o protiválečné satiře. Což je velmi přehnané tvrzení. V podstatě jsou to Milliganovi válečné zápisky, po válce rozvedené a beletrizované. To v praxi znamená, že to nemá děj, jsou to jen střípky z Afrického tažení, v nichž se zase tolik nebojuje, spíš se vojáci baví o chlastu, jídle, sexu a jiných ušlechtilých zálibách. Vůbec mě překvapilo, že se tahle kniha nevyhýbá vulgaritám – což nevím, jestli je otázka překladu, nebo prostě takhle zněla i v originálu. Působí to realisticky, k tématu se to hodí, jen jsem si vždycky myslel, že romány ze sedmdesátých let si museli vystačit jen s nějakým tím „kruci“. A když už jsme u překladu, tak je vidět, že se překladatel snažil, ale stejně máte často pocit, že tam byl vtip, který válku nepřežil. Zvláště když si Milligan hodně potrpí na hraní se slovy. Ale i tak tam dost hezkého zůstává, třeba když Milligan jednoho z vojáků charakterizuje, že ho určitě rajcovalo osahávat sedla na kolech malých holčiček.
"Měl ve zvyku škrábat se na hřbetu levé ruky, kdykoliv se zamyslel, a proto si také hřbet levé ruky nikdy neškrábal."
Je to živý, chaotický, občas tam někdo padne, občas se tam i střílí a něco bouchne, ale to se děje tak mimochodem, všechnu pozornost na sebe strhává Milliganovo vyprávění a výměny hlášek mezi vojáky. Nemá to příběh, nemá to děj, je to prostě jen zábavně napsaný válečný deník. Jako zdroj informací o stylu jedné z anglických komiksových ikon je to zajímavé a chvílema pořád legrační, ale nemyslím, že by to bylo moc čtivo pro běžného českého čtenáře.
July 11, 2024
Autobiographical work detailing the comedian’s experiences as a wireless operator with an artillery unit in North Africa during World War 2 (1942-1943). This volume is part two of a seven-book series of personal chronicles.
Milligan delivers an explosive barrage of rapid-fire jokes and pithy puns. Some are duds, but many land with devastating force. A preponderance of the jokes are phallic or otherwise sexual in nature. The book includes period photographs of Milligan and his fellow soldiers in Algeria and Tunisia as well as amusing cartoons drawn by the author. Every so often a fake Hitler telegram is inserted for bonus mirth.
He describes long, tedious marches across the northern reaches of the Sahara Desert with the 19th Artillery Regiment, playing his trumpet for the amusement of his fellow soldiers, dealing with shortages of everything from socks and underwear to eating utensils, consuming nothing but porridge and bully beef for days on end, and smoking nasty “V” brand cigarettes made in India. Sometimes he even did war stuff: setting up observation posts, laying telephone cable, digging foxholes, driving support vehicles, etc. Despite the massive amount of casualties during the campaign, little mention is made of death or carnage, and Nazi soldiers are barely mentioned, let alone seen.
Milligan delivers an explosive barrage of rapid-fire jokes and pithy puns. Some are duds, but many land with devastating force. A preponderance of the jokes are phallic or otherwise sexual in nature. The book includes period photographs of Milligan and his fellow soldiers in Algeria and Tunisia as well as amusing cartoons drawn by the author. Every so often a fake Hitler telegram is inserted for bonus mirth.
He describes long, tedious marches across the northern reaches of the Sahara Desert with the 19th Artillery Regiment, playing his trumpet for the amusement of his fellow soldiers, dealing with shortages of everything from socks and underwear to eating utensils, consuming nothing but porridge and bully beef for days on end, and smoking nasty “V” brand cigarettes made in India. Sometimes he even did war stuff: setting up observation posts, laying telephone cable, digging foxholes, driving support vehicles, etc. Despite the massive amount of casualties during the campaign, little mention is made of death or carnage, and Nazi soldiers are barely mentioned, let alone seen.
December 23, 2020
The second volume of Milligan's World War II memoirs, mostly about Milligan's time as a gunner in North Africa. If you've read the first one, you know what to expect - extremely funny observations of the absurdities of war jarringly interrupted with death.
By 23.15 hours we were all in the Passion Waggon. The noise was incredible, talking, singing, farting, laughing, vomiting. Versatility was going to win us the war. It was horrible, but, there was a kind of mad strange poetry to it, that is, ask any one why they were like they were at that moment and they’d have a rational answer.
‘Hello Milligan, I’m going to have a nap, would they turn the volume down on the guns.’ He has eight days of his young life left.
June 18, 2021
An amazing combination of hilarity and horror. Milligan will recount something hilarious that one of his friends said or did, then mention that he was killed days later. Several chapters titled "Trauma" recount incredibly grisly nightmares - I'm unsure if these are from the time or are accounts of post-war PTSD.
Milligan was in & out of psychiatric institutions for the rest of his life as a result of his wartime experiences. The same was true of plenty of other soldiers who didn't go on to be famous. These memoirs should be required reading for anyone who advocates killing for a cause. Sometimes war is unavoidable but it's never desirable.
Milligan was in & out of psychiatric institutions for the rest of his life as a result of his wartime experiences. The same was true of plenty of other soldiers who didn't go on to be famous. These memoirs should be required reading for anyone who advocates killing for a cause. Sometimes war is unavoidable but it's never desirable.
April 9, 2021
I've read this before, too, so I happen to know he survives North Africa - "just as well, Min, it's tricky to write a memoir when you're dead".
A very good read: funny, informative and occasionally exciting ("BANG!" he shouted, just to keep the adrenaline levels up) and then Milligan hits you with a really poignant passage just when you don't expect it. Near the end of the book he takes a couple of paragraphs to talk about how the friendships he made in wartime have been the strongest and most enduring of his life (either before or after the war). He says that he can be sitting in a jazz club, say Ronnie Scott's in London, and someone might play a particular tune and the world melts away and he is transported vividly back to those days in 1942/3. He describes it better than me - get a copy and have a read.
He was a deep man, the Milligan, and we won't see his like again.
A very good read: funny, informative and occasionally exciting ("BANG!" he shouted, just to keep the adrenaline levels up) and then Milligan hits you with a really poignant passage just when you don't expect it. Near the end of the book he takes a couple of paragraphs to talk about how the friendships he made in wartime have been the strongest and most enduring of his life (either before or after the war). He says that he can be sitting in a jazz club, say Ronnie Scott's in London, and someone might play a particular tune and the world melts away and he is transported vividly back to those days in 1942/3. He describes it better than me - get a copy and have a read.
He was a deep man, the Milligan, and we won't see his like again.
October 5, 2023
Part 2 of Spike’s war memoirs. More of the Milligan sense of humour with poignant memories of fighting in North Africa.
Some of the language is quite offensive, but recognisably of it’s time. Some of the attitudes of some characters are not excusable - even accounting of the times.
I must admit to preferring the first volume. Not sure if I’ll read the third.
Some of the language is quite offensive, but recognisably of it’s time. Some of the attitudes of some characters are not excusable - even accounting of the times.
I must admit to preferring the first volume. Not sure if I’ll read the third.
December 13, 2021
Astonishingly good.
July 31, 2022
As funny as volume one. Inspired lunacy with an edge of criticism to it. Some brilliant set pieces in it - the Hitler interludes are just amazing. I remembered the jazz band one from previously reading & still laughed out loud. Read & smile.
November 27, 2024
Enjoyed this listen, Spike has seen a lot of things.
January 26, 2025
My first confrontation with a book for like 3 months and not a desert in sight, although I have been eating mad aloo. Great mix of funny and somber.
February 9, 2017
Following on from Adolf Hitler-my part in his downfall, Spike goes to North Africa to dish it out to ze Afrika Korps... funny, sometimes pant-wettingly, this is a fantastic sequel to the original war diary.
January 22, 2025
I am so glad that Spike Milligan wrote these books about such a difficult period time in the world, some terms may offend and its strange to hear them as it is now so different (thank goodness). Some of the scenes he paints and the hilarity he can bring to a dreary time. Then he will quickly drop something dark and you get the severity of the situation. His books are well worth a read.
October 10, 2019
Short review:
Utterly bonkers and brilliant. This memoir of Gunner Milligan's time in North Africa is anarchical, insane, inane, silly and very very funny.
If you love The Goons and Monty Python you'll love this but if you find those programmes silly and childish then I wouldn't bother with this either.
I loved it.
Full review:
This is the second volume in Terence Alan ‘Spike’ Milligan’s autobiography/reminiscences about his experiences during World War Two, which is in seven parts. That sounds a lot but they are so hilarious, engaging, anarchic and interesting, as well as sad and moving at times, that you will whizz through them in no time.
This volume covers 19 Battery, 56th Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery’s journey from Bexhill-on-Sea (East Sussex) to Algeria. He describes their experiences there: getting into action, the boredom of waiting for something to happen, the terror of being fired at, and the main facet of army life: ‘Hurry up and wait’, which means you have long periods of doing nothing while waiting for orders, then when they arrive everything has to be done at a hundred miles an hour. This volume covers all of their Algerian campaign and the beginnings of their participation in the campaign to liberate Tunis – in Tunisia, funnily enough!
The book is an interesting record of the war at that time and in those places because Milligan conducted extensive personal research. He used his own diary and those of his erstwhile comrades, as well as letters, photographs and his own drawings made at the time. He uses archive photos as well, particularly because he did not have a personal photo of the battery���s Humber Snipe Wireless Truck, as well as many others completely unrelated to WWII but he uses to good effect with ridiculous and hilarious captions.
This book is very funny and you will laugh aloud, but it is also poignant at times and an interesting record of army life during WWII. I have read it several times and will again, no doubt.
Utterly bonkers and brilliant. This memoir of Gunner Milligan's time in North Africa is anarchical, insane, inane, silly and very very funny.
If you love The Goons and Monty Python you'll love this but if you find those programmes silly and childish then I wouldn't bother with this either.
I loved it.
Full review:
This is the second volume in Terence Alan ‘Spike’ Milligan’s autobiography/reminiscences about his experiences during World War Two, which is in seven parts. That sounds a lot but they are so hilarious, engaging, anarchic and interesting, as well as sad and moving at times, that you will whizz through them in no time.
This volume covers 19 Battery, 56th Heavy Regiment, Royal Artillery’s journey from Bexhill-on-Sea (East Sussex) to Algeria. He describes their experiences there: getting into action, the boredom of waiting for something to happen, the terror of being fired at, and the main facet of army life: ‘Hurry up and wait’, which means you have long periods of doing nothing while waiting for orders, then when they arrive everything has to be done at a hundred miles an hour. This volume covers all of their Algerian campaign and the beginnings of their participation in the campaign to liberate Tunis – in Tunisia, funnily enough!
The book is an interesting record of the war at that time and in those places because Milligan conducted extensive personal research. He used his own diary and those of his erstwhile comrades, as well as letters, photographs and his own drawings made at the time. He uses archive photos as well, particularly because he did not have a personal photo of the battery���s Humber Snipe Wireless Truck, as well as many others completely unrelated to WWII but he uses to good effect with ridiculous and hilarious captions.
This book is very funny and you will laugh aloud, but it is also poignant at times and an interesting record of army life during WWII. I have read it several times and will again, no doubt.
November 27, 2020
Memoirs Part 2: Gunner Milligan is deployed to Algeria, and the book follows them as they travel through to Tunisia. Again as mentioned in my last review, as this is written in the 70s about young men in the 40s some of the jokes are certainly of their time and demographic.
December 3, 2018
Second part of Spike Milligans war memoirs. Hilarious, sad, poignant all at once. However time has moved on and the Goons casual racism grates these days. Not to be read by those easily offended.
June 11, 2019
Some very funny moments, but a lot of cringe too at the casual racism vs North African populations.
April 17, 2010
Read them all they are excellent.
March 1, 2024
I have read Spike Milligan's history of his war over and over again since it first came out, when I was a young teenager, and I had never heard before people saying the sort of crude things that Spike reports his fellow soldiers saying. So it was a really mind-broadening experience for a teenager. I realised there was nothing to be frightened about in all this chat about 'knobs', or about wanking and haemorrhoids or objectifying women, it was all talk, just passing the days.
There are jokes and banter, some of it not funny, and some of it very funny; Spike's long and intense effort to entertain his mates and particularly the officers. He was lucky with his officers during the desert war, they found him funny and he relished their laughter. He was lucky, too, that he found a particular mate who he could play music with and who he could relax with. Because although you'd have to have been mad to enjoy the war, he tells us that at times he felt incredibly lucky to be in North Africa without a thought to where his next meal was coming from. There were definitely times when he thought "I wouldn't have missed this for the world." I don't know how that makes you feel when the next moment you're describing how 'A' Battery got hit and were all wiped out. And at this moment, when Spike is overwhelmed, he turns to an officer and asks for some whisky. The officer gets some whisky and drinks it with him. There is only a small barrier between the two of them.
All the jokes and dirty talk aim to hide the fact of Spike's great love for his good, bad and ugly peer group and even more, the officers. He loves the Major, Chater Jack, and he loves Lt Tony Goldsmith and he doesn't hide the fact that he cried when the latter got killed. In their turn, the officers seem to have seen the very sensitive soul that Spike is carrying, and taken him seriously when he needed it.
Spike tried to be accurate in his recording of where they were and what they were doing, but he didn't have the skills to put his narrative into context with the wider narrative of the North Africa Campaign. Basically, these gunners came in at the end, when Monty had already turned the tide of the advance and pushed Rommel back out to the east. The US had joined in from the west and were making Rommel and Arnem fight the Allies on two fronts, and Milligan's artillery joined the huge forces for the last big push to take Tunis. Milligan saw days of battle action when the guns provided a barrage of shelling to support the infantry charge. The fighting was very hard - clearly very traumatising - and at last it was victorious. The lads made the most of it and had fun afterwards. And then they were sent to Italy, which was very much harder, and is described in the fourth book of the series.
There are jokes and banter, some of it not funny, and some of it very funny; Spike's long and intense effort to entertain his mates and particularly the officers. He was lucky with his officers during the desert war, they found him funny and he relished their laughter. He was lucky, too, that he found a particular mate who he could play music with and who he could relax with. Because although you'd have to have been mad to enjoy the war, he tells us that at times he felt incredibly lucky to be in North Africa without a thought to where his next meal was coming from. There were definitely times when he thought "I wouldn't have missed this for the world." I don't know how that makes you feel when the next moment you're describing how 'A' Battery got hit and were all wiped out. And at this moment, when Spike is overwhelmed, he turns to an officer and asks for some whisky. The officer gets some whisky and drinks it with him. There is only a small barrier between the two of them.
All the jokes and dirty talk aim to hide the fact of Spike's great love for his good, bad and ugly peer group and even more, the officers. He loves the Major, Chater Jack, and he loves Lt Tony Goldsmith and he doesn't hide the fact that he cried when the latter got killed. In their turn, the officers seem to have seen the very sensitive soul that Spike is carrying, and taken him seriously when he needed it.
Spike tried to be accurate in his recording of where they were and what they were doing, but he didn't have the skills to put his narrative into context with the wider narrative of the North Africa Campaign. Basically, these gunners came in at the end, when Monty had already turned the tide of the advance and pushed Rommel back out to the east. The US had joined in from the west and were making Rommel and Arnem fight the Allies on two fronts, and Milligan's artillery joined the huge forces for the last big push to take Tunis. Milligan saw days of battle action when the guns provided a barrage of shelling to support the infantry charge. The fighting was very hard - clearly very traumatising - and at last it was victorious. The lads made the most of it and had fun afterwards. And then they were sent to Italy, which was very much harder, and is described in the fourth book of the series.
May 25, 2018
This is the second book in a series of memoirs Spike Milligan produced about his time during World War II. I did not realise this when I first found it but it can actually quite easily be read as a standalone text so it was not a problem that I had not read the first one or any others in the series. It was certainly a very interesting and entertaining read so I will certainly look out for more of the books in the future.
I liked the black and white photographs included and the sketches done by the author that accompanied the text. I also thought the Hitler-grams were quite funny little additions too, although they did distract me from the rest of the book a little.
It was very poignant in places, given the traumatic events described and friends being suddenly killed right in front of him. There were some bits that may come across as a bit graphic/gory as a result but it was just an honest depiction of some of the horrors he faced during the war. It still however managed to maintain a quick and easy to read style and remain a very funny read. The humour is a bit crude and near the mark in some places so might not sit well with some readers.
"We slept warmly, but had overlooked the need to commune with nature, it took frantic searching through layers of clothing to locate one's willy, some never did and had to sleep with a damp leg".
I should mention that there is also a lot of casual racism and frequent use of bad language which did let the book down a bit for me - the 'f' word and the 'c' word are used several times. I also could not really approve of the way women are treated in the book (I got the impression Milligan was a bit of a womaniser!) and there are some passages that readers these days would no doubt consider quite homophobic.
I liked the black and white photographs included and the sketches done by the author that accompanied the text. I also thought the Hitler-grams were quite funny little additions too, although they did distract me from the rest of the book a little.
It was very poignant in places, given the traumatic events described and friends being suddenly killed right in front of him. There were some bits that may come across as a bit graphic/gory as a result but it was just an honest depiction of some of the horrors he faced during the war. It still however managed to maintain a quick and easy to read style and remain a very funny read. The humour is a bit crude and near the mark in some places so might not sit well with some readers.
"We slept warmly, but had overlooked the need to commune with nature, it took frantic searching through layers of clothing to locate one's willy, some never did and had to sleep with a damp leg".
I should mention that there is also a lot of casual racism and frequent use of bad language which did let the book down a bit for me - the 'f' word and the 'c' word are used several times. I also could not really approve of the way women are treated in the book (I got the impression Milligan was a bit of a womaniser!) and there are some passages that readers these days would no doubt consider quite homophobic.
April 23, 2021
Volume II of Spike Milligan’s WWII memoirs, this part about his time in North Africa.
Filled with lots of his typical humor but, at times, also quite poignant.
.... I passed the time testing the wireless set, when I got “This is the Allied Forces Network, Algeria” a stentorian American voice said “Here for your listening pleasure is Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra.” Great! I listened all day. I lit a cigarette, now this was more like war.
..... It was about this time that I saw something that I felt might put years on the war. It was a short Gunner, wearing iron frame spectacles, a steel helmet that obscured the top of his head, and baggy shorts that looked like a Tea Clipper under full sail. He was walking along a gulley behind a group of officers, heaped with their equipment. It was my first sight of Gunner Secombe; what a pity! We were so near to Victory and this had to happen. I hadn’t crossed myself in years, and I remember saying, “Please God.....put him out of his misery.” I never dreamed, one day he, I, and a lone RAF erk (clerk?) called Sellers, at that moment in Ceylon imagining he could hear tigers, would make a sort of comic history, not that we were not making it now; oh no—every day was lunatic.
.....Is it because with the future unknown, the present traumatic, that we find the past so secure?
Filled with lots of his typical humor but, at times, also quite poignant.
.... I passed the time testing the wireless set, when I got “This is the Allied Forces Network, Algeria” a stentorian American voice said “Here for your listening pleasure is Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra.” Great! I listened all day. I lit a cigarette, now this was more like war.
..... It was about this time that I saw something that I felt might put years on the war. It was a short Gunner, wearing iron frame spectacles, a steel helmet that obscured the top of his head, and baggy shorts that looked like a Tea Clipper under full sail. He was walking along a gulley behind a group of officers, heaped with their equipment. It was my first sight of Gunner Secombe; what a pity! We were so near to Victory and this had to happen. I hadn’t crossed myself in years, and I remember saying, “Please God.....put him out of his misery.” I never dreamed, one day he, I, and a lone RAF erk (clerk?) called Sellers, at that moment in Ceylon imagining he could hear tigers, would make a sort of comic history, not that we were not making it now; oh no—every day was lunatic.
.....Is it because with the future unknown, the present traumatic, that we find the past so secure?
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