Hitler in the Chilterns
The Flying Visit. By Peter Fleming. (Cape. 5s.)
THE flying visitor of Mr. Fleming's fantasy is Herr Hitler.' The Fiihrer is on a prestige flight over England when, a time-bomb exploding in his thermos flask, the aeroplane and all its occu- pants but himself are destroyed. In full Field-Marshal's uniform he descends by parachute in Oxfordshire, falls into a horse-pond, eats turnips, is chased by a chow, attempts to make contact with one of his high-placed sympathisers, Lord Magnus Scunner, fails, attempts suicide (" the first recorded case of a German Field- Marshal being shot in the Chiltems "), fails again, turns up at a fancy dress ball, where he wins first prize for his lifelike repre- sentation of Hitler, and so on, and so on. His final recognition and capture turn out to be more of an embarrassment than a triumph for the government. His putting-through-the-hoops by Mr. Fleming may also tend to embarrass the reader. " Several people," says the author in his postscript, " have lately questioned the good taste of publishing, in so grave a situation as today's, a story in which the Arch-Enemy is treated as a comic figure." But surely it is a matter, not of good taste, but of good policy : or, if Mr. Fleming will forgive the word, good propaganda. At this stage it can neither be sensible nor convincing to represent Hitler as a nonentity: and those who longest and most Con- sistently have fought against everything he stands for would be the last people to agree that he is the mediocre, ineffectual little creature Mr. Fleming makes him out to be. We must not be too solemn about a squib like The Flying Visit, to be sure. But I, for one, would prefer the robust treatment the Turkish Knight receives in a mummer's play to the treatment Mr. Fleming gives the Fiihrer. Still, there is plenty of amusement in the book. Low's illustrations confirm his position as Hitler's Public Enemy Number One ; and Mr. Fleming carries off some of his situations admirably. Very agreeable, for instance, is the extract from the diary of Dr. Lenkfals, a publicist who is accom- panying Hitler in the aeroplane:
" 6.35 p.m. . . . Stopped circling over London. Now headed west.
Fiihrer's danger-hunger still unassuaged. . . Still no AA. Night doubtless too cold for democratic gunners to man posts. (Work in: night clubs, unmarried wives, &c., &c.) "
C. DAY LEWIS.
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