Editing Evelyn Waugh (section)

== Second World War ==

=== Royal Marine and commando ===

Waugh left Piers Court on 1 September 1939, at the outbreak of the [[Second World War]] and moved his young family to [[Pixton Park]] in Somerset, the Herbert family's country seat, while he sought military employment.<ref>Hastings, pp. 384–386</ref> He also began writing a novel in a new style, using first-person narration,<ref>Sykes, pp. 273–276</ref> but abandoned work on it when he was commissioned into the [[Royal Marines]] in December and entered training at [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]] naval base.<ref>Hastings, pp. 391–392</ref> He never completed the novel: fragments were eventually published as ''Work Suspended and Other Stories'' (1943).<ref>Stannard, Vol. I pp. 490–501</ref>

Waugh's daily training routine left him with "so stiff a spine that he found it painful even to pick up a pen".<ref>Stannard, Vol. II, p. 2</ref> In April 1940, he was temporarily promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] and given command of a [[company (military unit)|company]] of marines, but he proved an unpopular officer, being haughty and curt with his men.<ref>Stannard, Vol. II p. 9</ref> Even after the [[Battle of France|German invasion of the Low Countries]] (10 May – 22 June 1940), his battalion was not called into action.<ref>Stannard, Vol. II p. 15</ref> Waugh's inability to adapt to regimental life meant that he soon lost his command, and he became the battalion's Intelligence Officer. In that role, he finally saw action in [[Operation Menace]] as part of the British force sent to the [[Battle of Dakar]] in West Africa (23–25 September 1940) in August 1940 to support an attempt by the [[Free French Forces]] to overthrow the [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] colonial government and install General [[Charles de Gaulle]]. Operation Menace failed, hampered by fog and misinformation about the extent of the town's defences, and the British forces withdrew on 26 September. Waugh's comment on the affair was this: "Bloodshed has been avoided at the cost of honour."<ref name= Stannard16>Stannard, Vol. II pp. 16–20</ref><ref>Amory (ed.), p. 141</ref>

In November 1940, Waugh was posted to a [[commando]] unit, and, after further training, became a member of "[[Layforce]]", under Colonel (later Brigadier) [[Robert Laycock]].<ref name= Stannard16/> In February 1941, the unit sailed to the Mediterranean, where it participated in an unsuccessful attempt to [[Raid on Bardia|recapture Bardia]], on the Libyan coast.<ref>Hastings, pp. 421–422</ref> In May, Layforce was required to assist in the evacuation of [[Crete]]: Waugh was shocked by the disorder and its loss of discipline and, as he saw it, the cowardice of the departing troops.<ref>Sykes, pp. 215–216</ref> In July, during the roundabout journey home by troop ship, he wrote ''[[Put Out More Flags]]'' (1942), a novel of the war's early months in which he returned to the literary style he had used in the 1930s.<ref>Patey, p. 171</ref> Back in Britain, more training and waiting followed until, in May 1942, he was transferred to the [[Royal Horse Guards]], on Laycock's recommendation.<ref>Stannard, Vol. II pp. 66–67</ref> On 10 June 1942, Laura gave birth to Margaret, the couple's fourth child.<ref>Hastings, p. 442</ref>{{refn|Earlier, Laura had borne a daughter, christened Mary, on 1 December 1940, but she lived only a few hours.<ref>Stannard, Vol. II p. 24</ref>|group= n}}

=== Frustration, ''Brideshead'' and Yugoslavia ===

Waugh's elation at his transfer soon descended into disillusion as he failed to find opportunities for active service. The death of his father, on 26 June 1943, and the need to deal with family affairs prevented him from departing with his brigade for North Africa as part of [[Operation Husky]] (9 July – 17 August 1943), the Allied invasion of [[Sicily]].<ref>Hastings, pp. 445–446</ref> Despite his undoubted courage, his unmilitary and insubordinate character were rendering him effectively unemployable as a soldier.<ref>Sykes, pp. 229–230</ref> After spells of idleness at the regimental depot in [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]], Waugh began parachute training at [[Tatton Park]], Cheshire, but landed awkwardly during an exercise and fractured a [[fibula]]. Recovering at Windsor, he applied for three months' unpaid leave to write the novel that had been forming in his mind. His request was granted and, on 31 January 1944, he departed for [[Chagford]], Devon, where he could work in seclusion. The result was ''[[Brideshead Revisited|Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder]]'' (1945),<ref>Hastings, pp. 454–462</ref> the first of his explicitly Catholic novels of which the biographer [[Douglas Lane Patey]] commented that it was "the book that seemed to confirm his new sense of his writerly vocation".<ref>Patey, p. 296</ref>

Waugh managed to extend his leave until June 1944. Soon after his return to duty he was recruited by [[Randolph Churchill]] to serve in the [[Maclean Mission]] to [[Yugoslavia]], and, early in July, flew with Churchill from [[Bari]], Italy, to the Croatian island of [[Vis (island)|Vis]]. There, they met [[Josip Broz Tito|Marshal Tito]], the Communist leader of the [[Partisans (Yugoslavia)|Partisans]], who was leading the guerrilla fight against the occupying [[Axis powers|Axis]] forces with Allied support.<ref>Stannard, Vol. II pp. 113–114</ref> Waugh and Churchill returned to Bari before flying back to Yugoslavia to begin their mission, but their aeroplane crash-landed, both men were injured, and their mission was delayed for a month.<ref>Stannard, Vol. II pp. 116–121</ref>

The mission eventually arrived at [[Topusko]], where it established itself in a deserted farmhouse. The group's liaison duties, between the [[British Army]] and the Communist Partisans, were light. Waugh had little sympathy with the Communist-led Partisans and despised Tito. His chief interest became the welfare of the Catholic Church in Croatia, which, he believed, had suffered at the hands of the [[Serbian Orthodox Church]] and would fare worse when the Communists took control.<ref>Hastings, pp. 468–473</ref> He expressed those thoughts in a long report, "Church and State in Liberated Croatia". After spells in [[Dubrovnik]] and Rome, Waugh returned to London on 15 March 1945 to present his report, which the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] suppressed to maintain good relations with Tito, now the leader of communist Yugoslavia.<ref>Hastings, pp. 485–491</ref>