Editing Evelyn Waugh (section)

=== 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}}