The Sword of Honour trilogy by Evelyn Waugh is his look at the Second World War. It consists of three novels Men at Arms (1952), Officers and Gentlemen (1955) and Unconditional Surrender (1961), which loosely parallel his war time experiences.

Plot

The central protagonist is Guy Crouchback the scion of a somewhat "down on the heels" aristocratic English Catholic family. Guy had spent his thirties at the family villa in Italy shunning the world after a bad marriage. He decided to return to England after the Second World War was declared in the belief that the alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union was a genuine "axis of evil" and symbol of modernity.

He attempted to join the British Army, finally succeeding with the Halberdiers, an old, but not too fashionable regiment. There he met Brigadier Ben Ritchie-Hook, a fire eater ( probably based on Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Carton de Wiart, whom Waugh knew somewhat from his club) and Apthorpe, a very eccentric fellow officer. He and Ben Ritchie-Hook shared an adventure during the Dakar Expedition in 1940. Apthorpe died in Freetown of a disease he caught in the bush. When it is discovered that Crouchback gave him a bottle of whisky when visiting him in the hospital, which weakened his system, he is sent home under a cloud.

He eventually managed to find a place in the fledgeling Commando brigade training in Scotland under an old friend, Tommy Backhouse. This involved him in the evacuation of Crete, where he aquits himself well. At this time he meets Corporal Ludovic who is a Communist and probably homosexual. Ludovic saves his life, although later becomes an enemy.

He gets home to England, where he is reconciled to his pregnant former wife, Virginia, - who later converts to Catholicism. She has a son by one of Crouchback's comrades', the shallow Trimmer . When Guy is posted overseas, Virginia stays in London with his elderly bachelor uncle, Peregrine Crouchback. Despite being incorrectly suspected of pro-Axis sympathies because of his time in pre-war Italy and his Catholicism, Guy was posted to Yugoslavia where he was appalled by the Partisans, befriended a small group of Jews and found out that Ludovic's loyalties were with Communism rather than with England.

While Guy is overseas a German rocket hits Peregrine's flat and kills him and Virginia, sparing the child, Gervase, who is in the country with Guy's sister.

After the end of the war Guy met the daughter of another old Catholic family and married her. They had two sons in addition to Gervase and Guy farmed the last of the Crouchback lands.

Themes

The novels have obvious echoes in Evelyn Waugh's wartime career, for instance his participation in the Dakar expedition, his stint with the commandoes, his time in Crete and his role in Yugoslavia (where he condemned Tito's partisans). Unlike Crouchback, Waugh was a Catholic convert from the upper middle class - although Waugh believed that the recusant experience was vital in understanding the Catholic experience.

Waugh's writing becomes darker through the novels as it becomes clearer that the world that Guy Crouchback was fighting to defend was being eroded and the Catholic faith which the Crouchbacks suffered for was arguably being diluted. That being said, Waugh was not an apologist for the upper classes in toto, as some of the worst characters in the book are vapid socialites from the upper classes.

Waugh also comes across as a sceptic about the Second World War's effect.

Appreciation

Waugh's novel is amazingly funny , especially throughout the first two books. It paints an unfrogettable picture of regimental life in the British Army, as seen by an officer from the Catholic landed gentry.

Strong characterization abounds. Surprisingly, the one who does not especially emerge is the antihero, Guy Crouchback. But, this grey presence allows us to see the others more clearly. Unforgettable portraits include Ben Ritchie-Hook, Apthorpe, Jumbo Trotter and Uncle Peregrine. Smaller walk on roles go to Colonel Hector Campbell of Mugg, Arthur Box-Bender and Guy's Father.

The women are less memorable, and Waugh's only attempt at an American, Lieutenant Padfield, does not rise above a crude caricature.