While DW was writing his second Paper, his second wartime novel came out - Faked Passports (June 1940) - again following the wartime exploits of Gregory Sallust.
This was to be followed by The Black Baroness (October 1940), and - in a switch of characters - in April 1941 by the Duke de Richleau's fifth outing (Strange Conflict, set in the thick of the blitz). These were followed by two others (The Sword of Fate featuring Julian Day, and V for Vengeance, where he returned to Gregory Sallust) before he became too busy with official duties to do other than re-print previously written works.
The Battle of Britain was followed by the Blitz, and a few days before Christmas 1940, DW's wife rang with the news that their home had been bombed. The bomb had fallen on the house opposite but the blast had knocked in the doors and windows and made the house uninhabitable.
Joan made arrangements to stay with friends in their flat at Oakwood Court in Kensington, and DW arranged to have use of part of a ground floor flat in the next block. DW's part of the flat had no bedroom so he slept in the kitchen instead.
So many people had left London because of the Blitz that it was not difficult to find a flat, and in February they moved down the road into Chatsworth Court - where they were to stay for the remainder of the war.
In his brief stay at Oakwood Court DW became an air raid warden (see the exhibit above), and met a Jewish doctor who gave him the idea for one of his later war papers.
References : 'Drink and Ink' pp 206-211.
Phil Baker pp 392, 405-408
