An Underworld at War: Spies, Deserters, Racketeers & Civilians in the Second World War

by Donald Serrell Thomas

The activities of the underworld, extending into a civilian black market and the armed forces, are one of the great untold stories of the Second World War. The profits of civilian racketeering dwarfed the rewards of smash-and-grab or safebreaking, though these continued apace. Professional gangs raided government offices for ration books and underground presses counterfeited petrol and clothing coupons in tens of thousands. The scale of theft in the army was also colossal, with whole consignments of cigarettes, razor-blades and NAAFI stores disappearing. Donald Thomas draws on extensive archive material to tell the extraordinary tale of these less-heroic Britons. The facts he uncovers are often so preposterous that in a novel they would seem unbelievable.

Genres: History, World War II, True Crime, Nonfiction, War

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

aka Francis Selwyn

Donald Serrell Thomas is an English author of (primarily) Victorian-era historical, crime and detective fiction, as well as books on factual crime and criminals, in particular several academic books on the history of crime in London. He has written a number of biographies, two volumes of poetry, and has also edited volumes of poetry by John Dryden and the Pre-Raphaelites.

Reviews

[Brett]

I really enjoyed this book. So well researched, and tells a seemingly untold story in the context of WW2. Also, there’s a story about my grandfather in it, which is just crazy.

[Rachel Stevenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s interesting to read this book post-Covid. Instead of dodgy PPE contacts, there were dodgy uniform contracts, rather than anti-vaxers urging others to watch a certain youtube vid, right wingers wanted people to listen to Lord Haw-Haw’s broadcasts and those who did listen to him said that they thought he spoke the truth whilst the government hid it. Pro-fascists did an anti-war sticker campaign whilst pro-Communists entered into sabotage to stop the war. And of course there were people who were supposed to enforce the rules breaking the rules and claiming that they didn’t know that these *were* the rules.

It’s a very well researched comprehensive guide to war-time crime, from gangsters who didn’t let the war stop them carrying on their rackets, to people arrested for ridiculous infractions such as selling mixed sweets (illegal) or going outside to check if their black out curtains were doing their job. I was interested in reading the book as the war movie cliché of the plucky Brits standing together against the Nazis always seemed a little false. As usual, as with anything, self-interest was the name of the game, with people (understandably) not seeing the connection between not having stockings or cheese and beating the Bosch. The anti-ULEZ protestors in London might take notice of people in the time of petrol rationing being asked by the police why they had travelled by car rather than public transport.

In the end, it gets a bit dull reading about endless forgers or thieves of clothing/petrol coupons/ration books being taken to court - it just becomes a list rather than a narrative. Fans of the word “assizes” will be happy though.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book about crime during the second world war. Its quite common for us to think that it was a pull together, leave your front door open sort of world during the war. This book proves that there is nothing new in crime and perhaps we shouldn't let people go on about how crime has got worse. This cover everything from ration book crime either by stealing or fake through violent robberies and gangs to political crimes like the IRA. It certainly came across that whilst brave men and woman were fighting for their countries there were many at home lining their pockets. As I said an interesting book, I felt it lost its way in the middle and just became a "list" of convictions without any depth which is a shame as the first third and last third were much more in depth.

[Claire]

This is the side of the Home Front that most history books tend to avoid. Well written and researched, this book tells the other story of London at war; the gangsters, thieves, deserters and the massive black market that turned ordinary people into criminals feature here, alongside jewel thieves who used the blackout and the Blitz as cover for their activities, unsuccessful German spies, monkeys in air-raid shelters, much defeatist talk and listening to Lord Haw-Haw, prostitutes who specialised in GIs, nobbled greyhounds, and the notorious 'Blackout Ripper'. Thomas offers a different and interesting perspective on the Home Front, blowing some much-cherished preconceptions about the so-called 'Blitz Spirit' out of the water.

[John Meffen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was fantastic. completely rejecting the notion, that 'we were all in it together' during WWII. Instead it tells a story of theft, robbery, fraud, etc on the home front. Backed up with references from he actual trials. This tells you people are people no matter what.

The stories of shipping firms defrauding the services for work done shoddily is all I would expect, the tales of people trying to get an extra bit of meat too. But when you read into it, the chap in charge of making sure there was no corruption in the issuing of coupons, himself had two [one civilian, one military] but was let off with a slap on the wrist, whilst other people had to do penal servitude tells its own story.

I thoroughly recommend you read this.

[Kenneth Nordqvist · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have wanted to read a book by crime under ww2. This one is great when it give ideas about new stories.