An Underworld at War

While the Second World War produced numerous acts of self-sacrifice, it also made many people rich. The criminal activities of the underworld that extended from the civilian population right through to the armed forces constitute one of the great untold stories of the war. The Blitz of 1940 may have made a nation of heroes, but in the shadows the shelter gangs and looters prowled. Donald Thomas draws on extensive archive material to tell the extraordinary and frequently ludicrous story of these less-than-heroic Britons. The facts he uncovers are often so preposterous that in a novel they would seem unbelievable. An Underworld at War was short-listed for the CWA's 2003 Gold Dagger Award for Non-Fiction.