An Underworld at War: Spivs, Deserters, Racketeers and Civilians in the Second World War [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Prewar crime tended to consist of motorised smash and grab raids, prostitution and protection rackets. The outbreak of war did nothing to reduce such crime, if anything, the war (with its blackouts and rationing) increased it. While men died for King and country the underworld and many supposedly respectable people went on the lam, robbed on the home front and made a fortune out of illegal activities.

They were helped, ironically, by strict liability laws which were enforced by agents provocateurs playing on people's sympathies as well as their greed and by systematic corruption in some official institutions. Many were people dodging the draft, which was swelled between June 1944 and March 1945 by over 10,000 deserters from the D Day troops. In Hammersmith over 120 air raid shelters were found to be incapable of withstanding any bomb blast. The overcharge to the council was over one million pounds in current terms.

The chain of suppliers in the black market in food included some members of the Ministry of Food, one of whom was sent to penal servitude for four years. There were widespread calls for floggings and executions to meet the social threat. The blackout was "a present from Hitler" which allowed opportunities for theft and not only from the rich. People often returned to their bombed out homes to discover they had been looted. Budding criminals such as Frankie Fraser had no qualms about stealing from those unable to afford to replace their goods.

There were many scams including the "bomb lark" when people would attend the local National Assistance office and claim necessities based on having been bombed out of their home. As the fraud was virtually impossible to check it was easy to perpetrate with one individual claiming nineteen times in five months. He was sentenced to three years penal servitude.

Nor was fraud confined to individuals. A Liverpool shipping merchant shot himself in 1942 when his accounts were found to be inaccurate. By bolstering his workforce to complete non-existent jobs he was able to embezzle the equivalent of £200,000 a week in current terms, hiding the equivalent of £12 million in a variety of banks in the Lake District. His partners in crime included a Liverpool City Councillor, senior naval personnel and the assistant secretary of Liverpool Football Club.

Several well known people were prosecuted, including Noel Coward and Ivor Novello, the latter imprisoned for his indiscretion, while there was malicious satisfaction when the high and mighty fell. Major-General Sir Percy Laurie, Provost Marshal of Great Britain, claimed that his holding two ration books was based on the mistaken notion that he was entitled to have one for Great Britain and another when abroad. Anticipating the current MP Expenses scandal he insisted he "had not the slightest idea that he had done anything wrong".

The collapse of sexual morality which occurred was an inevitable outcome of war time and led to a rise in the murder rate as trigger happy soldiers and civilians went on the rampage. Even then the law was enforced with hypocrisy as in the raid on a brothel which was timed to ensure that the MP's and Cabinet Ministers thought to frequent the establishment would be engaged with their official duties and could avoid arrest.

The notion of the friendly neighbourhood spiv doing people a favour by acting as a supplier of goods in short supply tended to hide just what obnoxious parasites they were. Their motive was greed (frequently they took the money and ran) and their objective was to avoid making a contribution to the nation's fight for survival by exploiting other people's misfortune and misery. Donald Thomas has exposed their parasitic world for what it was and with an objectivity they don't deserve. Read this five star book yourself and make up your own mind.

The black-market antics of Dad's Army's loveable rogue Private Walker created many a laugh in the 1970's. Just thirty years earlier, they were far from funny, helping to undermine Britain's war-scarred and struggling economy. What was worse, this form of parasitic racketeering was endemic throughout all levels of British society, from the family man just getting a few extra clothing coupons from `under the counter' for his loved ones, right up to the Liverpool shipyard magnate who cheated the government of £20 million - with the aid of Admiralty officials. Even greyhound racing was riven by dog doping and race fixing by a nationwide ring of gangsters.

Reassurance can be gained for those worried about today's crime levels by this strange double negative: things were just as bad, if not worse then, but were not reported for fear of damaging morale.

This thick and meticulously researched tome is essential and fascinating reading, peeling away the lid on the dank world of home front crime, previously sealed by sixty years of bulldog spirit nostalgia. But here's a thought: perhaps in sixty years time, some too will view the crimes of 2008 with rose-tinted glasses, as the comforting `good old days'?

So good i read it twice in a year. Absolutely recommended.

I was also reading the WW11 & post war, part of John Farrell's "An utterly impartial history of britain" at the same time. They complemented each other well.

These are the human stories we never learnt at school. The research is first class and its written in an easy but intelligent way. Remember how we thought Dunkirk was a victory?

All the spivs and corruption are here. I know from my older uncles etc what they got up to. There is room for another book on this subject.

I wonder what corruption goes on now and what will happen in the credit crisis? Government burocracy is so passive and full of holes. Rationing went on to 1954... why? If we accept and allow £100billion NHS incompetance what is happening behind the scenes?

An excellent read with humour.