While the bombed-out battlefields of World War II were a stage for acts of heroism, strategic cunning, and horrific atrocities, conditions on the home front seemed more stable. Yet, from bombed-out London to occupied France and Nazi Germany, the war enabled one thing to flourish in chaotic cities: crime. From mob bosses to murderers, see how the war brought out the worst in its European civilians.

While the bombed-out battlefields of World War II were a stage for acts of heroism, strategic cunning, and horrific atrocities, conditions on the home front seemed more stable. Yet, from bombed-out London to occupied France and Nazi Germany, the war enabled one thing to flourish in chaotic cities: crime. From mob bosses to murderers, see how the war brought out the worst in its European civilians.