brad kaste
March 17th, 2010, 10:18
....Never knew about this one. And I thought I had read all the POW escape books possible......:salute:
>> > Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British Airmen
>>> found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third
>>> Reich, and the Crown was casting about for ways and means
>>> to facilitate their escape...
>>>
>>> Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end
>>> is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only
>>> where stuff was, but also showing the locations of 'safe
>>> houses' where a POW on-the-lam could go for food and
>>> shelter.
>>>
>>> Paper maps had some real drawbacks - they make a lot of
>>> noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly,
>>> and if they get wet, they turn into mush.
>>>
>>>
>>> Someone in MI-5 (similar to America 's OSS ) got the idea
>>> of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be
>>> scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times
>>> as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever.
>>>
>>>
>>> At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great
>>> Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on
>>> silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd. When approached
>>> by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit
>>> for the war effort.
>>>
>>> By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee
>>> for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it
>>> happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category of item
>>> qualified for insertion into 'CARE packages', dispatched
>>> by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war.
>>>
>>>
>>> Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and
>>> inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's,
>>> a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing
>>> escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where
>>> Allied POW camps were regional system). When processed,
>>> these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would
>>> actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece.
>>>
>>>
>>> As long as they were at it, the clever workmen at
>>> Waddington's also managed to add: 1. A playing token,
>>> containing a small magnetic compass 2. A two-part metal
>>> file that could easily be screwed together 3. Useful
>>> amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and
>>> French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!
>>>
>>>
>>> British and American air crews were advised, before taking
>>> off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly
>>> set by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like
>>> an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free
>>> Parking square.
>>>
>>>
>>> Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped,
>>> an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged
>>> Monopoly sets.. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy
>>> indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this
>>> highly successful ruse in still another, future war.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The story wasn't declassified until 2007, when the surviving
>>> craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were
>>> finally honored in a public ceremony. It's always nice when you
>>> can play that 'Get Out of Jail' Free' card!
>> > Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British Airmen
>>> found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third
>>> Reich, and the Crown was casting about for ways and means
>>> to facilitate their escape...
>>>
>>> Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end
>>> is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only
>>> where stuff was, but also showing the locations of 'safe
>>> houses' where a POW on-the-lam could go for food and
>>> shelter.
>>>
>>> Paper maps had some real drawbacks - they make a lot of
>>> noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly,
>>> and if they get wet, they turn into mush.
>>>
>>>
>>> Someone in MI-5 (similar to America 's OSS ) got the idea
>>> of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be
>>> scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times
>>> as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever.
>>>
>>>
>>> At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great
>>> Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on
>>> silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd. When approached
>>> by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit
>>> for the war effort.
>>>
>>> By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee
>>> for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it
>>> happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category of item
>>> qualified for insertion into 'CARE packages', dispatched
>>> by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war.
>>>
>>>
>>> Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and
>>> inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's,
>>> a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing
>>> escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where
>>> Allied POW camps were regional system). When processed,
>>> these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would
>>> actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece.
>>>
>>>
>>> As long as they were at it, the clever workmen at
>>> Waddington's also managed to add: 1. A playing token,
>>> containing a small magnetic compass 2. A two-part metal
>>> file that could easily be screwed together 3. Useful
>>> amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and
>>> French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!
>>>
>>>
>>> British and American air crews were advised, before taking
>>> off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly
>>> set by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like
>>> an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free
>>> Parking square.
>>>
>>>
>>> Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped,
>>> an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged
>>> Monopoly sets.. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy
>>> indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this
>>> highly successful ruse in still another, future war.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The story wasn't declassified until 2007, when the surviving
>>> craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were
>>> finally honored in a public ceremony. It's always nice when you
>>> can play that 'Get Out of Jail' Free' card!