Escape and evasion map

Escape and Evasion Maps, also called silk maps or cloth maps, are maps made for servicemen to be used in case of capture or being caught behind enemy lines. Developed during World War II, these maps were used by many American and British servicemen to escape from behind enemy lines. These maps could be used without a rustle or crackling. They could also be hidden inside cloth uniforms, such as in a seam or inside a collar, that wouldn't betray their existence during a frisking or inspection. The silk maps could also be used to patch clothes, filter water, make a sling for an injured arm or to make a bandage. They could also be used to blow the nose. "The Allies needed to be able to print their clandestine maps on a material that would be hardier than paper -- material that wouldn't tear or dissolve in water and that would be light enough for the user to pack into a boot or cigarette packet at a moment's notice. (Silk maps, which have long been in use among militaries, have the added advantage that they don't make noise as they're being held or stored -- an important attribute, when you're a prisoner in search of escape.)"[1]

Misnomer

The British were the first to use cloth maps during World War II. They produced a rather odd series of burlap maps for the Royal Air Force on canvas backing. Teams of women used colored burlap thread, and created realistic landscapes of the areas of interest. These maps helped familiarize the pilots and navigators with terrain feature when on bombing runs over the continent. A good team could complete a ten foot square of canvas and burlap in about three days.[2]

Most of the American maps supplied by the Army Map Service from World War II were actually printed on rayon acetate materials, and not silk.[3] However, because of the silky texture of the materials, they were referred to by the more familiar textile name.

"When you look at these maps the unusual materials are perhaps the first thing you notice. During WWII hundreds of thousands of maps were produced by the British on thin cloth and tissue paper. The idea was that a serviceman captured or shot down behind enemy lines should have a map to help him find his way to safety if he escaped or, better still, evade capture in the first place. A map like this could be concealed in a small place (a cigarette packet or the hollow heel of a flying boot), did not rustle suspiciously if the captive was searched and, in the case of maps on cloth or mulberry leaf paper, could survive wear and tear and even immersion in water. The scheme was soon extended to cover those who had already been captured, although a certain amount of ingenuity was required to get the maps into the POW camps."[4]

Many of these maps were also used in clandestine wartime activities. Several of these maps, for example, were issued to Oliver Churchill, a member of the Special Operations Executive or SOE, for his activities in Italy.

Map making

"After Christopher Hutton got the cartographic source, he needed a medium on to which he could printed the maps, such that they were quiet to unfold, would not disintegrate when wet, and maintained their integrity when folded at the crease line and could be concealed in very small places. After many attempts to print on silk squares, he was about to give up. Then he thought of adding Pectin, a form of wax, to the ink such that it does not run or wash out when put in water, or even sea water. Clayton Hutton printed escape maps on silk, man-made fiber and tissue paper. The tissue paper was very special, in that it was not made from wood pulp like conventional paper, but from Mulberry leaves. This hybrid paper had the texture of onionskin and extreme durability. You could ball of this tissue paper, put it in water and soak it, and then flatten it out without creases. All the integrity of a new map was there, no data faded or disintegrated and you could fold it up in such a fashion that it would occupy a very small space, such as inside a chess piece or inside a record."[5]

There were many difficulties in printing maps on cloth that are not present with printing on paper. Also, the inks used had to be permanent to sun, water, chemicals, etc., so they wouldn't fade and make the map useless. The finished products were able to withstand immersion in salt water for extended periods as well, and were mildew resistant.[6]

Monopoly Game and Playing Cards

Printing on paper was well known, but printing on cloth had special problems. The ink would run on the cloth, or the cloth would crease during the preparation or printing process, or the ink would smear. However, many board game companies were used to printing on linen and other cloth materials, which would then be glued to cardboard portfolios for their game sets. So the government turned to them for help.

The cloth maps were sometimes hidden in special editions of the Monopoly board game sets sent to the prisoners of war camps. The marked game sets also included foreign currency (French and German, for example), compasses and other items needed for escaping Allied prisoners of war. "To develop that kit, MI9, the British secret service unit responsible for escape and evasion, conspired with John Waddington Limited, the U.K. manufacturer of Monopoly. "It was ingenious," Philip Orbanes, author of several books on Monopoly, told Heussner. "The Monopoly box was big enough to not only hold the game but hide everything else they needed to get to POWs."[1]

Oflag IV-C, more commonly known as Colditz Castle

Hutton was also responsible for the delivery of escape kits to POWs. The Geneva Convention allowed prisoners to receive parcels from families and relief organisations. These were dispatched through a number of fictitious charitable organisations, created to send parcels of games, warm clothing and other small comforts to the prisoners. One of the major problems of captivity was boredom, and games and entertainments were permitted, as the guards recognised that if the prisoners were allowed some diversions, they would be less troublesome. Games manufacturer Waddingtons helped by supplying editions of its Monopoly board game, and other games. Although to date, no examples of any such monopoly boards have surfaced, it is therefore doubtful if the operation to use monopoly as part of escaping tool for POW escapees ever took place. No samples were kept for record purposes in either Waddington or the War office archives and the pictures of such boards currently available are all modern reproductions.[7] Snakes and ladders, table tennis, chess sets and playing cards were used to smuggle in escape kits with hidden maps and other equipment.[8]

Escape maps were also printed on playing cards distributed to Prisoners of War. Only two decks are known to survive from this period. "During World War II, the United States Playing Card Company joined forces with American and British intelligence agencies to create a very special deck of cards. This deck was specifically created to help Allied prisoners of war escape from German POW camps. This deck of cards became known as the “map deck.” It was made by hiding maps of top-secret escape routes between the two paper layers that make up all modern playing cards. These decks, when soaked in water, could be peeled apart to reveal hidden maps that allowed escaping prisoners to find their way to safety. Due to the nature of the war and the prosecution of war crimes thereafter, the map decks remained a closely guarded secret for many years after the war ended. The secrecy surrounding them was so high, that no one really knows how many were produced or how many have survived."[9]

Red Cross parcels were not used because of concerns the Germans would stop these reaching the prisoners if they discovered items hidden in them. The escape kits are credited with helping 316 escape attempts from Colditz Castle, which saw 32 men make it back home.

American maps

Interestingly enough, there is some dispute that early cloth maps were also used by escaping slaves before the American Civil War. The article, "Quilts of the Underground Railroad" examines some of the dispute that secret codes were sewn into quilt blocks to help slaves escape and evade capture.[10]

Some American intelligence offices visited the UK in 1942 to be briefed on the British efforts in "escape and evasion" techniques and equipment. The British MI9 gave the Americans a book or manual, called, "Per Ardua Libertas", to take back to the US. Published in this manual were examples of each cloth escape and tissue escape map that the British had produced. "After this meeting with the British, the United States began to produce its own escape maps."[5]

Many of the maps of the Pacific region were printed by the US Army Map Service, while the UK was responsible for many of the European Theatre maps.

Many of the US Navy charts were folded in envelopes and distributed to the air crews before a mission, and to be turned in when the mission was successfully completed. They were called "drift charts" by the Navy, "...since their prime purpose was to indicate to aircrews survivors in their life rafts in which direction the ocean currents and prevailing winds would cause their rafts to drift..." and they were later called handkerchief charts by the naval aviators.[11]

US sheets were also printed for the US Air Force after the war, from 1947 to 1951. There are nineteen sheets printed in this series. Each sheet has a graphic in the lower right-hand corner showing where the sheet lies. Each sheet is identified by a "CL" followed by a two to three digit number. Map coverage in this series starts at the North pole and covers down to the equator. The 19th sheet is at 1:500,000 scale and covers both North and South Korea.[12]

Australian maps

The Australians were also familiar with the benefits of a cloth map used by escaping prisoners of war. Some were used during World War I. "A section of a map of Germany made to help Allied Prisoners of War (POW) to escape in July 1918 from Holzminden POW Camp in Germany to the Dutch border. The sections of map were sewn into the clothing of those escaping and assisted ten of the 29 who escaped via the tunnel back to Allied territory. The photographer, 2875 Private John Richard Cash, 19th Battalion, exchanged food from his Red Cross parcels with German civilians in return for wirecutters, a map and photographic equipment with which to produce copies of the map for each potential escapee. He also took other photographs around the camp. Cash, a Sydney photographer, enlisted on 18 February 1916 in reinforcements to the 56th Battalion but was re-assigned to the 19th Battalion on his arrival in France. He was listed as missing on 3 May 1917, during the Battle of Bullecourt. Several witnesses claimed that they had seen him die, but in fact he had been badly wounded in the shoulder and partially buried in a shell hole. Rescued and captured by German soldiers, Cash spent the next sixteen weeks in German hospitals near Hannover and Celle before being discharged to Soltan Barrack 30 at Lager 1. In November 1917 he was moved to Holzminden Prisoner of War Camp. In June 1918 he recorded in a postcard to his family that the Germans had issued him with a new set of false teeth. Cash was not among the prisoners who escaped from Holzminden in July 1918. He was repatriated to Hull, in England, on 17 December 1918 and returned to Australia on 25 March 1919."[13]

"RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) Maps: These sheets are printed on Silk. There are twenty-seven different RAAF silk maps known. They are always printed single sided. These maps do not have an edge treatment to retard fraying. Black is the predominate color of these maps.[14]

An example is map of Manila, produced almost a year before the war's end. Relief shown by shading and spot heights, and it is dated "September 1944." The map shows the Manila region and the central Philippine Islands. Includes location map. Description: 1 map : colour, cloth; 70 x 48 cm., on sheet 47 x 91 cm. Responsibility: prepared under the direction of R.A.A.F. H/Qs.; compiled by R.A.A.F. (D.S.D.) Cartographic Section.[15]

German maps

The German Luftwaffe produced maps on oilcloth called the "Luft-Navigationkarte in Merkatorprojektion" (translated title: "Air Navigation Chart in the Mercator Projection") This form of cloth map is a flight navigation map mostly used by bomber crews. The yellow background of the maps was to aid visibility under subdued cockpit lighting. The map surface is also waxed so the crew could use chinagraph pencils and grease pens for navigation purposes, and then wipe the markings off later for re-use. They were not prepared per se for escape and evasion purposes.

The U-boat service also produced cloth charts. "These naval charts were printed on specially treated oil cloth to allow them to be utilized under conditions that were far from ideal. Also, some of them were in turn printed using a unique ultra-violet technique so they could be used at night, in the open, and without exposing a light that just might then be seen by patrolling Allied ships or aircraft. Because of this special treatment, all of these German Navy charts have a strange greenish-yellow appearance."[16]

Indian maps

"Survey of India silk maps: Heliozincographed[17] is a dead giveaway for Survey of India maps. Currently, eleven sheets are known, with variants. These sheets were printed on silk. These maps do not have an edge treatment to retard fraying. These sheets are usually a light gray or dark grey. If there is any color, only blue and sometimes red was used."[14]

Japanese Maps

There is a personal map printed on cloth captured from a Japanese soldier. The map was obtained by an Australian soldier, E J Knight, from a Japanese soldier captured on South Bougainville of the Bougainville Campaign in 1945. It is a synthetic fabric furoshiki, a wrapping cloth used to carry personal items. Cloth is printed in blue, grey, brown, mauve and orange with a map of South East Asia, and with an aeroplane, a ship and a printed patriotic marching song. The song translates as 'Both in defence and offence, we can depend on our floating castle of black steel [i.e.Japan]. We must defend to the end all sides of the Japanese empire, which is our floating castle'. There is also a short hand written poem indicating that Tsuchiya is the writer's third son to enlist, 'I have seen my sons leave for the battlefields three times on a fine day of play'. Also on the cloth is 'To Tsuchiya Akira from all the staff of the Minenobu office'.[18]

Effectiveness

The maps were quite effective. Some 35,000 British and Allied troops in all escaped from enemy territory, and it is estimated that almost half of them used variations on these maps to help in their escape or evasion of capture.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Garber, Megan. 2013. "How Monopoly Games Helped Allied POWs Escape During World War II." The Atlantic. January 2013.
  2. ↑ Doll, John G. 2002. Cloth maps, charts and blood chits of World War II. Page 12.
  3. ↑ US Cloth Maps of World War II." 2007.
  4. 1 2 Hall, Debbie. "Wall tiles and Free Parking: escape and evasion maps of World War II."
  5. 1 2 Rado. "History". Silkmaps.com. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  6. ↑ Doll, John G. 2002. Cloth maps, charts and blood chits of World War II. Pages 26-31.
  7. ↑ "Reaction of Harold Lee, UK Monopoly researcher". Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  8. ↑ KI MAE HEUSSNER (18 September 2009). "Get Out of Jail Free: Monopoly's Hidden Maps". abcNews. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  9. ↑ BMPokerWorld. February 12, 2013.
  10. ↑ Hidden in plain view: the secret story of quilts and the underground railroad / Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard. New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1999. ISBN 0-385-49137-9
  11. ↑ Doll, John G. 2002. Cloth maps, charts and blood chits of World War II. Page 22.
  12. ↑ Rado. "postwar". Silkmaps.com. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  13. ↑ Cash, John Richard. n.d. A section of a map of Germany made to help Allied Prisoners of War (POW) to escape in July 1918 from Holzminden POW Camp in Germany to the Dutch border. The sections of map were sewn into the clothing. Item Held by the Australian War Memorial.
  14. 1 2 Rado. "surveyofindia". Silkmaps.com. Retrieved 2015-05-17.
  15. ↑ Australia. 1944. Manila. [Australia]: R.A.A.F.
  16. ↑ Doll, John G. 2002. Cloth maps, charts and blood chits of World War II. page 16.
  17. ↑ Oliver, Richard. 2011. "Photo-zincography and Helio-zinography." Sheetlines: the Journal of the Charles Close Society for the Study of Ordnance Survey Maps. Volume 90, pages 41, 43.
  18. ↑ Unknown. n.d. Autographed furoshiki (wrapping cloth) carried by Japanese soldier Tsuchiya Akira, South Bougainville, 1945.

Bibliography

External links

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