THREE WORLD WAR II ESCAPE AND EVASION MAPS, PRINTED ON CLOTH

1941. One smaller map, 15 1/2 x 18 1/2 in., and two larger, 27 x 27 3/4 and 27 1/2 x 28 1/4 in. The smaller map, designated "A.D.I. (Maps) Air Ministry, no. 7330" in the lower left corner, with the number "9U" in the lower right corner, is printed on one side only. It shows Germany and parts of the surrounding countries (The Netherlands, France, Luxembourg, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, etc.) in black & white, including the railways, roads, rivers, canals, Reichsautobahnen, and the International boundaries in 1939 and in 1941. The two larger maps, printed in color on both sides of the cloth, are designated as: [first map] Sheet A [France (north west), Belgium (west and central), Holland (part of)], with two insets of the Pyrennes (east & central) and (west)]; Sheet B [France (south west), Spain (north)], with an inset of the German-Swiss Frontier; [second map] Sheet C [Holland], Belgium (except west coast), France (north east), Germany (west & central)]; Sheet D [France (south east), Germany (south west), Switzerland (except south east)], with inset of Belgium & German (New Frontier). The legends show roads, railways, canals, international frontiers, and various landmarks, including churches, forts, lighthouses, towers visible from a distance, etc. The two larger maps carry the number designation "43" indicating they were printed in about 1943. All three are in very good condition. These maps, durable, noiseless and easy to conceal, were issued to Allied troops, pilots, special forces, etc. during World War II, to aid them in the event they fell behind enemy lines. Over a million maps of various regions were produced by the British Military Intelligence service MI9 over the course of the war, issued in conjunction with the map makers Bartholomew's. Similar maps were later also smuggled into POW camps in Germany, most famously inside the board game "Monopoly," to encourage POWs to attempt escape.

OCLC lists three copies of the smaller map: Stanford, British Library, Zentralbibliothek Zurich; five copies of the sheet A/B map: Cornell, Lib. of Congress, Univ. of Michigan, Indiana, Cambridge Univ.; and ten copies of the sheet C/D: Lib. of Congress, National Defense Univ. Lib., Kentucky Hist. Soc., Univ. of S. Maine, Univ. of Michigan, Univ. of Houston, Univ. of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Veterans Mus., State Lib. of Victoria, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. (Inventory #: 62077)