POW Escape Maps Hidden in Monopoly Games : snopes. Claim: Maps and other escape aids were smuggled to Allied POWs in Monopoly sets during World War II. It's durable, can be scrunched- up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever. When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort. 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. When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece. 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. Free Parking square. 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 British War Office worked with a select group of Waddington staffers to modify Monopoly boards for insertion in games that the Red Cross would deliver to Allied prisoners of war. These men carved out precise depressions in the unfinished game boards and, before applying their labels, filled them with low- profile compasses, files, and maps that depicted escape routes from the prison camp where each game was to be sent. Waddington's had perfected this process to such an extent that virtually all British flyers climbed into their warplanes with a Waddington's map secreted in the heel of one of their boots.) Hidden among the games' play money was real currency — German, Italian, or Austrian. It is not known how many airmen escaped thanks to these Monopoly games. It printed maps for the military on durable silk. Then MI- 9, the division of Military Intelligence devoted to helping POWs escape, smuggled the sets into prison camps as recreational equipment. Get out of jail free: Monopoly's hidden maps saved WWII POWs. Get Out of Jail Free: Monopoly's Hidden Maps Silk Escape Maps Concealed in Game Boards Helped WWII. Monopoly's Hidden Maps Help World War II POWs Escape. POWs Escape During World War II.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
September 2017
Categories |