Veterans Day
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DTR'S Chaplain
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From: Brookings Orygun
Not sure if its true but its cool.
INTERESTING STORY ABOUT WW II
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 CIA) 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 what-so-ever. 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 located (Red Cross packages were delivered to prisoners in accordance with that same 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 de-classified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm tself, were finally honored in a public ceremony. Anyway, it's always nice when you can play that "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
INTERESTING STORY ABOUT WW II
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 CIA) 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 what-so-ever. 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 located (Red Cross packages were delivered to prisoners in accordance with that same 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 de-classified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm tself, were finally honored in a public ceremony. Anyway, it's always nice when you can play that "Get Out of Jail Free" card.
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Joined: Aug 2006
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From: Duluth, MN
i would like to say thank you to all vets, past, present, and future. vets of the past, without you i would not be able to wear my uniform today. vets of today, thank you for helping to fight the fight today. and vets of the future, thank you for allowing my family and i to continue to live in freedom. so to all vets THANK YOU!!
DTR's Toad Wrangler
Joined: May 2005
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From: N 48 25.707 W123 21.887
RLV that is very interesting, I liked the story.
I am not looking to make trouble. With the Red Cross involved in this story. How can they ever be trusted by an opposing force to take care of the POW again?Like I am saying many POW made it because of the Red Cross they are neutral. Hope this does not come back to hurt the future vets.
I am not looking to make trouble. With the Red Cross involved in this story. How can they ever be trusted by an opposing force to take care of the POW again?Like I am saying many POW made it because of the Red Cross they are neutral. Hope this does not come back to hurt the future vets.
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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 616
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From: Charleston, SC
Clayten,
I don't quite think you get it. The Red Cross was not a party to the ruse. The only folks who knew were a few of the game makers and the government intelligence organization that masterminded the whole thing. If it's your sense of "fair play" that is offended, bear in mind that ALL prisoners of war have a duty to attempt escape. That doesn’t mean they should think about it and maybe only do it if they think they can get away without getting hurt or caught. Duty means they had to try, and the only accepted reason not to try was if the escape would absolutely lead to the escapee's death. A government's efforts to aid the escape is nothing more than taking care of its warriors, and well within any established rules of warfare. To not attempt to help the POWs would have been criminal.
I don't quite think you get it. The Red Cross was not a party to the ruse. The only folks who knew were a few of the game makers and the government intelligence organization that masterminded the whole thing. If it's your sense of "fair play" that is offended, bear in mind that ALL prisoners of war have a duty to attempt escape. That doesn’t mean they should think about it and maybe only do it if they think they can get away without getting hurt or caught. Duty means they had to try, and the only accepted reason not to try was if the escape would absolutely lead to the escapee's death. A government's efforts to aid the escape is nothing more than taking care of its warriors, and well within any established rules of warfare. To not attempt to help the POWs would have been criminal.
DTR's Toad Wrangler
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 892
Likes: 0
From: N 48 25.707 W123 21.887
Clayten,
I don't quite think you get it. The Red Cross was not a party to the ruse. The only folks who knew were a few of the game makers and the government intelligence organization that masterminded the whole thing. If it's your sense of "fair play" that is offended, bear in mind that ALL prisoners of war have a duty to attempt escape. That doesn’t mean they should think about it and maybe only do it if they think they can get away without getting hurt or caught. Duty means they had to try, and the only accepted reason not to try was if the escape would absolutely lead to the escapee's death. A government's efforts to aid the escape is nothing more than taking care of its warriors, and well within any established rules of warfare. To not attempt to help the POWs would have been criminal.
I don't quite think you get it. The Red Cross was not a party to the ruse. The only folks who knew were a few of the game makers and the government intelligence organization that masterminded the whole thing. If it's your sense of "fair play" that is offended, bear in mind that ALL prisoners of war have a duty to attempt escape. That doesn’t mean they should think about it and maybe only do it if they think they can get away without getting hurt or caught. Duty means they had to try, and the only accepted reason not to try was if the escape would absolutely lead to the escapee's death. A government's efforts to aid the escape is nothing more than taking care of its warriors, and well within any established rules of warfare. To not attempt to help the POWs would have been criminal.
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