A retiree's interesting story about WWII.

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 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 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 itself, were finally honored
in a public ceremony.

Anyway, it's always nice when you can play that
'Get Out of Jail Free' card.

I realize you're all too young for WWII (!),
but this is still interesting, isn't it?

This very interesting story was provided by
retiree, Andy Vaquera