Escape and Evade: how to avoid capture in the Second World War

In 1939, a secret department of Military Intelligence (MI9) was formed. It employed the inventor Christopher Clayton Hutton and former magician Jasper Maskelyne. 

Their remit was to devise ingenious ways to smuggle maps, compasses, money and fake documentation into Prisoner of War camps.

Fabric maps 

A map is one of the most important tools needed in planning an escape or trying to evade capture. Hutton recognised this and began looking for ways that maps could be carried and hidden without the fear of discovery.  

Fabric maps had already been used for military purposes. Some were made in China as early as the 4th Century BC. Hutton saw their potential as compared to paper they were quiet, strong, waterproof. Importantly, they could be easily hidden in clothing or Prisoner of War care packages. These maps were also very versatile and could be used as bandages, slings or to filter water.   

John Bartholomew & Sons was an Edinburgh-based cartography firm. They provided MI9 with paper copies and printing plates of their small-scale world maps to be used for ‘escape and evasion’ maps. Ian Bartholomew, who served in the First World War stated, 'It was a privilege to contribute to the war effort.' 

An example in our collection is printed on both sides. It illustrates the main transport routes by road, rail and river across Europe. They are marked with good border crossing points, distances between locations and helpful evasion information. The frontiers marked on this map were correct as of September 1943.   

Issued by the USAAF in January 1944, this fabric map covers the Eastern & Western portions of K'un-Ming, Yunnan, China to Chabua Assam India. It also carries what was known as a 'Blood Chit' - a notice carried by members of the armed forces requesting help if they are found injured. 

The notice on this map: 'I am an American Airman. My plane is destroyed, I cannot speak your language. I am an enemy of the Japanese. Please give me food and take me to the nearest Allied Military Post. You will be rewarded' is translated into Bengali, Hindustani (Urdu), Kachin, Lisu, Burmese and Chinese.

Maps, alongside other essentials including money and false documentation were smuggled into camps. This would be achieved with the assistance of firms such as John Waddington & Co - the makers of Monopoly. 

Objects were hidden in board games, gaming sets, playing cards and gramophone records.  MI9 delivered these parcels through bogus charities such as the Prisoners’ Leisure Hours Fund. Coded letters were exchanged between Prisoners of War and MI9 to request items and to acknowledge their safe delivery to the camp. 

Thousands of Escape and Evasion maps had been produced. As fabric was rationed from 1941 to 1949, the maps were transformed into both functional and fashionable clothes after the war ended.   

This dress, made around 1945, has been cleverly pattern matched so the contour lines and road markings become a design feature. 

RAF escape and evade equipment  

A ‘purse’ in our Aviation collection contains essential items to aid an escape. This includes, six silk escape maps, a range of European currency – from 10 Franc to 100 Lire notes – and a small hacksaw blade. They were issued to aircrew before carrying out operations in enemy territory.  

Some examples contained phrase books and language guides. A Jungle Kit in our collection contains two pages of ‘Simple Phrases in Hindi and Bengali’.  

If you were captured, a short guide - not to be carried on the aircraft – gave firm instruction on how to survive interrogation. It included a reminder that 'the men talking to you are your enemies.'  

Philip Radcliffe Evans  

The ingenuity shown by staff at MI9 was matched by the prisoners they aimed to help. Makeshift printing presses were built by PoWs to reproduce maps and create fake documents. To recreate the lithographic printing process, they used limestone floor tiles as printing stones. They used gelatine from tinned meat to transfer the image and inks made from stage make-up for printing.

A drawing of the secret print room at Oflag 79 Prisoner of War camp in Brunswick, Germany, was drawn from memory. It was produced by by Phillip Radcliffe-Evans, one of the Brunswick Prison Camp Map Printers. 

A printer by trade, Phillip used his skills to create maps to aid escape. If alerted to the presence of camp guards, the printers could have the room returned to normal within one minute. By the time the guard entered the room, the men were found lying in their bunks enjoying a smoke and a quiet read.

Phillip's son Mark Radcliffe-Evans created a book and a blog to share his father’s experience. He recalls: 'My father and Frank Birch [were] sentenced to five days solitary confinement on 30th January 1945 after the press was discovered and destroyed. A light sentence but at a point in the war when it was looking as though defeat was in sight for Germany. Oflag 79 was liberated just over 2 months later on 12th April 1945'.