Two Escape Maps. Sheet A (recto): India (Part of), Burma (North West); Sheet B (verso): Burma (North East), Siam (North), French Indo China (Part of), China (Part of). Scale 1:1,000,000.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA.

Published by [London: War Office, early 1940s]

About this Item

An example of an escape map covering South-east Asia, produced for POWs and RAF personnel during the Second World War. These maps were issued as part of escape kits or smuggled into the camps. On 23 December 1939, MI9 was established to aid in and oversee the escape of British prisoners of war in both Europe and Asia. This involved keeping in communication with POWs, training soldiers and pilots in evasion techniques, and developing escape tools. As part of this, "MI9 took an early decision to embark on a mapping programme and determined that those maps should be on silk. There were good reasons: silk is flexible and durable, in a way that paper is not and it is noiseless when hidden about one's person" (Bond). They were printed with arbitrary sheet numbers and at a variety of scales, and at least 1.75 million copies of 243 maps were produced. This example covers the north of Burma (now Myanmar) and some parts of the surrounding countries, with maps 44A and B printed back-to-back on one sheet. It was likely issued during the Burma Campaign of 1944-45. The maps mark out many important and useful locations for someone escaping a POW camp, such as telegraph offices, regional military headquarters, and freshwater lakes. Barbara A. Bond, "Escape and evasion maps of World War II", The British Library, 2016. One sheet of rayon (976 x 625 mm), colour map on recto and verso, key on Sheet B. Old folds, edges slightly frayed, fabric thinning along one fold, maps bright: a very good copy.

Seller Inventory # 162561

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Two Escape Maps. Sheet A (recto): India (Part of), Burma (North West); Sheet B (verso): Burma (North East), Siam (North), French Indo China (Part of), China (Part of). Scale 1:1,000,000.
• Publisher: [London: War Office, early 1940s]
• Edition: 1st Edition