During
World War Two, the Department 9 of the British Directorate of
Military Intelligence (M.I.9 - Escaped British Prisoners of War/POW,
Debriefing, Escape and Evasion) developed a great number of secret
means to conceal tools and instruments in harmless looking objects for
everyday use. The means the pilots carried with them during the air
raid were called
pre-capture.
These comprised many items like uniforms or shoes, that could easily be
converted in civilian plain clothes but also see saws, food, etc. This
department also sent to the POW's in the
Offizierslager,
short
Offlag called camps (using fancy organisation
names) parcels with escape aid items (called
post-capture).
About one in 5 parcel contained such materiel concealed in
tooth-brushes, pencils, playing cards, etc. The "empty" ones were
called
dove and the "hot" ones
naughty.
You could buy imitations in the
Imperial
War Museum (but this link is now dead...)
Operation Escape Gadget
The mastermind behind the invention and production planning of
these gadgets wrote his story in
Official Secret,
Clayton Hutton, 1961. A short description of most items can be found in
an internal report
established
in 1942 (
Per Ardua Libertas
i.e. to Freedom through difficulties). Visit also the website
Paratrooper.
A very good article about the
compasses
(
The Art of Escape and
Evasion in WWII -
Esc. & Ev. Tools of
World War Two) written by Phil Froom was
published in
The
Armourer in 2001-2002 (Iss. 46-50, copies of text alone
w/o pics available, ask the Curator).
Picture at left: A
water-bottle
containing food, pills, a watch and a compass - (Click on image for
enlarged view)
We describe here only the orienteering aids like maps and compasses
(see also the website
Florizel
for good colour pictures of silk maps).
 |
There
were several types of
escape compasses used by British Airmen to help them to escape capture,
and to aid POW's ‘on the run’. They were just one
item out
of many in the escape packs issued by the Sqd Intelligence Officer
before each raid. (left: an early WWII RAF escape ration and survival
pack containing a compass. Because of the value attached to them
(especially the money packs), they were collected on the crew members
return. They also had to be up-dated with light-weight maps printed on
silk for the relevant mission areas (right: map of France and Italy,
FI). They apparently were issued to Army Special Forces as well.
(Pictures at l. & r. by courtesy of Kerry FOSTER) |
 |
Picture at right: WW1 escape
compasses made by F. BARKER & Son (pictures
courtesy of TradeMarkLondon)
The different types of escape compasses could be:
1. A small compass (in one piece) that was concealed in the hollow-out
heel of a flying boot (see picture 1).
2. One that formed the bottom half of a standard RAF Brass Button for a
no. 1 uniform (see note).
This button had a screw top with a reverse thread (i.e. unscrewed by
turning clockwise - see picture 2).
There were several manufacturers of these buttons: B'Ham Buttons Ltd.,
FIRMIN and J. R. Gaunt. The first one used smaller compasses which left
a space between the rim and the compass.
Nowadays, many fakes are being offered, BEWARE!
3. A compass consisting of 2 trouser fly buttons: the lower one had a
pivot and the upper one was magnetised.
4. A button made of bakelite with a magnetic element in it.
5. A compass concealed in the belt buckle.
6. A razor blade type used by sailors of the Royal Navy.
7. The magnetised tags of the flying
boots' laces.
NOTE: The R.A.F. No. 1 (Home Dress) uniform was for parades and smart
occasions; it comprised a belted jacket with brass buttons for breast
and patch pockets, and a brass buckle for the belt. Strangely, this was
used by both bomber and fighter air crews in the early part of the war.
It was later replaced by battledress (No. 2 dress) that had a waisted
jacket that buttoned on to the back of the trousers, and had black
plastic buttons. The escape compass for battledress was hidden in 2
buttons (i.e. it had no crystal); one for the base and pivot, and the
other had the needle. Airmen and aircrew serving in hot climates had KD
uniforms with black buttons and belts. No. 5 Dress was the Mess Kit.
The
most well-known: escape compass
as part of a uniform button.
(Click
on the pictures for
enlarged views)
The photo at right shows a typical
Bomber Command crew in their No. 1 Uniforms. The compass button would
have been one of the central ones. Over this uniform would have been
the heavy fur-lined leather jacket, flying boots etc. Their aircraft
behind is a Vickers Wellington V-Victor - 1940.
(Pictures courtesy
Michael Curtis)
Below: Button of the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force).
(Foto
courtesy Kerry Foster) |
The
original system was designed by BLUNT for the
MI9*. Several manufacturers produced them afterwards. The
classical design: a square
plate with two dots of radoum oaint. Here with additional red paint.
Technical Data
- Diameter: 15 mm
- Depth: 4 mm
- Weight: 2 gr.
* Quoted from
"Official Secret" |
Another
design aimed at saving scarce material: four big holes and
two tiny ones aligned on a radial line pointing North (in the right
part
of the disk):
Below: Reproduction probably made for a museum.
Note the thread's shape and the missing manufacturer's name on
reverse:
|
(Picture
courtesy John)
(Click on the images for enlarged
views) |
Picture
below and at left: Escape
compasses in private collections
(Picture
courtesy John) |
US-type
button. The upper part was hinged and not screwed.
(Picture
"Official Secret"). |
Bakelite button hung on a thread:
the two dots point North
Trouser's fly compass card (upper) button. Another one was the pivot. |
Razor
blades
Note on the fly button compass in the book "Official Secret":
|
This razor blade was a magnetic needle. It had to be laid on the
surface of a liquid (like water in a glass) and would then turn around
so that the War Department arrows pointed north. Date : World War Two
Navy soldier equipment. |
Contemporary NATO miniature compass.
|
NATO Stock Number and radiation warning sign on reverse |
Technical
Data
Manufacturer: Waltham C. Co.
- Diameter: 15 mm
- Depth: 4 mm
- Weight: 2 gr
- Luminous lubber line on the crystal
(Click on the pictures for enlarged
views) |
Blouse Buckle Compass
The above mentioned website THE PARACHUTIST writes about this device:
"Early RAF uniform blouses used a toothed buckle for securing the belt
section on the bottom of the blouse. (...) The buckle was made of a
non-ferrous metal. The compass element was an arrow shaped piece of
magnetized material concealed on the back portion of the buckle. The
compass pivot was staked on a small swivel joint and when not in use
was folded flat against a cross bar. The compass portion was stored on
the opposite side of the same cross bar. A slider mounted on the same
cross bar retains both the pivot pin and the compass needle assembly.
To use as a compass, the slider is moved to release the compass element
and the pivots swung to a vertical position. The buckle is placed on a
stable horizontal surface and the compass needle assembly placed on the
pivot. The pointed end of the compass points toward the North Magnetic
pole".
Compass folded
Photo courtesy
Kerry FOSTER
 |
 |
Click on the picture for a detailed
view of buckle open
|
Concealed maps
(Pictures of prints:
Per Ardua Libertas)
Peelable playing cards (set of 48
for 1 map). The joker was the key.
Map in a cigar |
(Click
for enlarged view)
Map in a pencil. Maps were also concealed
in flying boots'
heels.
Silk maps of FRANCE
and GERMANY.
(Pictures by
courtesy of J. Greatbatch)
See other pictures of silk maps HERE |
Handkerchiefs:
the maps were visible when
"washed" with a concealed chemical |
Concealed compasses
Swinger (magnetic needle) in a tooth
brush and a pencil
These needles were used hung on a
thread |
A fountain pen concealed
two "baby compasses".The filling lever, the clip and the nib were also
magnetized and would swing north when suspended on a piece of thread. |
(Picture
by courtesy of J. Greatbatch)
Pict. at r.: Fountain-pen compass (see below)
(Picture
by courtesy of Phil Froom) |
Compass in a stud
(Pictures of prints: Per
Ardua Libertas) |
Magnetised pencil clip |
The escape aid
organisation also
sent to the POW's rests of pencils collected in schools in which a
portion of the lead mine was replaced by a magnetized steel needle.
|
U.S.A.F. escape
compasses?
A visitor sent us this picture together with the following information:
"
My grandfather gave me
these before he died in 1990. He was in the 8th
Army Air Force in 1944. He said he kept them between his toes. I'm
pretty sure he said they were tiny compasses. They have a needle pivot
on the
inside, and a threaded bolt on the other side."
This could be a compass case like the one displayed above
(fountain-pen)
but w/o the magnetic needle/card. The screw being maybe
intended to fix it inside the filler.
Can anyone confirm this and give more information?
(Picture
courtesy Doug Rulon)
Operation Escape Gadget
U.S.A.F. escape
compasses?