During World War II, the United States and Great
Britain produced in excess of 3.5 million silk maps and
cloth maps for Allied military personnel to use as
escape maps. In 1940, the British military
intelligence unit, known as MI 9, started issuing silk maps
for use by British aircrews shot down over enemy occupied
territory in Europe. The silk maps were intended to
assist airman in evading capture. MI 9 also smuggled
silk and tissue paper escape maps into POW camps in Germany along
with other escape aids to encourage POWs to attempt escape.
After the US's entry into WWII, US military intelligence
officers learned of the activities of MI 9 and established a
similar intelligence unit referred to as MIS-X, which began
mass producing cloth maps and tissue paper escape maps for
US military personnel. The first US cloth maps were
printed on balloon cloth, but soon thereafter a more
suitable material, acetate rayon, was found and used for all
subsequent cloth maps.
This website recounts the histories of British silk maps and
US cloth maps prepared for the Army Air Forces and Navy, as
well as the two US organizations that prepared the escape
maps, the Army Map Service and the Aeronautical Chart
Service. Also, included is the history of the oil
cloth charts used by the US Navy on life rafts for survival
purposes. The site contains many photos of these
silk and cloth maps, along with some escape maps
produced during WWII by the Survey of India and the RAAF.
A few photos of tissue paper escape maps are also included.
All information contained on this website is for educational
purposes only. It is dedicated to the Allied men and
women who saved the world from tyranny.
Visitors' comments and questions are always welcome.
