Escape and Evasion / Survival aids - Silk maps and Escape Compasses + more!

**GIZMO8Z** · 10-25-2012, 10:12 PM

Were there cloth maps made for the DDay landings? I'd love to use a repro (or a real one if they're cheap enough...) as the backing to a display I have planned...

**Grimebox** · 10-25-2012, 10:28 PM

The 'Zones of France' (My avatar) was the map which was produced for D-Day, because of this they are amongst the most valuable of the escape maps. They average around the £80 - £150 ($120 - $240), however, can be bought a lot cheaper, although one went for over £200 recently! A reproduction was made (I believe by a French company), they do not look very good as the colours are all wrong. Originals do appear on US Ebay although not as frequently as the British Ebay, I would say that a Zones of France makes an appearance on Ebay once every two weeks to a month.

**seebee1** · 10-29-2012, 07:43 PM

The British Fiber Carrier Pigeon Leg Capsules are interesting, but I am unsure if they are WW2 or post-WW2. There is a very good exhibition at Bletchley Park, in Hut 8, on the use of Pigeons in wartime. Although they have several examples of the Leg Capsules I did not see any of the Fiber ones. Also shown is a fine documentary that covers many of their brave exploits and awards of the Dickin Medal. The use of the Peregrine Falcon, by both the British and Germans, to kill Carrier Pigeons was something I did not know too much about previously. Some amazing footage shows how a Pigeon could avoid the Falcon, that was diving at some 200 MPH, all the Pigeon did was to suddenly drop like a stone and the falcon simply overshot it!

**Grimebox** · 10-31-2012, 09:05 PM

A pile of WW2 dated British coins - or are they? Spot the odd one out!

**Grimebox** · 10-31-2012, 09:11 PM

A 'coin knife'. I have seen SOE issued/developed coin knives where the blade is curved and goes to a point, they are commonly referred to as 'tyre slashers', I suspect that this one, however, has more to do with bar room brawling than SOE and Mi9! The blade appears to have been fashioned from an old razor blade.

**Wagriff** · 11-01-2012, 01:22 AM

That one makes the old skin crawl....

**Thanatos** · 11-01-2012, 01:27 AM

by Grimebox

The SOE 'pencil dagger' / 'sticker', a metal stick which could be hidden inside pencils, amongst other things. There should be a fine cord (which I don't have) wrapped around the end to form a grip or allow it to be tied to the pencil as a handle. Designed primarily as a last ditch weapon to evade capture, I believe that the training suggests that you thrust it into the neck of your opponent! For such a small piece of metal it's a nasty looking thing and I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it.

I believe some WW2 British Para carried a cut down cooking scewer conceled in the collars of their Denison Jackets as an escape and evasion weapon.
Could anyone confirm this?
Cheers
Dave

**seebee1** · 11-01-2012, 11:21 AM

A very neat example of the "Coin Knife", I have heard that there may also be a connection with the Auxiliary Units. Not too much has been written about this type of blade, definitely a very interesting subject.

**Grimebox** · 11-01-2012, 12:23 PM

by Thanatos

I believe some WW2 British Para carried a cut down cooking scewer conceled in the collars of their Denison Jackets as an escape and evasion weapon.
Could anyone confirm this?
Cheers
Dave

I have not heard of this, however, I believe that the 'pencil dagger / sticker' was issued to RAF aircrew so it is not inconceivable that a Para could get hold of one - could it be that a few had these 'pencil daggers / stickers' and they were simply confused for cut down cooking skewers? On looking at my Denison smock I would suggest that if one was to hide a skewer or similar in the area of the collar then common sense suggests that it would be hidden in the neck opening area running alongside the zip (with the point facing down!!). As stated I have not heard of this, however, as my knowledge of escape and evasion, SOE and MI9 grows nothing surprises me anymore - the ingenuity of man has no bounds!

**Grimebox** · 11-01-2012, 12:34 PM

Another example of map K1 (Cyrenaica) and K2 (Morocco and Tripoli). This one differs to the other version that I have in that it is slightly larger, the silk is thicker and there is no scale on the K2 side. The colours are also different, this one is marked in green whilst the other one is in yellow, although this could be down to the ink fading over time.
This map would have been issued to the LRDG and early SAS patrols as well as the RAF.