Monopoly game helped POWs escape

[Kermit]

During WWII, the number of British airmen captured increased, the country's secret service enlisted the board game Monopoly to help.

The Germany army allowed humanitarian groups to distribute care packages to imprisoned soldiers. The game was the ideal size for a top-secret escape kit and wouldn't raise suspicion.

Included in the nonstandard Monopoly game was a compass, small metal tools (i.e. files), and a silk map placed in cut-out compartments in the board itself.

British historians say it could have helped thousands of captured soldiers escape. The most important piece of that kit was the silk map. It wouldn't deteriorate if wet, could be tucked away easily, and wouldn't rustle when used.

The credit goes to John Waddington Ltd., a printer and board game manufacturer that also happened to be the U.K. licensee for the Parker Bros. game Monopoly. He found a way to print on silk from pre-war theatre programs.

The full story is Here and I hope you don't look at another Monopoly game without remembering this story.

[ptownhiker]

This story sounds familiar, as if I have heard someone speak about it before, but this is the first time I have read about it in any detail. It's great!

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

First time I'd heard this one. What a fantastic story.

[greenalfonzo]

Do we know who it actually helped? I think the number of allied soldiers that actually escaped from German POW camps was no more than a few hundred.

[Baldrick62]

I think the number of allied soldiers that actually escaped from German POW camps was no more than a few hundred.

While the number of 'home runs' is depressingly small, the number of recorded attempts (noting this doesn't seem to cover Soviet POWs) would still have tied down quite a few German resources.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_es...rman_POW_camps

In addition:
January 5, 1942 - Airey Neave and Anthony Luteyn successfully escaped from Colditz Castle, Germany, Neave being the first British officer to accomplish this feat.
October 30, 1942 - Camp 57, Italy. 14 Australians and five New Zealanders escaped through a tunnel, but were all recaptured.
March 29, 1943 - Six British and New Zealand officers escaped through a tunnel from Castello di Vincigliata (Campo 12) near Florence, Italy. Four were recaptured. New Zealand Brigadiers James Hargest and Reginald Miles escaped to Switzerland.

On the other side 'of the hundreds of thousands of POWs shipped to the U.S., only 2222 tried to escape.'

[wargamer]

And of course, since a number of features included items sewn into standard uniforms, including those silk maps or compasses enclosed in otherwise normal looking buttons. The number of flyers who were able to escape home after being shot down, or having to bail out over hostile territory - there does not seem to be a quantity of those who evaded without getting captured.

[csadn]

The number of flyers who were able to escape home after being shot down, or having to bail out over hostile territory - there does not seem to be a quantity of those who evaded without getting captured.

I've seen a reference which says, according to MI 9 estimates, ~3,000 airmen were extracted to safety by the various E&E groups (called "lines") operating in German-controlled territory.

The same estimates suggest that for every one of those airmen extracted, one member of the lines was killed by the Germans....

[Flying Officer Kyte]

I posted this last year. you might like to con the replies made then.

http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...light=monopoly

Rob.

[Kermit]

Were you aware that a charm bracelet inspired the Monopoly tokens?
When Charles Darrow first started selling the game, he suggested using household items, like buttons, as tokens. It was only after Parker Brothers purchased the game from Darrow in 1935 that they decided to offer actual tokens. Darrow’s nieces, it turns out, were fond of making Monopoly tokens from their charm bracelet baubles or from prizes out of Cracker Jacks boxes.

For the full story, click Here.