Monopoly Money and WW11.

[padi56]

Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British
Airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich, and the British war office was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape. Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only where stuff was, but also showing the locations of 'safe houses' where a POW on-the-run could go for food and shelter.


Paper maps had some real drawbacks -- they make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly, and if they get wet, they turn into useless mush.


Someone in MI-5 (similar to you guys across the pond OSS ) got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads,and unfolded as many times as needed,and makes no noise whatsoever.



At that time, there was only one manufacturer
in Great Britain that had perfected the technology
of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd. When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort.




By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the
U.K. Licensee for the popular American board
game, Monopoly. As it happened, 'games and
pastimes' was a category of item qualified for
insertion into 'CARE packages', dispatched by
the International Red Cross to prisoners of war.

Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely
guarded and inaccessible old workshop on
the grounds of Waddington's, a group of
sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass
producing escape maps, keyed to each
region of Germany or Italy where Allied
POW camps were regional system).. When
processed, these maps could be folded
into such tiny dots that they would actually
fit inside a Monopoly playing piece.


As long as they were at it, the clever workmen
at Waddington's also managed to add:
1. A playing token, containing a small magnetic
compass
2. A two-part metal file that could easily be
screwed together
3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination
German, Italian, and
French currency, hidden within the piles of
Monopoly money!

British and American air crews were advised,
before taking off on their first mission, how
to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set -- by means
of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look
like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the
corner of the Free Parking square.

Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who
successfully escaped, an estimated one-third
were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly
sets... Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy
Indefinitely, since the British Government might
want to use this highly successful ruse in still
another, future war. The story wasn't declassified
until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from
Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were
finally honoured in a public ceremony.
It's always nice when you can play that 'Get Out
of Jail' Free' card! and well done that man from the makers of the board game Monopoly.

[Kapture1]

cool story

[MonBK]

Wonderful story.

[AK40DJ50]

Thanks for sharing a fascinating piece of history.

[Kevin B]

Very cool, I wonder if any will ever end up in museums. That would be a cool part of history to behold, thanks for posting that.

[dalip]

Incredible story....

[fusionstorm]

Great story. Thanks for posting it.

[Mosco]

very cool, thanks for sharing, Padi

[marcinthemiddle]

I'll never look at a Monopoly game in the same way. Thanks for posting this!

[wikeman]

http://www.snopes.com/military/monopoly.asp

[Skullring]

Great story thanks for the post.

[Grumpy Badger]

Very cool! My grandfather was captured when the 51st Highland Division was left behind to cover the troops evacuated from Dunkirk. He spent the rest of the war in various camps. I bet he'd have liked one of those monopoly sets!

[rsg]

Wow, very interesting. I'll have to share this with my daughter as she has a fascination with WWII.

[sleddog]

A great read Peter.......I enjoy this type of posts!!

[Justjosh]

I have collected Monopoly variations since I was younger, I have yet to come across one of these sets for my collection

[NYC6]

Very cool story.

Sure most everyone has seen it, "The Great Escape" is a 60's movie depicting the mass escape of prisoners from a Stalag. Its a great movie with a fantastic cast and keeps one rivoted the whole time. The best thing about the movie is that its a true story. Saw a documentary about the real event and it damn near mirrors the movie. The only thing that stands out as not true is, they threw a couple Americans in the mix, in reality I think the prisoners were all Brits.

[Dr. Robert]

Great story & a great game too!

[Brushpup]

I am still trying to add a US Silk map to my Martial Arms collection, but they are hard to come by these days.. Awsome story Peter, thanks for sharing.

[CoopJr]

Interesting story Padi...my Uncle flew on a B-17 during the war...shot down and spent several years in a POW camp. Thanks for sharing.

[onryo]

Great story. One of my favorite games of all time. Thanks for sharing.

[Lion]

What a fascinating story of how the Allied's won the war. I have my Mom's first edition set of Monopoly and it's really cool but doesn't have the red dot as it was bought in I believe 1934!!!