What popular game was used to help POWs escape captivity?
What popular game was used to help POWs escape captivity?
Monopoly®
For Allied POWs during World War II, Monopoly® games came equipped with real-life “get out of jail free” cards. During World War II, the British secret service hatched a master plan to smuggle escape gear to captured Allied soldiers inside Germany. Their secret weapon? Monopoly boxes.
How monopoly helped POWs escape?
Once they obtained the “playing pieces” within them, the soldiers were instructed to destroy the games—in order to keep the ruse a secret from the Axis. British historians estimate that the MacGyvered Monopoly boards could have helped thousands of captured soldiers escape from their prison camps.
Did any German POWs escape?
The Great Papago Escape was the largest Axis prisoner-of-war escape to occur from an American facility during World War II. On the night of December 23, 1944, twenty-five Germans tunneled out of Camp Papago Park, near Phoenix, Arizona, and fled into the surrounding desert.
Why was the game Monopoly so important to POWs?
It was the perfect accomplice. Included in the items the German army allowed humanitarian groups to distribute in care packages to imprisoned soldiers, the game was too innocent to raise suspicion. But it was the ideal size for a top-secret escape kit that could help spring British POWs from German war camps.
Who was Audie Murphy what did he do after the Second World War?
After the war, Murphy embarked on a 21-year acting career. He played himself in the 1955 autobiographical film To Hell and Back, based on his 1949 memoirs of the same name, but most of his roles were in westerns. He made guest appearances on celebrity television shows and starred in the series Whispering Smith.
Why was silk the best material to use for maps used in the Monopoly games?
Silk Maps Were Key Escape Kit Elements For hundreds of years, even before World War II, silk was the material of choice for military maps, Hall said, because it wouldn’t tear or dissolve in water as easily as paper and was light enough to stuff into a boot or cigarette packet.
Are there escape kits smuggled to WWII POWs?
The general outline of the scheme to smuggle escape aids to POWs through specially manufactured Monopoly kits is recounted (among other places) in The Game Makers, a 2004 history of the Parker Brothers game company:
How did people escape during World War 2?
Maps and other escape aids were smuggled to Allied POWs in Monopoly sets during World War II. Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British Airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich, and the Crown was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape.
Who are the famous POWs of World War 2?
8 Incredible WWII POW Stories of Survival and Escape. 1 Andras Toma. Andras Toma was the longest held POW of World War II. Andras Tomas was 19 when he was captured by the Soviet Union in the fall of 1944. 2 William Ash. 3 Alistair Urquhart. 4 Douglas Bader. 5 Erich Hartmann.
What was the game called during World War 2?
During WWII, a special British Monopoly game may have saved hundreds of lives – it could have been entitled “Monopoly, The Escape Version.”. Allied prisoners in German POW camps were permitted by the Geneva Convention to receive packages from the Red Cross and other humanitarian groups. In the parcels, mostly from fictitious charities