The Great Escapes: The Story of MI9’s WW2 Escape & Evasion Maps
Barbara Bond charts MI9’s secret map programme—how ingenious silk charts guided escapers across Europe and beyond.
- Author
- Barbara Bond
- Publisher
- Times Books
- Price
- £25
- ISBN
- 9780008143010
- Published
- 2016
The Great Escapes: The Story of MI9’s WW2 Escape & Evasion Maps by Barbara Bond
Barbara Bond explains how MI9 built an intelligence network around maps—designing, printing and smuggling them into Europe to guide escapers and evaders. The book details MI9’s creation, its staff, and the ingenious delivery methods that hid maps inside games, clothing and everyday items.
Bond showcases the routes used by airmen and prisoners, from the Baltic ports to the Pyrenees, and includes facsimiles that demonstrate the clarity and durability of the silk charts. Coded correspondence, debriefing reports and helper stories round out the narrative.
It is an essential reference for anyone interested in MI9, escape lines and the tools that brought thousands home.
Times Books. £25. ISBN 9780008143010.