Escape and evasion map printed on playing cards distributed to Prisoners of War which could be soaked and pealed apart revealing the escape map. Many of the maps of the Pacific region were printed by the US Army Map Service, while the UK was responsible for many of the European Theatre maps. Many of the US Navy charts were folded in envelopes and distributed to the air crews before a mission, and to be turned in when the mission was successfully completed. They were called "drift charts" by the Navy, "...since their prime purpose was to indicate to aircrews survivors in their life rafts
Shelburne Escape Line Shelburne Escape Line The Shelburne Escape Line was the only World War II Underground escape line that successfully evaded infiltration by the Gestapo. Allied airmen, who were rescued after being shot down, were eventually taken to Paris by Resistance members where they received new names, identity cards, clothing, training, and special passes for the forbidden coastal zones in Brittany. The pilots were hidden in safe house attics, barns, and abandoned buildings of local farmers until a moonless night when they would be evacuated to England by the British Royal Navy's high-speed Motor Gun Boat 503. On the night of 16/17