GSGS Restricted Cold War silk escape map—Archangel—North Scandinavia—Russia 1953
£140
SKU: P-6-111587
Archangel’sk (Archangel)— Restricted— Fourth Edition, G.S.G.S.— North Q 36, 37, 38 & part of R 38— [White Sea / Beloye More sector]. // Namsos — Restricted— Fourth Edition, G.S.G.S.— North Q 32, 33, 34 & 35 [Northern Norway, Sweden & Finland]
A Cold War-era silk escape-and-evasion map—Restricted—Archangel’sk // Namsos, Fourth Edition, G.S.G.S., issued in 1952. Fabric escape-and-evasion maps were developed during the Second World War by the British military intelligence organisation MI9, notably under the direction of Christopher Clayton Hutton. A prolific inventor of devices for covert military and espionage use, Hutton is also thought to have been one of the inspirations for Ian Fleming’s conception of Q Branch. Printed on both sides of rayon cloth, such maps were durable, silent in use, and easily concealed. Originally issued to airmen for use if shot down behind enemy lines—for example, U-2 pilot Gary Powers was carrying cloth escape maps when he was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960—these maps were later also supplied to Special Forces, and were notably used by the SAS during the 1991 Gulf War. One side maps Archangel’sk and the White Sea sector of the Soviet Arctic; the reverse covers the adjoining Scandinavian region across Norway, Sweden, and Finland, reflecting the strategic geography of the North Atlantic and Arctic approaches, and the frontier between the Western powers and the Soviet Union in the early Cold War.
Size 63 x 107 cm | 25.0 x 42.0 inches
Date Published: 1953
Type: Cold War era double-sided GSGS silk fabric escape and evasion map
Author: War Office
Publication: War Office
Condition: Good |
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