Sheets K1/K2: Cyrenacia and Crete (no coverage of Cyprus) - 1942

Leeds, John Waddington Ltd, c. 1942. Double sided Escape and Evasion map, 45 x 50 cm, printed in three colours on rayon (man-made fibre), old folds. For the highly classified production of EE maps, MI9 approached British games manufacturer Waddington’s through the Ministry of Supply, as the firm already had a proven track record of printing on silk. Bond suggests that the maps were then folded and hemmed in nearby Macclesfield. The base-maps for this series were supplied by John Bartholomew and Sons, Ltd.. The map is concealed in a sleeve inside a British khaki drill tropical uniform belt, of the pattern typically worn with service dress by both Army and RAF officers in the desert theatre. The original owner has unpicked some of the stitching at the back of the belt. Only accessible from the reverse side, the map might have been expected to pass notice if the wearer was captured. It was lot 545 in the Muggeridge Collection, sold by East Bristol Auctions, 20 November 2020. Arthur Muggeridge (1919-2010) served in the Royal Artillery during the war. He was wounded during the Dunkirk evacuation and during Operation Claymore, a 1941 commando raid on Norway. He collected clandestine and espionage material used by SOE and similar organisations and prepared for escape and evasion purposes. Cyrenacia - eastern Libya, then a colony of Fascist Italy - was the scene of heavy fighting during the North African campaign. See Barbara Bond, Great Escapes, 2015, especially Appendix 1 (pp.218-224). Map