I suppose the efficacy of escape equipment is also the inconvenience it makes for the enemy, if you catch a compass hidden inside a comb or shaving brush, now you must inspect all combs and shaving brushes. Each time something was discovered the Germans were left wondering how much smaller could escape kit get and how long had it already been in service.
I love all the escape paraphernalia created in WWII. I knew about button compasses but had never heard of or seen razors, pen clips and some of the more exotic ones you've shown. It would be most interesting to see examples of German or Japanese escape paraphernalia. Never seen anything. Loved the Great Escape reference. Your intros are a bonus treat!
The Allies could escape bc Germany is on the European continent. German POWs were imprisoned in Britain or the US, making escape paraphernalia completely useless. Not an expert, but I assume this is the reason
@@Casmaniac Japanese POWs were ignored by their own government and were generally in isolated conditions in Australia or the USA. A mass breakout attempt by ones held in Cowra, Australia was more like mass suicide than a real attempt to escape.
@@Casmaniac it's a fair and sensible assumption. But there were escape attempts, even in POW camps located in the US. So I guess the german secret services must also have tried their share of tricks, and that is also a fair and sensible assumption. 😉
@@stevekaczynski3793 the Japanese considered highly dishonorable being captured or surrendering, so AFAIK they ignored their servicemen who became POWs.
One piece of escape kit was a pipe bowl that could be turned into a small telescope. The magnification was not great, perhaps 2x or 3x, but it was enough to for example read a road sign from a distance while remaining concealed.
I saw the silk map at the Military Aviation Museum in Tangmere and was impressed how detailed and accurate even our area with several very small villages in northern Germany was.
My father was one of those escaped POW's, though he escaped from an Austrian hospital, with the help of the nurses, who did not like the SS commandant a bit. Still had an arrest record in Switzerland when he went there in the 1980's, after he stole a car in Austria, and broke the nose of a Swiss policeman, and threw an ink pot at him. They wanted to send him back as German deserter, and he wanted a judge, and a word with the British consulate.
My dad was RAF bomber crew 102 Sqdn. flew as WOP/AG before pilot training in Canada., Asked him about escape compasses and such sometime in the ‘70’s he said he didn’t know anything about them. Sometime I’ll have a closer look at his tunic although my brother wore it when he was in the RCAF, so buttons may have changed.
Thanks for the vids. Very interesting. I visited the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick, Cumbria, UK a few years ago. Derwent still make all manner of artists pencils and materials. The museum showed the 'Escape Pencils' that they made in WW2. If I remember correctly, the small compass was under the rubber (eraser for our friends across the Pond) and a section of the silk map was in the body. There was a maker's code number on the outside that identified which portion of the map was in the pencil. PS: their car park was by far cheaper for the day than the others in Keswick. 😁
Was happy to hear the div. Most in the US know MI6 and MI5 because of Bond but little is said of the other branches. In reading about Churchill in S. Africa I know of a couple others but never seen a proper list. I understand details would be still secret but the broad facts while discussed separately they are rarely put together in a chart or list. Perhaps the Britts are more tight lipped in general and have a more closed government budgeting than us in the US. I have also read the Ian Fleming bond books and know he had a management job in British Military Intel that gave him material to draw on. I am trained as a historian and though heavy on US side, some periods of British history is very interesting. Hope you have a happy new year.
Thank you very much. You have just made me realise that I have one of these somewhere in the house or garage or shed or workshop or under the bed or in a tool box or kitchen drawer or wherever. Someday I'll find it and escape.
I have a 15.5mm pillbox in my collection of survival and escape gizmos, plus more modern ones of this style, but now I WANT that 6.5mm one. It was a part of my grandfather's collection of militeria and yeah, the price is jaw dropping. These days, the cheap plastic ones are actually pretty good but they have shoddy housings so they get horrible bubbles. Break them out of their cases, and the cards can be floated in a palmful of water. I carry one in my wallet, taped to a frensel lens.
Vaan month in zee cooola 😊 I really like your presentations, in the large production history shows I've seen, I've only ever heard about compass hidden in tunic buttons and that was only in one show and they didn't even have a picture. This is the only time I've ever heard yet even seen the many other items that were used as escape compass🤔
Ooh, a backup, backup compass for when all the others have been taken off you. Neat. Just FYI, it’d be much appreciated if you put the measurements up on screen when you say them; or perhaps make a brief comparison such as “slightly larger” or “slightly smaller” after saying a subsequent one. I used to have a great memory for numbers but now I’d have to skip around to make a comparison between the designs! The “arsehole compass” thing was hilarious btw. And much more useful than your best friend’s watch to give to his son!
I have something similar in my knife handle nut. What nut? The entire handle is hollow and there are matches there for survival purposes. Shoddy execution of it all. But the little compass even works.
Whatever he paid for it, you just know that in 20-30 years someone else is going to pay 5x that amount, if not more, not counting inflation. This stuff will just keep going up and up in literal value, because it's priceless.
Curious that so few remain, considering how many soldiers must've had one in some form or another. Though i guess if it's still attached to your uniform, you're not parting with it typically. Are there maybe more in existence than we think, it's just that relatively few are available independently? Though some of those designs don't seem like they'd have been particularly effective, and a soldier isn't going to bother carting around an item they can't use, so you can imagine those later models getting tossed rather than saved and brought home maybe.
I think it's very plausible that many disappeared without notice, exactly as they were meant to. So maybe grandpa had a jar full of random pens and pencils in the kitchen - after he passed, who'd look at the shirt clip on an old pencil?
@@WyvernYT I think its this combined with the fact that its an interesting little gadget, Id imagine a lot were just given to kids to play with since it probably wasn't something seen as valuable I remember my grandad telling me about random things he was given just after the war by uncles and such and they would play army men as kids and I know from my own experience the amount of random stuff my aunt and uncle gave me as a kid from their time in service, most of which has been lost in woods
@@randomcow505 Come to think of it, my grandfather (and both his sons) had a lot of old Vietnam-era military crap. I'm not sure I lost any of it but at the same time I don't think I have any of it now.
@@WyvernYT just like a lot of "common items" it just disappears because you unknowingly or forgot that you tossed it. parts break and you throw the whole thing out things get lent to people and never come back lost in moves, left in bags shoved into sheds and lofts and forgotten about and I'm not joking, the big one is parents kids collect a lot of "junk" most parents will secretly start to throw out stuff kids have stopped playing with otherwise the house would be just stuffed floor to ceiling. Actually funny story on that, I was sat with my mother and a bunch of her friends and asked them if all the items we lost as kids were actually just thrown out they all admitted that most of it was, but despite me and all my friends (their children) being grown adults now they all said not to say anything. Secrets to take to the grave, "I threw out your broken Thomas the tank engine toy when you were 5"
I don't know how efficient the Germans were at searching for those type of objects, but you'd think the luminescence from the radium or the unusual white dots would be something of a giveaway.
Regarding that miniature compass with a diameter of "6.35 mm." An inch is 25.4 mm. Reporting an item in metric only, when it was clearly made to be exactly 1/4 inch, is imperfect reportage.
8:15 What would happen afterward if a POW saved food, dug a hole to hide in either in the camp or just outside? Get them to not look far for escapees? Do not contact resistance people?
The compass of the man who refused to inform you what he payed for it is ashamed he got ripped off. It's worth $5 bucks day in day out until you get the fool to buy it for more. ✔️
Your introductions are getting more and more entertaining.
I suppose the efficacy of escape equipment is also the inconvenience it makes for the enemy, if you catch a compass hidden inside a comb or shaving brush, now you must inspect all combs and shaving brushes. Each time something was discovered the Germans were left wondering how much smaller could escape kit get and how long had it already been in service.
The sad trombone (price is right loss) and slow zoom was hilarious.
I love all the escape paraphernalia created in WWII. I knew about button compasses but had never heard of or seen razors, pen clips and some of the more exotic ones you've shown.
It would be most interesting to see examples of German or Japanese escape paraphernalia. Never seen anything.
Loved the Great Escape reference. Your intros are a bonus treat!
The Allies could escape bc Germany is on the European continent. German POWs were imprisoned in Britain or the US, making escape paraphernalia completely useless. Not an expert, but I assume this is the reason
@@Casmaniac Japanese POWs were ignored by their own government and were generally in isolated conditions in Australia or the USA. A mass breakout attempt by ones held in Cowra, Australia was more like mass suicide than a real attempt to escape.
@@Casmaniac it's a fair and sensible assumption. But there were escape attempts, even in POW camps located in the US. So I guess the german secret services must also have tried their share of tricks, and that is also a fair and sensible assumption. 😉
@@stevekaczynski3793 the Japanese considered highly dishonorable being captured or surrendering, so AFAIK they ignored their servicemen who became POWs.
@@stevekaczynski3793 makes sense, those imperial Japanese were some real psychos god damn
Big ol' thumbs up for the Price is Right slide trombone bit. Droll humour and deadpan delivery for the win!
One piece of escape kit was a pipe bowl that could be turned into a small telescope. The magnification was not great, perhaps 2x or 3x, but it was enough to for example read a road sign from a distance while remaining concealed.
I’d love to see an example of that, do you have any references where I might be able to read more about this?
You served your country and now you serve knowledge. Pretty damn cool.
I saw the silk map at the Military Aviation Museum in Tangmere and was impressed how detailed and accurate even our area with several very small villages in northern Germany was.
oh wow thats cool. I'd love to see that scarf if you ever come across one.
Legendary intro
I am so glad that I happened upon this channel!
Hilarious opening there Steve McQueen. 😂😂
My father was one of those escaped POW's, though he escaped from an Austrian hospital, with the help of the nurses, who did not like the SS commandant a bit. Still had an arrest record in Switzerland when he went there in the 1980's, after he stole a car in Austria, and broke the nose of a Swiss policeman, and threw an ink pot at him. They wanted to send him back as German deserter, and he wanted a judge, and a word with the British consulate.
The opening gave me a good laugh over morning coffee. Well played, Sir!
My dad was RAF bomber crew 102 Sqdn. flew as WOP/AG before pilot training in Canada., Asked him about escape compasses and such sometime in the ‘70’s he said he didn’t know anything about them. Sometime I’ll have a closer look at his tunic although my brother wore it when he was in the RCAF, so buttons may have changed.
I've started to appreciate the effort to where clothes as old as the device you are talking about.
Wear?
A working compass, 6.5 mm diameter is very impressive for the time.
Thanks for the vids. Very interesting.
I visited the Derwent Pencil Museum in Keswick, Cumbria, UK a few years ago. Derwent still make all manner of artists pencils and materials. The museum showed the 'Escape Pencils' that they made in WW2. If I remember correctly, the small compass was under the rubber (eraser for our friends across the Pond) and a section of the silk map was in the body. There was a maker's code number on the outside that identified which portion of the map was in the pencil.
PS: their car park was by far cheaper for the day than the others in Keswick. 😁
Great stuff... aehm... devices! Thank you! :)
Was happy to hear the div. Most in the US know MI6 and MI5 because of Bond but little is said of the other branches. In reading about Churchill in S. Africa I know of a couple others but never seen a proper list. I understand details would be still secret but the broad facts while discussed separately they are rarely put together in a chart or list. Perhaps the Britts are more tight lipped in general and have a more closed government budgeting than us in the US. I have also read the Ian Fleming bond books and know he had a management job in British Military Intel that gave him material to draw on. I am trained as a historian and though heavy on US side, some periods of British history is very interesting. Hope you have a happy new year.
It's funny how many of these escape tools used by prisoners in WW2 are now being revived as EDC gear
Totally new and fascinating topic to me.
Thank you very much. You have just made me realise that I have one of these somewhere in the house or garage or shed or workshop or under the bed or in a tool box or kitchen drawer or wherever. Someday I'll find it and escape.
Found it. That's a weight off.
That was awesome, Gilles. You're fuckin' funny. Always were. Always will be. Keep up the good work, buddy.
Cue: South Park round-and-round session
Speaking of compasses, I'd love to see your take on the Brunton Pocket Transit.
The a-hole compass reminds me of Christopher Walken's watch story from Pulp Fiction lol.
Time flies so fast watching your videos!
Another excellent explanation, thank you.
I have a 15.5mm pillbox in my collection of survival and escape gizmos, plus more modern ones of this style, but now I WANT that 6.5mm one. It was a part of my grandfather's collection of militeria and yeah, the price is jaw dropping. These days, the cheap plastic ones are actually pretty good but they have shoddy housings so they get horrible bubbles. Break them out of their cases, and the cards can be floated in a palmful of water. I carry one in my wallet, taped to a frensel lens.
Great video,thumbs up
Vaan month in zee cooola 😊 I really like your presentations, in the large production history shows I've seen, I've only ever heard about compass hidden in tunic buttons and that was only in one show and they didn't even have a picture. This is the only time I've ever heard yet even seen the many other items that were used as escape compass🤔
Beginning of this video:
_Gilles McQueen."_ 😉
That fly joke was so so so so bad 😂😂😂
Ooh, a backup, backup compass for when all the others have been taken off you. Neat.
Just FYI, it’d be much appreciated if you put the measurements up on screen when you say them; or perhaps make a brief comparison such as “slightly larger” or “slightly smaller” after saying a subsequent one. I used to have a great memory for numbers but now I’d have to skip around to make a comparison between the designs!
The “arsehole compass” thing was hilarious btw. And much more useful than your best friend’s watch to give to his son!
Fascinating!
Great video as usual. Do you know whose service ribbons you're wearing there?
Great job
You should list out great new stuff
Fascinating, thank you for this. I am curious of the medals you are wearing, I gather they are not your own.
These are so cool
Must have : crossover episodes, in costume with Ian M.
Neato!
I have something similar in my knife handle nut. What nut? The entire handle is hollow and there are matches there for survival purposes. Shoddy execution of it all. But the little compass even works.
Whatever he paid for it, you just know that in 20-30 years someone else is going to pay 5x that amount, if not more, not counting inflation. This stuff will just keep going up and up in literal value, because it's priceless.
Curious that so few remain, considering how many soldiers must've had one in some form or another. Though i guess if it's still attached to your uniform, you're not parting with it typically. Are there maybe more in existence than we think, it's just that relatively few are available independently?
Though some of those designs don't seem like they'd have been particularly effective, and a soldier isn't going to bother carting around an item they can't use, so you can imagine those later models getting tossed rather than saved and brought home maybe.
I think it's very plausible that many disappeared without notice, exactly as they were meant to. So maybe grandpa had a jar full of random pens and pencils in the kitchen - after he passed, who'd look at the shirt clip on an old pencil?
@@WyvernYT I think its this combined with the fact that its an interesting little gadget, Id imagine a lot were just given to kids to play with since it probably wasn't something seen as valuable
I remember my grandad telling me about random things he was given just after the war by uncles and such and they would play army men as kids
and I know from my own experience the amount of random stuff my aunt and uncle gave me as a kid from their time in service, most of which has been lost in woods
Hahaha--that's true. :) "Crazy grandpa; why did he save all these old buttons and broken pen bits?"@@WyvernYT
@@randomcow505 Come to think of it, my grandfather (and both his sons) had a lot of old Vietnam-era military crap. I'm not sure I lost any of it but at the same time I don't think I have any of it now.
@@WyvernYT just like a lot of "common items" it just disappears because you unknowingly or forgot that you tossed it.
parts break and you throw the whole thing out
things get lent to people and never come back
lost in moves, left in bags shoved into sheds and lofts and forgotten about
and I'm not joking, the big one is parents
kids collect a lot of "junk" most parents will secretly start to throw out stuff kids have stopped playing with otherwise the house would be just stuffed floor to ceiling.
Actually funny story on that, I was sat with my mother and a bunch of her friends and asked them if all the items we lost as kids were actually just thrown out
they all admitted that most of it was, but despite me and all my friends (their children) being grown adults now they all said not to say anything.
Secrets to take to the grave, "I threw out your broken Thomas the tank engine toy when you were 5"
"Boffin" is a fabulous word.
I don't know how efficient the Germans were at searching for those type of objects, but you'd think the luminescence from the radium or the unusual white dots would be something of a giveaway.
Escape maps were made of silk. Unlike paper, silk does not rustle when touched, and it was hoped that they would be overlooked in a search.
a-hole compass, what a name
This was mentioned on QI (BBC) can’t remember which season 😊
I see one on Ebay, too pricey for me but cool!!!
Regarding that miniature compass with a diameter of "6.35 mm." An inch is 25.4 mm. Reporting an item in metric only, when it was clearly made to be exactly 1/4 inch, is imperfect reportage.
Damn intresting
I wonder what war-repurposed company produced/assembled them--watchmakers? automotive plants?
You might look into escape gear that includes tiny gold coins to reward those who offer assistance.
I think we can see one of the floating models in band of brothers when they drop on d day
I have a silk escape map. What is the best way to mount it but preserve it?
Was es nicht alles gibt 😮
i wonder how many old uniforms in someones closet has one of these and nobody knows
After hearing "RADIUM" so many times i was expecting a geiger counter....... 🙂
that compass is almost as small as my mother's hope in me
You're a pilot or just wearing someone else's tunic?
HAHAHAH I recognized that opening Clip...
06:17 🤣
head phone warning and the begining
Notification Squad! :)
8:15 What would happen afterward if a POW saved food, dug a hole to hide in either in the camp or just outside? Get them to not look far for escapees? Do not contact resistance people?
Interesting to note that German' POW's did not seem to be interested in escape?
I don't understand. If a downed pilot gets captured, why would it matter if they found his compass?
If they find it how can he navigate while escaping
I actually have a francess barker escape compass there still made by pyser i think and are very high quality if ur ever looking for one
first
Gratulation 😊
The compass of the man who refused to inform you what he payed for it is ashamed he got ripped off.
It's worth $5 bucks day in day out until you get the fool to buy it for more. ✔️
Jesus loves you!
Geezus might love me, but he uses part of the name of a small campus to describe you.