1065. ALLIED P.O.W. ESCAPE MAPS An excessively rare set of eleven printed maps, each about 18" x 18" or larger, printed on very thin tissue paper designed to be sent secretly to Allied prisoners of war held in Germany and elsewhere to be used by them in any successful attempt to escape their confinement. The maps are highly-detailed, including topographical details, all roads, airfields, railways, forests, etc. Among the various areas included are the industrial cities of Stuttgart, Prague, Cologne, Erfurt, Hanover, and the last place any soldier would want to visit, Hitler's birthplace of Linz. According to the letter of provenance accompanying the lot, these maps were secretly sent to P.O.W.'s by an ultra-covert organization known as MIS-X: "...During World War II, my father was part of a top secret operation known as MIS-X located at Fort Hunt, Virginia. This special operation's mission was to send POWs in Europe care packages through two fictitious benevolent societies, War Prisoner's Benefit Foundation and the Serviceman's Relief. Inside these packages were common items that had these maps hidden inside of them. My father and a small group of men would devise ways to hide these maps (such as a hollowed out razor handle or shoe brush, between the paper and backing of game boards or cards). These maps were then used by the POWs, if and when they escaped. At the end of the war, MIS-X was ordered shut down and all records, files and artifacts were destroyed. These maps were found in his machinist tool box...Due to the sensitive nature of the projects he was involved in, he was never able to reveal the details of his work...". Four or five of the maps bear a tear from mid-left margin and of varying length but no more than 4", and are otherwise in fine condition. Certainly no other copies of these maps exist anywhere. $4,000 - 5,000