- 5 minutes ago
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00In this episode, it wasn't just these.
00:03There were maps, there were little hacks or blades,
00:05but these are beautiful examples of escape and evasion items.
00:10I think if we open it up, it's an escape map.
00:13Did you know who printed the maps in the Second World War?
00:17Unfortunately, yes.
00:25Hello everyone and welcome to Battle Treasures.
00:28I'm Jason Fox and joining me is the Indiana Jones of Army Surplus.
00:33He has a nose for history and a warehouse to match.
00:36Let me introduce the legend that is Bruce Crompton.
00:39Thank you, Jason.
00:40I've got to tell you, it's an absolute honour and a privilege to be here with you today.
00:44What we're about to undertake with the help of Ed Sayers, the third party in this little trio,
00:50is to bring to you unbelievable artefacts that have never been seen before.
00:55And we'll be diving into the history, the tragedy and the heroism behind all these wonderful items.
01:02Mate, super excited, but what are we doing today?
01:06Well, I've got to be honest with you, it's like Christmas Eve for me as well,
01:08because we've got to now ask Ed what he's got in store for us today.
01:12I know. Well, guys, I am super excited.
01:15So, Freddie, if you wouldn't mind, go over to the safe and let's get out the first artefact.
01:24So, what do you think of those?
01:25Let me explain what we've got here.
01:27We've actually got what is called an escape button.
01:30Now, this is an RF escape. Now, the top's come off, but you'll see secreted underneath is a compass.
01:36Now, these were specifically designed for airmen.
01:40In the early part of the war, airmen would fly in their normal suits with their normal buttons.
01:45And a gentleman called Christopher Hatton, that worked for MI9, produced a range of equipment
01:51for people that were going to be flying or operating in the war zones,
01:56so that they could use items for escape. Now, these were buttons that were sewn onto their uniform.
02:02And basically, if they were downed and captured, they had a compass,
02:08which when that was taken off the button, you'll see, will point to magnetic north.
02:12So, it was the first of an array of items to be used for escape and evasion.
02:18This also is a belt buckle with exactly the same idea.
02:23This is a standard belt buckle, and underneath there, there are two items there.
02:29Now, when you take the belt buckle apart and put the two items, one on top of the other,
02:33it will turn to magnetic north. So, this is a belt buckle compass.
02:38And it wasn't just these. There were maps. There were all kinds of little hacksaw blades.
02:43But these are beautiful, beautiful examples of escape and evasion items, which turn into compasses.
02:50With that belt buckle, you had to keep it at arm's length to make sure the magnetism
02:57wasn't interrupted from your uniform or any kit.
03:00Yeah. And that's what happened with the button as well.
03:03You had to take the button off of the compass before you could use it.
03:07Going back to what you said, Ed, with regard to having to hold these compasses,
03:12whether they're made out of a metal belt buckle or a button compass held within a button,
03:17the reason you've got to hold them away from your body is because they're very rustically magnetised.
03:24Now, I've actually had to use a compass that has been magnetised in that way.
03:29So, when I was a young Marine, I got sent on a course over in Germany at the Long Range
03:34Reconnaissance Patrol School. It was a NATO school. On the course, you get taught how to escape and evade.
03:44And you also have to make your own kit to go on the actual run with, to go out in
03:49the field and go
03:50on the run for essentially, I think it was about seven to eight days. And you know nothing about the
03:55kit that you need. You just get taught how to make it. And then you go away and you have
04:00to make your
04:01own compass. Now, to do that, you would get a three piece razor blade. If you don't know what one
04:08of
04:08those is, Google it. It's basically a piece of metal. You'd get a magnet and you'd run it over
04:15and over and over again. You'd run the magnet over the piece of metal over and over again in one
04:19direction and one direction only. That direction that you are running the magnet in, that would then
04:26point eventually to north, magnetic north. You then draw an arrow in the direction that you've done.
04:32You then find something to encase it in. Now I used an old, a circular Tupperware pot. Again,
04:38drew north on the bottom of that, did a self, and then you have to somehow find a way of
04:43balancing it.
04:44I think I used a biro, the top half of a biro, led it on and just sat that, the
04:49three piece razor,
04:51on the top of the biro and put the lid of the Tupperware pot on so I could see through
04:56it.
04:57Now when you're using it, because it's been so rustically magnetised, it is susceptible to be
05:02drawn towards any other piece of metal that is in the vicinity of it. So you've got to literally,
05:06you're like that, trying to work out where the hell north is so you can eventually find your way back
05:11home. Right. Well mate, look, I've actually got this picture. See? Where the hell did you get that?
05:19Well, I have my sources. Mate, right, let me explain the picture. First of all, that's me laughing in the
05:25face of modern technology. But ultimately, what you've got there, like many people think I'm
05:30wearing two watches. So I've got my normal watch on to tell the time. But next to it, it's not
05:35a
05:35secondary watch, that is a button compass. It is on my wrist, using a wrist strap. And essentially,
05:41that's basically there to bring me in the general direction of any cardinal direction. So essentially,
05:49if for instance, I hear over the radio, there are NME 200 metres to the north, I can quickly glance
05:54at
05:54that quick reference, look north, right, yeah, I can see them. Oh, wow. But on the flip side to that,
06:00it is also there to help me in an escape situation. I've got it there at hand. And if we're
06:04on the run,
06:05on the hoof, I'm on my heels, I know where I'm going pretty much from the off. I wouldn't know
06:10where
06:10north was, you would have to... What Jason says is absolutely right, because one of the things about
06:14modern technology in other stores, Bravo 2.0, a lot of equipment let them down. And it just shows you
06:21how elementary items like this going back all that time are still usable today. Button compass,
06:29belt buckle compass, how much are these bad boys worth? Right. In all fairness, the compass is the
06:36RF compass buckle. They're quite... You can pick those up. You'd pay about 130 to 150 pounds. They're
06:44quite easy to get. The buckle is far rarer, far rarer. And you'd probably give in two to 250 for
06:53that.
06:53But again, if you want to see these things, the RF button, go down to the Hornchurch Heritage Centre
06:59in Hornchurch by the Old Airfield. And this buckle specifically, I would mention places like Thorpe
07:06Abbots. And also down at Parham, which is up just off the A12. An absolutely fantastic museum. And they've
07:13got items like this and that there. Go and support your museum. After the break, an item from one of
07:20the
07:20most iconic SAS missions ever, Bravo 2.0. Ed, I don't know where you conjured this up from, but top
07:27of the
07:27tree. I'll give you a 9 out of 10 for this.
07:40Now, Freddy, what have you got here, mate? Well, this is the special one. Okay. And then there for having
07:47a look at it. Right. Right. Okay. Over to you, Jason. I think, if we open it up,
07:54it's an escape map. It's going to be an invasion map. 100%. 100%. This escape map is actually one of
08:01the
08:01escape maps that one of the members of Bravo 2.0 used on the ground. Now, Bravo 2.0, for
08:07anyone that doesn't
08:08know, is a call sign of a patrol from the SAS that actually went on the ground during the first
08:15Gulf War
08:16into the Western Desert to basically report on enemy activity, primarily scud launchers and the MSR,
08:24the main supply route that ran east to west through Iraq, through the Western Desert. This is an
08:31unbelievable bit of kit. It really is, mate. I mean, as I say, I've seen a lot of escape maps,
08:36silk maps. I think there's Freddy's put some more there as well. But that is a very, very significant one.
08:42It's the provenance behind that. And, Ed, I don't know where you've conjured this up from,
08:47but top of the tree, I'll give you 9 out of 10 for this. Thanks, mate. I've actually got here
08:51a picture of the Bravo 2.0 team. So that's Chris Ryan. You've got, I know for a fact that
08:57that is Bob
08:59Consiglio. Andy McNabb is in there, but he's always kept his identity under wraps. And Chris Ryan was the
09:06individual that actually got away after an unbelievable trick that he made to escape,
09:13getting into Syria. It's a phenomenal story. The whole story about Bravo 2.0 is, it's, it's got
09:21everything. It's got excitement in it. And it's a true story. I mean, you're the man to know.
09:25The thing that makes this even more important is, or so pertinent in this sort of piece about
09:33escape maps and their origin and how they're used is, Chris Ryan successfully used one.
09:42He escaped from the predicament that Bravo 2.0 was in, that basically claimed the lives of some
09:47people and also nearly the sanity of others. Apparently, it's the longest ever recorded
09:52escape and evasion by an SAS soldier. And it was over 190 miles that he made. I mean,
09:59that is quite amazing, isn't it? Don't you reckon? Yeah, it's unbelievable. There's been,
10:03there's been a few other escapes as well in recent times. There was some members of the special boat
10:08service who did a similar journey, but they had the, they had access to a quad bike, a four wheeled
10:16motorbike. So that's kind of cheating. Well, I think so. Yeah. I mean, Chris, Chris Ryan still holds the
10:20sort of accolade of conducting a proper escape. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So look, I've got a map
10:24here. So this is where it happened in Iraq. It's so you can see where they were inserted. So just
10:31talk
10:31us through what the mission was and then what went wrong and then what happened subsequently.
10:36So essentially, a number of patrols from the SAS, from one of the squadrons, Bravo 2.0 was obviously one
10:43of those patrols. They were sent out into what was known as the Western Desert and they were there to
10:50to report on potential scud launch sites. So then we could, they could essentially then call in strikes
10:58on those scud launch sites. There would have been OPs, observation positions along the MSR. Now an MSR
11:04basically stands for main supply route. It can be anything from the M1 to a small path that people are
11:11using to resupply their own troops with food, water, ammunition, anything that you need to
11:17fight logistics. So they'd have been reporting on both that and also where the main launch sites were
11:25for scud launchers, which was basically, scud was a missile that the Iraqis used and they were using them
11:30to fire into what they would consider hostile territory. Yeah. So everyone was at the time really
11:35worried about scud launchers, I remember. Well, they were launching them into Israel. That was the other
11:40thing. Okay. And obviously everybody was very concerned about how the thing would accelerate
11:45with getting other people. And because they started to target Tel Aviv. And so it was crucial,
11:52not only to, as Jason just said, but to look and find these scuds. Mate, have you ever had to
11:59be in
11:59escape and evasion? Have you ever been in that situation? I mean, I know how to use an escape map.
12:04I've never had to use one in anger as in for real, but I can explain, I mean, operating behind
12:11enemy
12:11lines is absolutely, it is petrifying. You're hyper vigilant. Worst case scenario, you get captured.
12:17And like me and the lads, we used to always joke about keeping one bullet for ourselves just in case,
12:22because in this day and age, the enemy lines that you operate behind, those people don't abide by the
12:28Geneva Convention. They're going to do nasty things to you. But when people look at the escape map
12:34itself, they might think, well, it's a little bit, you know, it's a bit big. It covers a massive area.
12:39How do you navigate off it? But it's not really for micro navigation to get you into an exact position.
12:45It's designed really for the aircraft pilots that are hopefully going to come and pick you up. So huge
12:52features that they can navigate off that you can use as reference points. So you've got the main supply
12:56routes, main roads, you've got waterways, rivers, lakes, large lakes, and then you've got large
13:03features such as topographical features like mountains that are depicted using contour lines.
13:08So you can see high points, you can see valleys. That's really interesting. So you kind of like,
13:13if you, if you've got your map out and you go, right, I can see that massive mountain over there.
13:18And then you can look at your compass, check out where it is on the map and you're like, right,
13:25that's north, that's there, that's that one there. Right. And then if you've got comms or communication
13:30with a, with an aircraft, you can be like, right, I am at such a location from that, that valley,
13:35that mountain range, or that high point. But if you haven't got comms. So essentially,
13:39before you go on the ground, you will always talk about what your escape plan could potentially be
13:46from the area that you're going into. So it's pre-designated, it's in your head, you can remember it.
13:51Right. So you know, generally, if, if something goes wrong, what your general direction of escape
13:56will be what we call egress, egress out of that danger area. Right. And then you start,
14:01you start rolling into your escape plan when everything's gone. South. Yeah, exactly.
14:07Pear shaped. Yeah. And you're on your button compass with your flimsy silk map out. Or you've got your
14:13little compass and let's just look at a couple of, can you pass through those, Jason? So these are World
14:18War
14:182 escape and evasion maps for the RAF. Right. Now you'll see with these, it was areas that the
14:24aircraft were flying over, front and back. So some could be France and Germany, some could be Italy.
14:31They're all basically the same. They were designed to be used by guys in the area where they potentially
14:37could be shot down. And again, all different one. This one's in Italy. There's ones there from Germany,
14:43France. Exactly the same as the one that Jason's just described here. The format hasn't changed,
14:50but they did the job. But quite rightly, it showed major rivers, junctions, towns,
14:56so that they could, because don't forget, they did in those days, they didn't have radio comms once
15:01they'd escaped or got parachuted out of planes. So Bruce, how rare are these items? Okay.
15:07Escape and evasion maps, there's World War 2 ones, are not too rare. You can pick one of these up
15:13for
15:13about 50, 60 pounds. Not a problem. Yeah, they're not expensive. They're really not expensive. So,
15:20I'm getting a bit worried this one's got Londonium on it. So I got these, I got the Bravo 2
15:27.0 map
15:28independently valued. Now, they reckon this guy who I spoke to thought his value was between about
15:35three and 500 quid, is that? Miles out. Absolutely miles out. If you've got provenance of an item,
15:42and you can tell the history of it, the true history, right, it makes all the difference. That
15:47map with the provenance, the signatures round it is worth a lot more than that. In the right auction,
15:53I could honestly see that going for two, three thousand pounds. Really? 100%. Ed, tell your mate,
16:00this ain't Poundland, right? Yeah. I'll pass the message. It's having a laugh. Honestly,
16:05that's what I believe. With the provenance of that map, I mean, I'd love to have that. It's a
16:09fantastic piece of history. It's part of our heritage, you know, the SAS's heritage, and that's
16:14what I would value that. Great. I'm always trying to find something that you might not know. Did you know
16:21who printed the maps in the Second World War? Unfortunately, yes. John Waddington. Oh,
16:26well, let me... He's a... Oh, my God. Oh, yeah. John Waddington Ltd. So they're the guys that make
16:33Monopoly. The worst escape map in the world. It's got you going around in circles.
16:38Exactly. So they... But actually, in the Monopoly sets, they would send them to the prisoner of war camps.
16:47And so they were allowed to send parcels, and they would send Monopoly to them. And in the
16:53Monopoly sets were escape equipment. What, and the Germans allowed this to happen? Yeah. Yeah.
16:59Not only in Monopoly boards, but in chess sets, chess boards. So they would secrete this behind the
17:06ball. So when it opened up, but when you peeled it off, there was your escape map. Right. Let's get
17:10on.
17:11Freddie, if you wouldn't mind. What we've got here in front of us is a
17:22leather-bound picture frame with a picture of what appears to be Ed, preschool years,
17:29next to a cot, dressed in a dress. Yeah, I mean, that's my standard attire. I'm sure there's more to
17:35this, and I'm sure one of you is going to enlighten me as to what this actually is.
17:40Well, just looking over your shoulder, Jason, I've got to be honest with you, it appears to be a
17:44picture frame. But I haste to say I know what it is. This will be a radio set. Now, you
17:52had two types.
17:53You had ones that would receive and transmit, or you just had radio sets. Now, this would be something
17:59that would be used in one of the occupied countries by the Germans to listen to the BBC. And I
18:06hasten to
18:06say, if we pull this apart, we'll find that it is a radio set. So am I correct, Rick? You
18:13are,
18:13you are absolutely. So that is a Dutch resistance radio set where it, and you're absolutely spot on,
18:22it was just to receive, not transmit. And they would listen to the BBC World Service. And sometimes
18:30in the BBC World Service, there would be secret messages encoded there. In fact, if you're careful,
18:35you can take it apart. You can slide the glass out. Right. And you can take the picture out.
18:41I don't want to touch it. Does Freddie, do you know?
18:44I'm specially trained. Okay, take that apart for me. So while Freddie does that, so
18:49actually, it's a pretty horrific time to live in occupied Holland. And the Germans would drive
18:59round in vans, trying to detect people listening to the BBC World Service. And so they would also do
19:07searches, spot searches that come into your house. So that's why, although, I mean, you can see the
19:13back, it's got loads of buttons and wires poking out the back. So it's not that hidden.
19:18But actually, if it's just there on your mantelpiece or on the side, you know,
19:24the Germans weren't going to turn over everything. But the thing is, if you didn't know what you were
19:28looking for, you know, when this first came about, they wouldn't have known. No.
19:33I mean, I wouldn't have known. There we go. Just behind you, I've put up a map for you. There's
19:37Holland. So those are the kind of, you can see in Holland, those were where the big
19:43Gestapo units were based in Rotterdam and The Hague and Utrecht and Arnhem. And that's where the
19:50main resistance people were based. You know, you've got to see how simply that's made.
19:55And what's interesting, where we've been touching on escaping the vase and stuff, they made these
20:00in prisoner of war camps out of stupid pieces of material. They made radios.
20:04What I'm really interested in is how much is this worth?
20:07An item like that, and they come up quite regularly. But again, it's the history and the problems.
20:14If that thing could talk, can you imagine what it could say, right? Now, for me,
20:18personally, I'd love to own something like that. But I would probably value that at about 300 pounds.
20:24Ed? Well, any advancements on 300?
20:29The guy that owns it outside is outside. Well, no, I had all these artefacts independently valued,
20:36and you're absolutely Bob on it. He thought it was between 200 and 300 quid.
20:41Yeah. Where could we find something like this?
20:44The absolute best museum, in my opinion, in Europe, is the Overloon War Museum in Holland.
20:51They have got an unbelievable selection of artefacts, tanks, vehicles, but they've got a phenomenal
20:58Dutch resistance area, and you will be able to see items like that in abundance.
21:05Right, everyone. We've run out of time. An amazing episode of Battle Treasures. Thanks, Bruce. You've been
21:12unbelievable. I feel like I've learned an awful lot. I have learned an awful lot. I haven't just felt
21:17like it. I have. I look forward to seeing everyone on the next episode of Battle Treasures. Thank you
21:22very much. And obviously, all these items get your thinking and get your collecting.
21:49Thank you very much.
Comments