Original Item: Only One Available. This is a heavily service-worn original British WWII MI9 double-sided fabric escape-and-evasion map, produced for use by Allied aircrew and particularly associated with Royal Air Force escape equipment. One side covers France and neighboring regions as 9.C(a), Air Ministry No. 7329A, while the reverse covers Germany and a broad section of Central and Western Europe as 9U, Air Ministry No. 7330. Despite extensive tearing, fading, holes, and edge loss, the map retains the important early-war political and military boundary information that identifies this uncommon issue.

The France side is clearly marked 9.C(a) and is printed at a scale of approximately 1:2,350,000. France dominates the sheet, including the Normandy coast, Brittany, Paris, the Low Countries, Switzerland, and portions of western Germany and northern Spain. Particularly interesting are the red wartime overlays identified in the printed key as:

COASTAL DEFENCE AREA
SOUTHERN BOUNDARY TO ZONE INTERDITE
BOUNDARY BETWEEN OCCUPIED & NON-OCCUPIED FRANCE

International boundaries are picked out in green, while the German coastal defense zone and internal occupation boundaries are emphasized in red. These features are especially useful in dating and identifying the map, since they reflect the political and military geography of France during the earlier German occupation period.

The reverse is marked 9U/ and presents a broad orientation map centered on Germany, extending into portions of Denmark, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, and the Low Countries. Major cities, prominent geographic features, transportation routes, and international boundaries are clearly indicated, providing a downed airman with the essential information needed to establish his location, orient himself, and plan movement toward friendly or neutral territory.

The map has very heavy tearing as shown but is the very rare folded over and stitched edge variation, and the heavy color fading shows that this example saw heavy use.

These maps were produced through MI9, the British organization responsible for assisting servicemen in escaping captivity and evading capture in enemy territory. Fabric maps were particularly suited to this purpose. Unlike ordinary paper, they could be repeatedly folded into extremely small packages, concealed in clothing or escape equipment, handled with very little noise, and remained usable after exposure to water. Early MI9 maps were printed on genuine silk, while rayon and other artificial fabrics became increasingly common as the war progressed.

During development of the silk maps, Christopher Clayton Hutton encountered difficulty with fine printing bleeding into the woven fabric. Contemporary accounts describe the problem being overcome by adding pectin to the printing ink, which helped the fine cartographic detail remain sharp.

The condition is overall rough with several holes, tearing, and one piece at the edge that is torn away almost entirely. The map still measures roughly 16½ x 21¼” and would look best in a double-sided glass frame.

This example is particularly noteworthy for the combination of its early Air Ministry 7329A and 7330 references, France 9.C(a) and Germany 9U sheets, occupation-zone and coastal-defense overlays, double-sided fabric construction, stitched edge, and heavily used condition. Even with substantial damage, it remains a highly evocative example of the compact navigation aids developed by MI9 to help Allied aircrew orient themselves and evade capture in occupied Europe.