Get out of jail free

[ksmith]

The board game Monopoly was used during WWII to smuggle tools to British POWs that would aid their escape.

Included in the items the German army allowed humanitarian groups to distribute in care packages to imprisoned soldiers, the game was too innocent to raise suspicion. But it was the ideal size for a top-secret escape kit that could help spring British POWs from German war camps.

Comments

[windrose.livejournal.com]

That is amazingly cool.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

Some of the commenters expressed alarm and dismay. They said that the British gov't aiding their POWs via humanitarian aid packages violated the rules of war. I don't know how true that is.

But it was an ingenious ploy.

[windrose.livejournal.com]

The article does mention that the British government set up dummy charity groups to distribute the games, as they didn't want real humanitarian groups to have their reputations tarnished. Still, they did run the danger of having all humanitarian aid cut off in retaliation.