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RAF escape & evasion map with escape routes

Code: E26556

Sheet Y.  Germany/Switzerland, 1:100 000.  Approximately 60 x 45cm.  Single sided, printed on silk, largely in black with red/blue/green accents.  An extremely rare copy of this map covering the German/Swiss border at the Schaffhausen Salient.  What is unusual is that this map actually has suggested routes (marked on the map in red) and includes text giving topographical features, terrain analysis and salient features on suggested routes.  'Escapes into Switzerland have the greatest chance of success if attempted across the frontier of the Canton Schaffhausen.  The region around Lake Constance is to be avoided... the easiest pointto cross the frontier lies North West of the tower, where the river Wutach, which forms the frontier, at this stretch, runs beside the railway lines between Weizen station and Stuhlingen...It would be advisable to lurk in the cover of the forest until after dark...The stretch of frontier round the Ramsen salient , and also the stretch from Erzingen westwards to the Rhine must be avoided, as barbed wire charged with electric current has been erected'.  Although this map is printed at a much larger scale than most escape and evasion maps, the print quality isn't fantastic and certainly less clear than later more commonly found maps.   The Shaffhauen salient had been succesfully used for escaping by RFC pilot Johnny Evans  (book title) during the First World War.  He joined MI9 in 1940 and was able to provide lots of first hand details used on this map.  Airey Neave used the same area to complete his successful escape from Oflag IVC, Colditz and it is thought that a copy of this sheet (Y) may have been sent into the castle and used to produce maps used during his escape.  This superb and unusual map, clearly marked 'Secret', is in excellent condition with hemmed edges.   Stock code E26556.