Second World War British / Commonwealth Forces Escape and Evasion Compass, vest of ‘Weskit’ button form, red-brown type for the army, with original hanging thread. Scare.
Condition: Fair Condition.
During World War Two, the Department 9 of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence (M.I.9 - Escaped British Prisoners of War/POW, Debriefing, Escape and Evasion) developed a great number of secret means to conceal tools and instruments in harmless looking objects for everyday use. The means the pilots carried with them during the air raid were called pre-capture. These comprised many items like uniforms or shoes, that could easily be converted in civilian plain clothes but also see saws, food, etc. This department also sent to the POW's in the Offizierslager, short Offlagpost-capture). About one in 5 parcel contained such materiel concealed in tooth-brushes, pencils, playing cards, etc. The "empty" ones were called dove and the "hot" ones naughty. The mastermind behind the invention and production planning of these gadgets wrote his story in Official Secret, Clayton Hutton, 1961.
The vest or ‘Weskit’ form of escape compass consists of a black or red-brown molded material such as bakelite, modeled after the P37 uniform button. Black was for RAF uniforms, red-brown for the Army. The button is 0.75” (19,05 mm) diameter x 0.15” (3,81 mm) thick. The periphery is rounded and the outer surface has a 0.04” (1,02 mm) dimple in its center. A nickeled brass pin made of 0.05” (1,27 mm) diameter wire passes through the center of the button from the outside surface, with the pin headed part being on the outside. The pin is formed into a closed loop on the back side.
Three dots are located on the back surface adjacent to the rim if the button, so they could not be seen when sewn onto the uniform. The single dot which is on the side of the periphery opposite from the two closely spaced dots points toward the Magnetic North. The compass element is a small magnetised bar of steel which has been embedded in the plastic body during the molding process. In use, the button is suspended from a fine thread about 12” (30,5 cm) in length and is allowed to oscillate until it comes to rest. The single dot will then be facing the Magnetic North. Of all escape compass types the button compass takes the longest to come to rest because of inertia
