cover image The Escape Factory: The Story of Mis-X

The Escape Factory: The Story of Mis-X

Lloyd R. Shoemaker. St. Martin's Press, $19.95 (267pp) ISBN 978-0-312-03826-7

MIS-X was a secret agency of the U.S. WW II War Department assigned to supply ``escape aids'' to American POWs in Europe. Working with a counterpart British agency, MIS-X also coordinated escape routes. Shoemaker describes how Allied prisoners of war made use of the items provided by the ``escape factory,'' but the most absorbing sections of the book reveal how maps, compasses, radios and other items were hidden inside softballs, bats, ping pong paddles, playing cards, packs of cigarettes and other objects, and smuggled into the stalags. A corporal at the time, Shoemaker was involved in the operation. One of his tasks was to obtain assistance of manufacturing firms in inserting escape aids into their products. A highly entertaining story about a unique wartime operation. Photos. (May)