WW2 "Escape & Evade" British issue razor blades. These blades are magnetized and have arrows printed on one side. When placed in water, they double as a crude compass.
WW2 "Escape & Evade" Razor Blades
- Thread starter AnimalCatcher
- Start date
I've always wondered about these.
Wonder in what role they were used? Certainly not for SOE (Special Operations Executive) agents operating in occupied Europe. SOE went to extraordinary lengths to research and copy only European items of every description. A British made razor blade would rather blow your cover pronto. The Far East would make more sense as Western commodity items were still widespread in occupied Singapore, Malaya, Burma etc due to vast stocks.
Shot down Bomber Command aircrew? I thought they already had button compasses issued, though I may be wrong. It would find a place concealed in your uniform certainly though.
Also they all seem to be the 3 hole blade design. They wouldn't fit any Gillette razor. Obviously they were designed as dual-use. Did Gillette make such a blade also? Never seen one.
Obviously you could stash such a blade in a jacket lapel or somewhere as a last ditch compass and cutting tool, but why make the advertising so blatant? One would think an unmarked wrapper and blade would be more security-conscious.
The most plausable use would be to send them to POW camps as razor blade spares, which could then be used as compasses by would-be escapers.
But how would you know you had the special magnetised ones? There is no marking on the wrapper. The broad arrows maybe? That meant army issue generally so good concealement.
Interesting if anyone has any more information on their active use.
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- Thread starter
- #4
From the scant information that I've been able to find online, the companies that produced these blades for the military also made a civilian version which lacked the arrow, though the wrappers were pretty much the same.
Other than that, I know very little about these interesting pieces of history and look forward to a knowledgeable member posting some more in-depth information about them.
That's an awesome piece of history, @AnimalCatcher!! Thanks!!
- Thread starter
- #6
My pleasure, Herb!
That is super cool. I had zero idea those existed. Thanks for sharing!
On a side note- thank you to @Alum Ladd for further speculation. Hopefully he'll be writing a screen adaptation for something and this will be worked into the plot. I'll be first in line for tickets and an extra large bucket of popcorn.
On a side note- thank you to @Alum Ladd for further speculation. Hopefully he'll be writing a screen adaptation for something and this will be worked into the plot. I'll be first in line for tickets and an extra large bucket of popcorn.
- Thread starter
- #8
You're very welcome. They no longer seem to be magnetized, but they are eighty or so years old and these examples seem to be the worse for wear, so I guess it's to be expected.
