Cloth Maps, Charts and Blood Chits of World War II

2 illustrations

13 charts

The first extensive history of this highly unusual but fascinating and very collectible area of militaria, by a premier collector/historian of these items. Much detailed info not available elsewhere.

Provides background, coverage of the cloth maps and charts of Great Britain, Germany, the U.S., plus U.S. handkerchief charts, rubber life raft charts, production techniques, and blood chits.

The appendix provides data in tabular form of known U.S. fabric maps, charts, and blood chits of World War II.

Contents

• Introduction

• Background

• Great Britain

• Germany

• United States

• Handkerchief Charts

• Rubber Life Raft Charts

• Production Techniques

• Blood Chits

• Conclusion

• Appendix
  • Known United States Fabric Maps, Charts, and Other Cloth Devices of World War II

Resources on the Web

• U.S. Cloth Maps of World War II
  Includes images of many of the maps in the various series, unfortunately too small to be of any use other than to identify maps and give a general idea of what they looked like.

• Where Do I Go From Here?
  Article from Neatline: A Newsletter of the Texas Map Society, Summer 2001.

• Who Was Edwin J. Foscue?
  Foscue was a geographic expert with the Army Map Service during World War II.

• Blood Chits: A Brief History
  From POW/MIA web site.

• Blood Chit
  Heritage International web site.

• Blood Chit
  Wikipedia entry.

• Confederate Air Force "Blood Chit" Patch
  Humorous present day version issued by the CAF (now the "Commemorative" Air Force).

• Last Hope: The Blood Chit Story
  Brief history and first scene of the Blood Chit Flash documentary. Apparently intended as a sales tool for Schiffer's book of that title published in 1997.

• Last Hope: The Blood Chit Story
  Order the Schiffer book from Amazon.

• China-Burma-India Theater Blood Chits
  Web site dedicated to the subject.

• There are numerous dealers who sell facsimile blood chits, usually of the "Flying Tigers" variety, but occasionally other types and periods. Search using the term "blood chit" and you'll find them. I do not know of anyone producing/selling facsimile cloth maps, although originals can be found through dealers and online at auctions and such.

• If anyone has additional links to other online resources covering this subject. let me know and I'll add them.