CAPTURED GERMAN TRENCH AND OPERATIONS MAPS FROM THE PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE ARCHIVE ON CD-ROM :: Books for the Battlefield Tourist :: The Great War :: Time Periods

THIS ITEM IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS VISTA 192 large scale maps Detailed viewing notes accompany each map Pin-sharp images Sophisticated cartographic software – yet simple and easy to operate WWI as seen from the other side of the wire Search - zoom - print Explore history using an unique archive Great reference resource for the battlefield tourist Suitable for both the serious historian and the interested amateur 21st century technology bringing real benefits Expand your knowledge of the First World War The 4th cartography CD-ROM from N&MP The 192 large-scale maps in this CD-ROM represent a public collection, unique in the UK, of German trench and operations maps in the Public Record Office, London, which holds the largest and most important collection of First World War maps in the UK; they are nearly all contained in PRO Class WO 153. These maps were captured by British and Allied forces in the First World War, and were subject to analysis and interpretation by Haig’s General Staff Intelligence Department at GHQ in France; some have attached the original British intelligence notes. They provide an excellent sample of the various types of trench and operations maps used by German forces on the Western Front from 1916 to 1918. German forces on the Eastern and other fronts used very similar maps, but these are not represented here. German trench maps are very rare in this country, and even in Germany are hard to find. The biggest collection in Germany is at the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchive at Freiburg, but there are also significant collections at the Hauptstaatsarchiv-Kriegsarchiv in Munich and the Militärgeschichtliche-Forschungsamt in Potsdam. The maps give a vivid picture of the complexity of the German and Allied trench systems and defences, and of the nature of modern warfare in attack and defence – trench (positions) maps, artillery maps, enemy battery and targets maps, rear organisation maps (railways, roads, hospitals, communications) – representing the industrialisation of the war effort in a massive manifestation of staff work and organisation. At the very lowest and most detailed level of tactical organisation, they show machine gun, trench mortar and battery emplacements, defended localities and areas, barbed-wire, trenches and saps, mine craters, and all other details of forward organisation. The whole of the German front facing the British forces is represented in this collection – from the North Sea at Nieuport, past the Ypres Salient and the Messines – Wytschaete Ridge to Ploegsteert Wood and Armentières; thence south past Fromelles, Neuve Chapelle, Festubert, Givenchy, Cuinchy, Auchy, Loos and Lens to the Vimy Ridge and Arras, then south again to the Somme battlefield and Hindenburg Line areas. There are also examples of German mapping further south in the area opposite the French – for example the Aisne (where British forces also operated in 1918), the Tahure and Prosnes region of the Champagne, and the Vosges. The maps show the war landscape of northern and eastern France and Belgium – Flanders, Artois, Picardy; Oise, Aisne, Champage and Vosges. The topography also indicates the crucial nature of the battlefield geology: the low-lying coastal polder and Lys valley areas; the deadly clay conditions of the Ypres Salient, aggravated by shell-fire and rain, in places created a porridge in which men and mules drowned, guns sank out of sight to be marked by flags, and tanks became bogged; the dry and rolling chalk downland south of Givenchy on the La Bassée canal, past Arras and Albert to the Somme, Cambrai, St. Quentin and the Hindenburg Line, the Aisne heights and the Champagne; the mountains of the Vosges. The many different types of maps illustrate the complexity of infantry, artillery and air operations on the Western Front, and the co-operation of all arms and logistical support services. Here are found secret maps, attack maps, message maps, trench and artillery maps, bombardment and target maps, enemy battery positions maps, intelligence and tactical communications maps, airfield maps, photo-maps, railway and transport communications maps, water supply maps. An important point to note is that these maps show the British and Allied trench systems, batteries, railways and general organisation, as well as that of the Germans. As a rule, German Stellungskarten (trench maps) showed German as well as Allied trenches, far more often than Allied maps showed their own trenches. It was not until 1918, for example, that Allied 1:20,000 maps showed their own trench systems on non-secret editions. Like the Allies, the Germans gave names to trenches, which the maps show. Several maps show the trench systems of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. The 1917 and 1918 operations are particularly well represented, notably the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele), the March 1918 ‘Kaiserschlacht’ towards Amiens, and the April 1918 Lys offensive. The German Survey and Mapping Organisation was very different to those of the British and the French. The Germans pushed their photogrammetric draftsmen forward to Corps Map Sections (Gruppen-Kartenstelle), and even to Divisional Map Sections (Divisions-Kartenstelle), which used power and hand presses to print large numbers of 1:25,000, 1:10,000 and 1:5,000 scale trench maps (Stellungskarten) on base maps printed by the Army Survey Units (Vermessungsabteilungen); all this work was done in the field. In contrast, most British trench maps, although drawn in France by Army Field Survey Company draftsmen, were printed in England at the Ordnance Survey (Southampton) or, from 1917, at Army HQ by the Field Survey Companies themselves. Prior to 1917, the Field Survey Companies only had small hand-presses to print very limited editions, and even in 1917-18 British Corps Topographical Sections only had small duplicators which could not print maps of the size and accuracy required; there were no official British divisional topographical sections. The French similarly printed most of their trench and artillery maps (plans directeurs) in Paris, only small numbers being printed in the field by the Army field survey units (Groupes de canevas de tir). The French corps topographical sections (Sections Topographique de Corps d’Armée) only issued revision sheets to update existing maps, using the most primitive printing equipment, while their divisional topographical sections (Sections Topographique de Division d’Infanterie) were mostly concerned with mapping the French trenches and produced very small numbers of sketch maps. The CD Rom will include a detailed listing and cartobibliography of all German maps it contains, and also an in-depth historical survey and analysis of German survey and mapping on the Western Front, by Peter Chasseaud FRGS, the acknowledged global expert in these matters. This will include an explanation of the very complex German grid and map-referencing systems. Minimum system requirements The minimum system requirement suggested to run this CD-ROM is a Pentium (or equivalent) PC, quad speed CD-ROM drive, 32Mb of available RAM, SVGA display (thousands of colours or more), 20Mb free hard disk space and Windows™ 98/2000/NT/XP. Recommended System Requirements The recommended system requirement is a Pentium III PC with 48X CD-ROM drive, 128Mb of RAM and an SVGA monitor Peter Chasseaud Prize-winning* Consultant on 1914-18 and 1939-45 military survey and mapping. Historian & cartobibliographer of British, French and German mapping in the First World War. Chair of Greenwich Group for the Study of the History of Military Cartography,School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Greenwich * Winner of British Cartographic Society Henry Johns Award 2002 for paper on ‘German Maps and Survey on the Western Front 1914-1918.’ Price plus vat in EC

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Product Code:	CD07
Author:	Selected and edited by Peter Chasseaud FRGS
ISBN:	9781843425151
Format:	CD ROM
Shipping Time:	Usually despatched Same Day
Retail Price:	~~£85.00~~
Our Price:	£42.50 save 50%

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