Imperial War Museum Trench Map Archive

[Frank_Olynyk]

I received yesterday a CD rom pubished in England by The Naval & Military Press, in association with The Imperial War Museum. It contains scanned images of 175 (or 179) 1:10,000 Trench Maps prepared by the British during WW1. It also has another 15 or so 1:40,000 maps. The maps are from the collection of the IWM, and have been scanned in color. There is an explanation of how the maps were prepared, how to reference positions, etc. The index to the maps is in alpha order by the major city on the map. I would have wanted an additional index by map number, since that is the way they are referenced in the RFC/RNAS/RAF combat reports, but there aren't enough maps to make finding a specific number difficult. As far as I can tell they cover the entire area in which British troops were stationed, ie, France and Belgium. I did not see any maps for other theaters. It would appear to be possible to print out maps, or parts there of, but I did not try.

After installation I had a little over 13 meg of files on my hard drive. The CD is full, and you will need to keep it handy. It ended up on my C drive, as I did not get an opportunity to specify a different drive letter. It is expensive, at 85 pounds, plus shipping (a little under 3 pounds air mail to the US). I ordered my copy from The Aviation Bookshop. I assume you can get it from the IWM, or The Naval & Military Press as well, both of whom on are the Internet.

I will have to play with it some more, to get used to finding places, and going from coordinates on combat reports to the relevant map. But it does look like it solves the problem of access to trench maps. Highly recommended, if you can afford it.

Frank.

[Darryl]

Dr Frank,

Many thanks, sounds like a gem and will get ordered today. One question, does it include the rear area/support trenches, or just the front line? The trench maps I have seen are a bit of a mixture.

kind regards

Darryl

[Frank_Olynyk]

Darryl,
Basically, they scanned the entire trench map, so the trench structure shown is whatever was recorded at the time. The set of maps covers the entire war, with potentially several versions of the same map. And early in the war, until middle or late 1915, the maps did not show the British trenches (security you know, in case the map was captured, you wouldn't want the Germans finding out where the British trenches were! Of course that should have led to suppressing the German trenches from the map, to keep the Germans from finding out how much the British knew about the German trench system).

Incidently, no mention is made on the CD of the existance of, or plans for, CDs of French and German trench maps.

Frank.

[Darryl]

Dr Frank,

Thanks once again. The Brits are notorius for being security mad. When they first developed "Window" (now called Chaff, as I'm sure you know) the use of it was forbidden lest the Germans copy it to blind Allied RDF.

I suppose if Ug had refused to hurl the first rock in case Gog had the idea to start throwing them too, we may be better off.....but what would we study?

Best regards

Darryl

[Droops]

Might someone have a URL link to a site where I could purchase said CD?

Thanks, any help is appreciated.

John

[Frank_Olynyk]

From the CD, the link for Naval & Military Press is www.naval-military-press.co.uk

The link for the CD itself is www.great-war-trench-maps.com

Don't know about the Imperial War Museum, but if I had to guess it would be www.iwm.gov.uk

As far as I know Aviation Bookshop does not have a web site.

Frank.

[Lufbery]

Hi Droops!

Are you thinking of using the maps as source material for 17 Hours? I hope so. Keep up the good work.

-Drew

[Vigilant]

Watch out for the Institute of Waste Management - it's out there waiting to trip up historically minded web surfers!

Vig

[Dan_San_Abbott]

Frank:
Thank you Frank for the addresses, I knew that my patience would be rewarded. It sounds much easier that all my Michelin maps.
Blue skies,
Dan-San Abbott

FRANK, Greetings: Do you where all of the aerial photos our people took of the American sector of the WF?