Specialist Maps of the Geological Section, Inter-Service Topographical Department: Aids to British Military Planning During World War II
2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 44; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1179/000870407x173887
ISSN1743-2774
AutoresEdward Rose, Jonathan C. Clatworthy,
Tópico(s)Maritime and Coastal Archaeology
ResumoAbstractAbstractBetween November 1943 and May 1946, geologists assisted the Inter-Service Topographical Department (ISTD) to prepare reports and maps to guide planning of British military operations in Europe and the Far East. Early reports were illustrated by pre-war geological maps reprinted by the Geographical Section, General Staff, (GSGS), later reports by new simplified geological maps, usually accompanied by one or more thematic maps. An airfield suitability map for Bulgaria and soils maps for both the Middle Danube region (Hungary) and Austria were printed as part of the GSGS Miscellaneous map series, and groundwater and soils maps prepared as tracing overlays for use with topographical maps for parts of Germany. Simplified geological maps were prepared by ISTD and printed by GSGS for Sumatra, Borneo, Formosa, the Kra Isthmus region of the Burma/Thailand peninsula, Siam (Thailand) and Indo-China, Java, Hainan, and the Hong Kong to Canton region of China. These were mostly at a scale of 1:1000 000 but in varying styles, to innovatively indicate terrain features of specific military significance. Airfield suitability maps were printed at scales between 1:250 000 and 1:1000 000 for many of these regions, based on ground features and predicted soil permeability. All these specialist maps were printed in small numbers, and few copies have survived the war – notably in the British Library, the National Archives, or the library of the Royal Geographical Society. The ISTD Geological Section constituted the larger of only two teams of British military geologists to be established in either World War, exercising a role in military intelligence that is seldom acknowledged.
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