Just in case anyone is interested (probably not!) and posted it here because it is relevant to the Cold War not necessarily WW2. The Envirocheck online mapping site has released a series of maps of UK cities as drawn up by the KGB between 1950 and 1997. It says they show military and other installations which do not appear on Ordnance Survey maps. I thought they may be of some interest to people doing research? Envirocheck.co.uk | Environmental Intelligence & Digital Mapping cheers, Rich.
Fascinating, I can imagine a KGB office with mounds of A-Z's being copied out. Shall have to register properly as I'd love to see if they've got a Winchester one and if the ROC bunker was marked on it. Cheers, Adam.
Hmm. This is not quite what I expected. I found our office password for Envirocheck and had a look. The maps cannot be viewed online prior to ordering, but they are free to order until the end of March. I tried to order one for central Sheffield and got an error message that my area selected was too large. Apparently I should have entered a postcode and I would get a local extract of that area. I have ordered another Sheffield one and it says, "this map was produced in 1977 from survey information by personnel on the ground." So did the KGB infiltrate the Ordnance Survey, or were there KGB operatives sneaking around in stolen Sheffield Works Department donkey jackets?! Adam, unfortunately there doesn't seem to be one for central Winchester. I've had a word with their technical department and the chap did say they had maps of selected cities only, "and other things like nuclear installations". Be advised its not particularly user friendly, the site is geared to producing environmental reports on localised areas, not large format maps as shown in the examples! Rich.
Ah, heard about these. Apparently they were produced from information gleaned from KGB sleepers in this country. I understand the maps are highly detailed and very precise. And list things the government would probably have a heart attack at the time. I am told there are maps of every city town and important site. all perfect. Scary.
