Military Maps

Hi all,

I have been looking for military maps and came across the Defence Surveyors Association's website which has a link to see the entire contents of the "Maps And Survey" book from The War Office.

I don't think there is a thread which includes this already - my apologies if there is.

**updated link to get access to pdf - any problems let me know:

https://1drv.ms/b/s!An_TyXaJZ4sGhcpO94rrNr9EcK4X9g

 

List of plates included:

1. GSGS 4042 N.W. Europe 1: 250,000
Sheet 7 "Rouen-Paris" (Edition of 1938).
2. GSGS 2738 France 1: 250,000
Sheet 13 (Edition of 1938).
3. GSGS 4040 France and Belgium 1: 50,000
Sheet 53 "Courtrai" (Edition of 1937).
4. GSGS
Sheet 47 N.W. "Evreux" (Edition of 1938).
5. GSGS 4041 N.E. France and Belgium 1: 25,000
Sheet 36 N.W. "Bree" (Edition of 1939).
6. GSGS 4193 Turkey 1: 200,000
Sheet B. 16 "Kars."
7. GSGS 4362 Daba-Alexandria Series 1: 50,000
Sheet 5 "El Alamein."
8. GSGS 4386 Egypt and Cyrenaica 1: 250,000
Sheet 3 "Salum-Tobruch."
9. Middle East 1: 25,000 Matruh area.
10. GSGS 4076 Cyrenaica 1: 100,000
Sheet 19 "Tobruk" 1941.
11. Egypt "Going" Map 1: 500,000
Sheet 2 "Cairo."
12. GSGS 4078 Palestine 1: 100,000
Sheet "Nablus" 1941.
13. The Levant 1: 50,000
Sheet "Tripoli."
14. Palestine 1: 25,000
Sheet 17-13 "Jerusalem" 1943.
15. GSGS 4225 Tunisia 1: 50,000
Sheet "Mareth."
16. Tunisia 1: 50,000
Sheet 83 S.E. "Mareth."
17. Eritrea 1: 50,000
Keren area.
18. E. Africa 1: 500,000
Sheet "Dire Daua."
19. E. Africa 1: 250,000
Sheet "Fich-Imi."
20. GSGS 3919 Iran
Sheet I-39G "Hamadan."
21. Iraq 1: 50,000 (Ruwanduz area)
Sheet 3 "Galala."
22. Iran 1: 25,000 (Razan area)
Sheet 16 "Durud."
23. Burma 1 inch to 1 mile
Sheet 84| (2nd Edition 1943).
24. GSGS 4218 Assam and Burma 4 miles to 1 inch
Sheet 841 "Mawlaik."
25. India 1:25,000 (Palel area)
Sheet 4.
26. Siam 1:25,000
"Phuket Island."
27. GSGS 4180 Algeria 1: 200,000
Sheet 9 "Bone" 1941.
28. GSGS 4230 Italy 1: 250,000
Sheet 35 "Napoli."
29. GSGS 4164 Italy 1: 100,000
Sheet 142 "Civitavecchia."
30. GSGS 4229 Italy 1: 50,000
Sheet 217-1 "Fordongianus."
31. GSGS 4228 Italy 1: 25,000
Sheet 88III S.E. with layers and topographical overprint.
32. GSGS 4228 Sicily 1: 25,000
Sheet 262-1 S.W. and 1 S.E.
33. Provisional GSGS 4229 Italy 1: 50,000
Sheet 192-1 "Alghero."
34. Italy 1: 200,000 Road Map
Sheet 19.
35. GSGS 4164 Italy 1: 100,000
Sheets 245 and 246 with "Going" overprint, based on air
photo information.
36. GSGS 4040 N.E. France and Belgium 1: 50,000
Sheet 53 "Courtrai" (Edition of 1943).
37. GSGS 4250 N. France 1: 50,000
Sheet 9 F/3 "Evreux" (Edition of 1943).
38. GSGS 4471 E. France 1: 50,000
Sheet XXXIV-11 "Thionville" (Edition of 1943).
39. GSGS 4336 N.E. France and Belgium 1: 100,000
Sheet 18 "Beauvais" (Edition of 1943).
40. GSGS 4249 France 1: 100,000
Sheet 7F "Caen-Falaise" (Edition of 1943).
41. GSGS 4042 North West Europe 1: 250,000
Sheet 7 "Rouen-Paris" (Army/Air Edition 1943).
42. GSGS 2738 France 1: 250,000
Sheet 13 "Vannes" (Army/Air Edition of 1943).
43. GSGS 4041 N.E. France and Belgium 1: 25,000
Sheet 36 N.W. "Bree" (Edition of 1944).
44. 1: 12,500 special map "Dieppe" (Edition of 1942).
45. GSGS 4347 N. France 1: 25,000 (Benson Series)
Sheet 37/18 S.E. "Creully" (Edition of 1944).
46. 1: 25,000 Photo-Map N. France
Sheet 1-23 (Cherbourg Series) (Edition of 1944).
47. GSGS 4096 Holland 1: 25,000
Sheet B. 345 (Edition of 1941).
48. GSGS 4427 Holland 1: 25,000
Sheet 353 "Haarlem."
49. GSGS 4490 France 1: 12,500
Sheet "Ouistreham."
50. GSGS 4346 Germany 1: 250,000
Sheet L. 54 "Hamburg" (Army/Air Edition of 1943).
51. GSGS 4416 Germany 1: 100,000
Sheet L. 4 "Hamburg" (Edition of 1943).
52. GSGS 4414 Germany 1: 25,000
Sheet 2713 "Westerstede" (Edition of 1944).
53. GSGS 4507 Germany 1: 50,000
Sheet 91 "Westerstede" (Edition of 1945).
54. GSGS 4517 (R. Rhine) 1: 12,500
55. Airfield Reconnaissance Diagram 1: 10,000
56. GSGS 4493 "Lattice Map" (Mercator Projection).
57. Dropping Zone Map. 1: 50,000. Used by Airborne Forces
Normandy, 6th June, 1944.

 

Thanks for that, nice one

 

Good find, thanks.

Cheers
Paul

 

Nice find - thanks Rosy.

Mike

 

Hi all, just joined this forum as I have a query on WWII maps. We have been clearing out my father in laws house and have found a number of WWII original maps - some a bit on the grubby side. We have maps from netherlands (1943 -1944) Denmark, Northern France and Belgium, plus some from England. Some are what I believe are called purple grid maps. Would anyone know whether these are worth anything, and where would be a good place to try to sell them, as we don't want them ourselves.

Thanks

Crawfie

 

Crawfie,

Not worth the paper they are printed on - send them to me and I'll throw them away for you

Seriously, they will certainly be worth something to someone but probably not life-changing amounts. Ebay would be as good a way of selling them as any, I suppose. If you do, be as specific as possible with the descriptions: GSGS sheet numbers, scales, titles and places featured, especially in the corners of the maps so it's easy to check the area covered. And don't auction them all at once.

Sounds an interesting little haul, especially if there are any other documents that go with them.

However, if there is any one in the family that is, or may become, interested in your father-in-laws service (or whoever it was that the maps belonged to), you might be better to sit on the maps for a little while before giving away the family history. They have a story to tell and you don't want to be kicking yourself later on.

 

Thanks Idler, gives us something to work with. We're not too sure who the maps belonged to originally as my father in law was too young for WWII service, and his father too old and no-one else in the family served either. He was a tremendous hoarder tho, so probably got them from one of his friends.

Thanks again,

Crawfie

 

Hello Crawfie,
I you have still some of your maps, I could be interested in France and Belgium maps.

Regards.
McCL

 

Could not find a way to save these maps to my PC, any one got any ideas?

 

Could not find a way to save these maps to my PC, any one got any ideas?

Hi Singeager - doesn't it open up like a pdf and you can click on the save button?

Jules.

 

I need to know if anyone knows where to get GSGS 4042 Sheet 2A & 3A. I am trying to help my friend retrace her father's military journey in WWII. He was a navigator/bombardier shot down over Holland in September 1944 and MIA for almost 6mos. I see that the British National Archives has them in 250K scale, but I was wondering if other scales exist. I found his Escape and Evasion report online (thank you US National Archives) and this is where I found the map reference. I don't even know if the map was for navigation or for evasion in the event of bailing out over occupied territory. I am going to check other threads concerning navigation as I need to understand just what system they would use. Meanwhile, any help with the maps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Eva

 

Hi Eva - welcome to the forum. It appears the links don't work any more which is a pity. This is the Defence Surveyors' Association - The home of the UK defence survey community website and if you click their "Historical Documents" there is plenty of information. There are maps within some of the PDF links and there is some info about GSGS maps, but I've only taken a quick look.

I'm not sure if I kept a copy of the PDF from the original link. I'll have a look later.

 

Thanks, Rosy!!! I looked on that site and found a listing of all the places where one can find those maps! So I can check them all out. I have found them at the British National Archives, but they exist other places too and it is just a matter of format, price etc. Better yet, there was a Gazeteer of Holland on your site, so we can understand the grid system of where my friend's father was. There are references in the Escape and Evasion Report and the Missing Aircraft Report, both of which I found online. Your answer was extremely helpful. Thank you so much! Eva

 

Ive copied some maps on a Flatbed A4 scanner and 'Stitched them together in an Art Program [quite difficult] or Try one of the Commercial Print Shops they can copy large format and transfer stuff onto a CDR or memory stick , Prontaprint and Kall kwik or Office World are some that spring to mind , if they can't they would know someone who could ,

 

Eva - Good luck with your research and hopefully you'll find the maps and information you are searching for. If you have any more questions don't hesitate to post on the forum. If we can help you we will.

I did keep a copy of the map PDF and have edited my original post with a link to it. It's too big to upload to the forum. The list of plates is as post #2.

 

Thanks for help so far. I know where to get these maps, but I have more questions. Does anyone know what form the maps would have been in on the actual mission? In other words what would a USAAF bombardier/navigator have in their hands when their B-17 left England for a raid over Germany? Where would they have carried them and how would the maps been protected from the weather the event of bailing and ending in water in Holland for example. The ones my friend's father carried were GSGS 4042 Sheet 2A & 3A and the British Library librarian referred to them as one map. Would they even have been made of paper? Thanks for any help!

 

I know I have an interest because I run the site but we do sell most GSGS maps as digital scans all at full map size and all at 300DPI high res quality if anyone needs one. They are priced very very competitively and we sell them only at cost. I am ex military and a military historian myself so understand the value of these items to researchers. We source ours from the US archives and can also 'get' any that we do not already have. Please do not see this as a tout for business - just trying to be helpful.

First & Second World War Photos, Maps, Docs: Battlefield ...

Neil

 

Eva - Hi - read my post below (or above) send me a detailed message via the web site and I can source the maps for you quite easily at a very reasonable price.

 

World War II



Maps and Survey - Contents





http://www.defencesurveyors.org.uk/images/dsa/pdfs/BO3%20-%20Notes%20on%20GSGS%20Maps%20Germany.pdf