As @falklandsinuk.bsky.social reminds me, the City of London hosted a victory parade on 12 Oct 1982 for the Falklands Task Force ~ 🇫🇰 ~ so obviously we need a map of the Falkland Islands. Surveyed and drawn by No 2 Topo, 14th (Corps Fd Svy) RE in 1943, published as GSGS 4465 in 1944. Lovely.

Also on a large scale. See what Kiev looked like in 1941. Bildplanskizze der Stadt Kiew is an aerial photomap, produced during Op BARBAROSSA. Photographs, taken by Koluft 6, were modified with grids and labels by Vermessungs- und Karten-Abteilung (Mot.) 608...

Monday. The way of things on a large scale, then. It is, of course, another in the BOGUS series for the run up to June 1944. One map. One set of easily remembered codewords. As the legend @davetrott.bsky.social says: smart is simple and complicated is stupid.

Trawling through some Soviet mapping this morning, this one has some explaining to do. When is Dickson not Dickson? In 1942, Dikson was the scene of high seas Kriegsmarine unpleasantness. Perceptions, an' all that. Missing 'c's. A pre-lunch substack: 👇 www.merrynwalters.uk/p/dickson-di...

Dickson? Dikson. Диксон.

Soviet mapping, German perceptions. And a letter ~ just one ~ from the Kara Sea.

merrynwalters.uk

Produced in 1939, this is another Intourist map. Its aim, to highlight the Soviets’ focus on industrialization and infrastructure development. Its unintended impact: showing just how bloomin’ helpful railways might be if you’re invading from the west. Printed in the US, mind.

It's a fleeting dilemma: to post maps of geopolitically sensitive areas, or not? As I said, fleeting. We don't learn for the future by ignoring the past. Soviet mapping, ostensibly of what it referred to as the European part of USSR. Details ~ including zebras 🦓 ~ below.

The lovely @orbness.bsky.social offered thoughts on geo+politics and mentioned geo+logy. The lovely @orbness.bsky.social gets a bonus map. Giamusho Nan'yō- Kyoku's geological mapping of Java, made when it was under Japanese occupation in 1942. Scale, 1:100,000, Limited to 3,000 copies.

On a more cheery note, of course it’s always thought-provoking to remember just how well Germany had mapped and documented key British infrastructure by 1940. The central electricity network here, plus critical nodes (targets) within London and the industrial heartlands.

Map of the day, energy in WW2. Les mots juste du jour, Lynette Nusbacher - who is spot on, as always. I’ve said it before and will say it again: all geopolitics start with ‘geo’ - 🇺🇦’s close conflict with 🇷🇺 is about to knock the price of 🇬🇧’s diesel coming in from 🇺🇸. Plus ça change…

Who doesn't love a but of the Kermadec Islands? First made by New Zealand's Department of Lands and Survey to cover their northernmost land masses, but then republished by GSGS in 1942. Scale 1:31,680.

Light mapping this morning. Tiny bit of Bagnold, pre-LRDG. Amazes me, how simple a map can be yet still put things into perspective. These chaps travelled huge distances equipped with little more than smart socks and a sense of humour. Watch the whole 8-minute film on YT. Search 1930 Egypt Bagnold.

With the @newsofthewar.bsky.social heading to New Zealand this morning - and if I may say so, we hugely enjoyed putting this series together - a couple of LRDG maps won't go amiss today. First up: the Libyan Desert showing the routes of Major R. A. Bagnold's Expeditions 1929 & 1930...

News Of The War Pod@newsofthewar.bsky.social · 5d ago

Our latest episode in our Less Expected Destinations series is out this Friday…We’re off to New Zealand 🇳🇿 There’s so much to cover, reckon we’ll be back for 2 more episodes! Small country, HUGE impact on the 2WW. linktr.ee/NewsOfTheWar @andyaitch.bsky.social @merrynwalters.uk

Three days away. Feels like three weeks. Good to check in with Dave, and check the sea’s still there too.

Verisimilitude. Love it when the outside is complemented by a particularly fine view inside. Nothing official in the margins, but I suspect this is from ‘A Plan of London, Westminster, and Southwark’, by Benjamin Baker in 1807.

Getting into London, getting back into the London Bomb Map, and reminded that layersoflondon.org ties these sheets to an image archive, well worth exploring.

Good to finish the day getting my bearings around ‘something of a terrain challenge’ — several kilometres of period concrete providing the clue as to where. Story to follow, and it’ll be a long one.

That’s more like it. Getting my breath back, in deepest England - FW3/24 pillbox just east of Froxfield. There’s also a video; it’s open and fairly ungraffitied; nice example. But there were a lot of stinging nettles and some uncouth language. So that’s enough about that.

Can’t escape the mapping.

Stellar day with the likes of Rob Crane (COPP) and @DDayLogs .. strong finish with a swing past the local landmarks.

Huzzah. Looking forward to a strong day …

Great day ahead: in Newbury for the Defence Surveyors, Association seminar - and a local (over breakfast, little cafe in the high street) reminder of how much Britain owes to surveyors, sorting out our defences - and everything else. Voila, the old view of Norfolk 👇

Packed for a week on the road: passing through Alamein again, later today -- Enham Alamein, that is. Astonishing little village. The Egyptian gov gifted it a large amount of money out of gratitude; which was nice, and Montgomery became VP of its rehabilitation charity, the Enham Trust.

So, Monday's off to a spluttering start, then. If you've sorted the flash floods in your inbox, and already feel like setting fire to this week's calendar, you could have a cup of tea - coffee - Un Petit Pause - and read this instead. www.merrynwalters.uk/p/montelimar...

Montelimar: The What, The Where

What a Sketch Map Can Do, and A Detailed Map Does Not

merrynwalters.uk

And while I think about it, here's Caen: routes and bridges at 1:25,000, Aug 1943. WW2 mapmakers had to contend with their best work being utterly trashed by the RAF/USAAF et al. From a great height. Day and night. One minute it's a great map... the next, it's less use than Edelweiß (IYKNK).

Something for the start of the week, then. A romp through Portuguese propaganda mapping, which wasn't always made by Portgual. Do, y'know, like and ~ *sigh* ~ have a wee, free subscribe if you enjoy words on WW2 mapping history. 👇 substack.com/home/post/p-...

PORTUGAL. WHOSE MAP WAS IT, ANYWAY?

WW2 propaganda maps, mostly of - or by? - Portgual.

substack.com

One of the mapmakers: a chap named Mayne, I believe ~ no, not that Mayne, another Mayne ~ sorting out the mapping for 2 NZ Division's advance up through Italy in June 1944.

Last week, the Royal Marines headed to the @faroe_islands. These sheets were compiled by GSGS. The north sheet, in 1944; the sheet showing Suduroy and Sandoy (try that after half a Martini), in 1940, based on a Danish map from 1932. Lovely stuff. 🇫🇴

I've heard tell, it's hard to research the Russkies ~ but good sources exist. This, for example, is a 1939 textbook for the Military Topographic School on aerial phototopography ... rather well written. Focused on ensuring the science of mapmaking is easily digested.

I do forget about Bluesky, and I shouldn't. So... who wants to see some WW2 maps, and hear about the mapmakers? This is a favourite of mine. Prome, Sandoway, Thayetmyo - 85: J9 - some of the Survey of India's fine work in Burma, published in (not updated since) 1929. Come on, isn't this awesome?!

🚨 We can avoid it no longer ! In this, the sixth in our Battle series, we're off to Arnhem. Not for a blow by blow account, but for a deep-dive into the newspapers ... to see how Theirs Was The Glory. @andyaitch.bsky.social @merrynwalters.uk