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German Maps and Survey on the Western Front, 1914-18
By Dr. Peter Chasseaud FRGS
© Peter Chasseaud 2003

Synopsis
Fighting the 1914-18 war largely on enemy territory in both the east and the west, Germany was at a disadvantage compared to the Allies when it came to survey and mapping as it did not have access to much of the geodetic, topographic and cartographic data, relating to this terrain, necessary for modern warfare — in particular for artillery survey. Germany and Austria did, however, have a commanding lead in terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry, and the latter was to prove crucial in the production of accurate large-scale maps of enemy and occupied territory. Despite strong forces of conservatism in the high and field commands and in the artillery and military survey organisations, new air survey methods based on the photogoniometer and radial triangulation were rapidly developed. Through continual laboratory and field experimentation and testing, Germany was to increase her lead in aerial photogrammetry, and by the end of the war had not only set up a completely new air survey organisation but was developing a new generation of optical-mechanical stereoplotting instruments of great precision. German progress was not, however, evident in all field of military survey, and this text examines the approaches taken by Germany to survey and mapping on the Western Front, and briefly compares and contrasts them with those of the Allies.

Introduction
All belligerents entered the war in 1914 with small-scale, ungridded topographical maps of the expected area of operations. Soon, as mobile operations ossified into trench warfare, it was realised that accurate large-scale gridded maps (1:20,000 — 1:25,000), overprinted with tactical intelligence plotted from air photographs, were essential for the planning and control of indirect artillery, trench mortar and machine gun fire; such maps had previously only been prepared for the attack and defence of fortresses. Although their pre-war general staffs had sections responsible for maps and survey, all belligerents had to improvise field survey organisations to create and print large-scale maps, to conduct the necessary surveys, and to provide the essential target and firing data for the artillery. Meanwhile the existing national survey departments rapidly responded to the new requirements by producing enlargements of existing maps.

The French survey directorate — the Service Géographique de l’Armée — remained in Paris throughout the war. In late October and November 1914 the French created their Artillery Survey Groups (Groupes de canevas de tir de l’Armée or GCTAs) from the ‘brigades géodésiques’ which they had planned before the war for the use of their heavy batteries when besieging the German frontier fortresses, and began the production of gridded 1:20,000 war plans directeurs (accurate artillery maps) by compilation of all available large-scale map material — cadastral plans, pre-war precision surveys, new 1:50,000 maps, enlargements of the old 1:80,000 map — augmented by topographical and tactical detail plotted from air photographs using graphic and photographic restitution methods. These were soon augmented by 1:10,000 and 1:5,000 plans, all three scales being overprinted with trenches and enemy organisation. The GCTAs were responsible for creating and amplifying their army’s triangulation, and artillery survey — i.e. fixing the positions of their own and enemy batteries. They moved rapidly ahead in flash-spotting, sound-ranging and air photo-interpretation. At the end of 1915 they introduced the Lambert orthomorphic projection and grid, and by early 1917 this was in use on all their large-scale maps. Ideal for survey and artillery work, this projection preserved bearing, while the theatre grid ensured that all batteries, observation posts, sound-ranging microphones and targets were fixed relative to each other, enabling range and bearing to be rapidly calculated. There were ten GCTAs on the Western Front, supplemented by Corps and Divisional Topographical Sections from late 1915 and 1916 respectively. Most tactical map printing was done by the Service Géographique in Paris...

Supporting Texts by Peter Chasseaud
The CD Rom contains supporting texts written by the eminent Historian & cartobibliographer of British, French and German mapping in the First World War - Peter Chasseaud.
A small extract of this text is included below....
	German Maps and Survey on the Western Front, 1914-18 By Dr. Peter Chasseaud FRGS © Peter Chasseaud 2003 Synopsis Fighting the 1914-18 war largely on enemy territory in both the east and the west, Germany was at a disadvantage compared to the Allies when it came to survey and mapping as it did not have access to much of the geodetic, topographic and cartographic data, relating to this terrain, necessary for modern warfare — in particular for artillery survey. Germany and Austria did, however, have a commanding lead in terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry, and the latter was to prove crucial in the production of accurate large-scale maps of enemy and occupied territory. Despite strong forces of conservatism in the high and field commands and in the artillery and military survey organisations, new air survey methods based on the photogoniometer and radial triangulation were rapidly developed. Through continual laboratory and field experimentation and testing, Germany was to increase her lead in aerial photogrammetry, and by the end of the war had not only set up a completely new air survey organisation but was developing a new generation of optical-mechanical stereoplotting instruments of great precision. German progress was not, however, evident in all field of military survey, and this text examines the approaches taken by Germany to survey and mapping on the Western Front, and briefly compares and contrasts them with those of the Allies. Introduction All belligerents entered the war in 1914 with small-scale, ungridded topographical maps of the expected area of operations. Soon, as mobile operations ossified into trench warfare, it was realised that accurate large-scale gridded maps (1:20,000 — 1:25,000), overprinted with tactical intelligence plotted from air photographs, were essential for the planning and control of indirect artillery, trench mortar and machine gun fire; such maps had previously only been prepared for the attack and defence of fortresses. Although their pre-war general staffs had sections responsible for maps and survey, all belligerents had to improvise field survey organisations to create and print large-scale maps, to conduct the necessary surveys, and to provide the essential target and firing data for the artillery. Meanwhile the existing national survey departments rapidly responded to the new requirements by producing enlargements of existing maps. The French survey directorate — the Service Géographique de l’Armée — remained in Paris throughout the war. In late October and November 1914 the French created their Artillery Survey Groups (Groupes de canevas de tir de l’Armée or GCTAs) from the ‘brigades géodésiques’ which they had planned before the war for the use of their heavy batteries when besieging the German frontier fortresses, and began the production of gridded 1:20,000 war plans directeurs (accurate artillery maps) by compilation of all available large-scale map material — cadastral plans, pre-war precision surveys, new 1:50,000 maps, enlargements of the old 1:80,000 map — augmented by topographical and tactical detail plotted from air photographs using graphic and photographic restitution methods. These were soon augmented by 1:10,000 and 1:5,000 plans, all three scales being overprinted with trenches and enemy organisation. The GCTAs were responsible for creating and amplifying their army’s triangulation, and artillery survey — i.e. fixing the positions of their own and enemy batteries. They moved rapidly ahead in flash-spotting, sound-ranging and air photo-interpretation. At the end of 1915 they introduced the Lambert orthomorphic projection and grid, and by early 1917 this was in use on all their large-scale maps. Ideal for survey and artillery work, this projection preserved bearing, while the theatre grid ensured that all batteries, observation posts, sound-ranging microphones and targets were fixed relative to each other, enabling range and bearing to be rapidly calculated. There were ten GCTAs on the Western Front, supplemented by Corps and Divisional Topographical Sections from late 1915 and 1916 respectively. Most tactical map printing was done by the Service Géographique in Paris... For screenshots showing more [ CLICK HERE ]