--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2002 11:25:16 -0000
From: "Carlucci, April" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: FW: Mysterious Michelin map <fwd>
Sender: "Carlucci, April" <[log in to unmask]>



Susan and all

This sounds similar to (but not the same as) a map we exhibited last year in
The Lie of the Land exhibition at the British Library. On one side was a
German military reprint of an Ordnance Survey map showing the islands to the
north of Scotland, with additions by the German Army apparently to aid an
invasion. On the reverse, three years later, the Germans had used the back
of the map (due to paper shortages) to provide a quick and sloppy aerial
mosaic of the Eastern Front, clearly in hopes of warding off invasion
themselves by the Russian Army. A fascinating piece of 20th century
cartographic history. We had two other similar sheets, all received in a
donation from the Ministry of Defence Map Library.

Here's the label text for the map, and the citation:

Recycled maps, 1942 & 1945
By the closing stages of the Second World War the German military was
reduced to reusing maps it had made in 1942 of the British Isles. These were
originally overprints of Ordnance Survey maps. Three years later the backs
of these maps were used to show Allied positions on German soil. In this
example we can see part of the Orkney Islands on one side from 1942 and on
the other, from April 1945, the area to the east of Berlin as Russian forces
push into Germany itself. The pressure on German resources is shown by the
untypically shoddy quality of the aerial photomosaic. In three years the
tide had entirely turned in the Allied powers' favour.

Maps Y.3115
Germany. Heer. Vermessungs- und Kartographische Abteilung.
Luftbildstellungskarte, stand: 7.IV.45. Scale 1:10 000.
[S.l.]: Stabsbildabteitlung A.O.K.9,Vermessungs u. Karten Abt. (mot.) 618,
1945.
Incomplete aerial photography with overprint in red showing position of
enemy (ie allied) batteries and anti-aircraft positions. Sheets printed on
verso of 1942 German maps of the British
Isles at 1:200 000#

April Carlucci
British Library Map Collections


-----Original Message-----
From: Johnnie Sutherland [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 November 2002 21:23
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Mysterious Michelin map <fwd>


--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Tue, 26 Nov 2002 16:00:40 -0500
From: Susan Greaves <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Mysterious Michelin map
Sender: Susan Greaves <[log in to unmask]>


Hello.

I wonder if anyone has come across a map similar to this one (and can tell
me more about it):

One side of the map is the northern sheet of Michelin's Les Grandes Routes,
the road map of France at 1:1,000,000.  It was printed by Schneider F'res &
Mary.  There is no date on this sheet  but it appears 1930s - 1940s. The
Michelin Man is not smoking his cigar  - when did he stop?

The other side is a fragment of a German map of Great Britain at 1:63,360.
Our fragment covers Bath and Bristol. The map itself is in English and
appears to be a section of a pre-7th Series Ordnance Survey map - except
the legend is in German. Publication information has been trimmed off to
fit the Michelin map on verso.

Any ideas? I am guessing that paper shortages occurred post WWII and that
Michelin printed the new maps on the  foreign topographic maps in order to
meet  the demand for up-to-date information.  But I have not yet located
mention of a German map of England at that scale in the various catalogs
I've checked - does anyone have information about this map?

That's today's mystery!  Thank you if you can provide further information
or direction for research.

--  Susan

__________________________________________

Susan Greaves
Map Librarian
Instruction, Research & Information Services
017 Olin Library, Cornell University
Ithaca,  New York    14853-5301
voice 607-255-9566 / fax 607-255-9346
--- End Forwarded Message ---


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