Essentials for World Domination #1. A Good Map

It is good to have a plan. This can range from a mental checklist of what needs to be done on a daily basis, perhaps a week's worth of places to go, people to see, menu's to prepare,others may have a month to month schedule for larger projects around the home or in a working environment, even a years worth of aims and ambitions and further beyond. I have personally had a ten year plan agreed with my wife for improvements around our house but I am not sure when it actually started or by definition when it is due to finish. In my mind it is decade of fluidity, not necessarily on a real time basis and not as contractually binding as it is made out to be. Most plans within these contexts can be scribbled on  scrap pieces of paper, the back of a used envelope, on a fancy wall chart using coloured stickers and chinagraph pens, in a diary or journal or are etched deep in consciousness. Be prepared however for some element of disappointment as even the best laid plans can be subject to review, postponement and abandonment.

The Voyenno Topograficheskogo Upravleniya are a prime example. With an estimated 51,000 armoured and light tanks at its disposal the former Soviet Union required and amassed an astonishing amount of mapping intelligence to facilitate the potential for a strategic move westwards through Europe and to their, at the time, number 2 nemesis the British Isles. In quite recent years the back catalogue of Soviet Military Maps has been slowly revealed and to date over 90 large scale and very detailed maps of British towns and cities have emerged in the public domain. These were produced during the main Cold War years from the 1950's and even after the break up of the USSR in the 1990's as part of a very extensive global project masterminded for the purposes of world domination but secretive and often intended to mislead the enemy. This is perfectly understandable on the basis that maps of the Russian mainland and home territories were not considered to be truthful until 1998 when otherwise invisible and undetectable Top Secret Installations and locations of strategic importance began to appear on the new editions.

It is important, vitally important when planning a military campaign to have accurate information. The Soviet maps did not spare the necessary detail. The distance between trees in a forest is a good example of useful data, for example when determining a path for armour, artillery and troops .Spot heights are shown for the bridges in the mapped British Cities in addition to sizes of tunnels and even the composition of the road surface. The basis of the maps has been the subject of controversy and legal proceedings in that it is beyond reasonable doubt that they are grounded on the work of the Ordnance Survey. The emergence of the Soviet Maps has been held in contravention of Copyright and the OS, backed up by the legal system, appealed for any such maps to be surrendered for disposal. These are however still available for viewing and purchase on what appear to be legitimate commercial web sites.

There is a clear indication, however, that the mapping is a combination of a number of intelligence streams, again illustrating the large commitment of personell and resources to the project.  Aerial views from satellites or spy planes would of course be available to a Super Power of the time. Annotations show references to Trade Directories in that businesses and industrial sites are named, pocket street atlases have been acquired in order to update records but there is also the scale of information that could only be sourced from quite large numbers of persons on foot and with strong local knowledge and connections. This street-level intel was pioneered to great success in the build up to the Second World War by Germany and Japan. Some anomalies have been indicated through the many academic research papers and presentations on the mapping sheets. Data on railway lines is significantly out of date with depiction of long since grubbed up routes within and between the featured towns and cities. The descriptions in English have sometimes been misinterpreted. A Nature Reserve has been misconstrued as somewhere 'Reserved' or of secret military importance. A sign for a Lorry Park hs been transcribed into Russian as an order to 'Park Lorry'. The maps were produced over the peak years of doctrinal conflict between Communism and Capitalism. This may explain why Racecourses, wide open spaces with racing tracks for the frivolous enjoyment of the privileged have not been recognised as such and have been depicted as airfields. The use of 'Court' in a typical British street address is translated as being part of the legal establishment. Roads appear on the Soviet Maps where none exist on the ground. This has been attributed to the misinterpretation of leafy  lanes and access paths to back gardens which is a very characteristic feature of the suburban housing areas in this country.

The ninety or so British towns and cities in detailed relief include the obvious capital and main regional centres but also a few small, and at face value, not very remarkable places. These are however mentioned for strategic value including Barrow in Furness (Submarines), Chatham (Naval Docks), Milford Haven (Refineries), Billingham (Steel) , Rhondda (Mining) and  Doncaster (Railways). It is apparent that there existed a higher echelon of mapping of Top Secret sites and installations such as the Aldermaston Research Facility, GCHQ at Cheltenham and the old golf ball early warning station at Fylingdales. I am mightily disappointed that my home city, Hull is not on the list given its size, regional importance and value as a shipping and freight port and Gateway to Europe.

The whole subject is fascinating to anyone remotely interested in topography, Cold war and modern history and military campaigning. So just men then.There may be more yet to emerge. The first realisation that what had previously been whispered rumour and hearsay actually existed and in vast quantities was when a printer in Latvia purchased a pallet of scrap paper from some army types who had been instructed to destroy the sensitive documents.

(First written in July 2012)