A map update:
- with kind permission of the Institute of Geography and Regional
Development, University of Wrocław, we've managed to scan 9 rare sheets
of WIG 1:25,000 maps
- Another interesting set includes five WIG index sheets for the 1:25,000
maps, dated 1935 - 1939. They were originally published in
the "Secret Gazette of Ministery of Military Affairs' Orders", which
were made available by extremely helpful staff at the Warsaw Museum of
the Polish Army.
The index sheets can be found below the Mapster index for the WIG
1:25,000 scale map set - see the last 5 index sheets on the list there.
- Several rare German 1:25,000 photomaps (Bildplan / Bildskizze), which
we managed to locate in the (previously scanned) collection of the
Faculty of Geographical & Geological Sciences of the Poznań
University. Some sheets are cut alongWIG 1:25,000 lines,
others identical to the German Messtischblatt / Topographische Karte
layout
- Also, courtesy of the same university some 70 sheets of the German
1:25,000 geological map (some sheets cover the area of western Poland,
while the majority, the terriotory of Germany).
All new scans are available in 600 dpi.
A new update is planned for the turn of September / October.
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Courtesy of the Library of Congress, we have added approx. 2250 sheets
of a German WW1 1:25,000
map of western Russia, which covers central
and eastern Poland, as well as Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Majority
of sheets at 400 dpi, the re-scaled Russian 1:84,000 maps (two-verst)
have been scanned at 300 dpi, and a few more interesting sheets, such
as this one
- at 600 dpi.
In a few weeks we should be able to add a few sheets of "Gruppe
Grodno", currently missing, and at least several sheets from the
south-eastern "Gruppe Kamieniec".
The last batch of the maps in the US collections, approx. 300 - 500
sheets from central Poland (Gruppe Warschau), should, if all goes well,
be scanned by the end of spring next year. Filling in blanks after that
might prove difficult and / or time-consuming, as the maps are held by
a few leading European libraries which are famous for guarding jelously
their collections.
A new update should appear within the next couple of weeks.
The scans of maps we share are often
used in research papers, internet, or exhibitions. Once in a while
though, you can come across something... unorthodox, such as this application,
found in the Infobox, Gdynia, Poland, by Łukasz Kaczmarek of Pracownia 63A design
studio).
New items:
- from the collection of Mr Ryszard Hubisz: a very large town
plan of Kiew (this time, of German origin, dated 1943). It
is a secret (geheim) variant of the "Sonderausgabe" of the plan
we already have, but the "secret"
variant comes with "enhanced" information, showing additional
buildings, detailed railway infrastructure, etc.
- from the vast collection of the Library of Congress: approx. 500 sheets
of the Soviet 1:25,000 maps dated 1939 - 1940. They are
re-scaled and unrevised reprints of earlier, Tsarist maps, both
half-versts (1:21,000) and verst (1:42,000) editions from the turn of
19th and 20th century. Exact survey dates can be found in top-left
corner and this is how the situation on actual sheets should be dated. The map series covers a large part of the
pre-WW2 area of Eastern Poland (so-called "Kresy", borderlands), but
also Lithuania, and parts of East Prussia.
Since the set in the Library of Congress is the largest collection of
these particular maps we are aware of, we do not expect to be able to
fill in the gaps any time soon. That said, within the next two months,
we will be able to add a relatively large number of sheet to the
German, WW1 set of 1:25,000 maps which cover the same area (and are
based on the same original maps) and extend both east and westwards.
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The 1st April (no joke! ;), some maps from our own collection -
German 1:200,000 (incomplete) series of:
- Trkei
- Ruland (Kaukasus)
- Ruland (Kaukasus)
- joint editions (Zusammendruecke). Please note, these are large files!
- Ruland (Turkestan)
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New mapping material from the Library of Congress.
1. Rather detailed German military brochures grouped under the "H.Dv.g
40" (Heeres-Druckvorschriften, geheim), and a full title of "Mil-geo Einzelangaben für die
Trupperführung zum Einheitsblatt...". The publications
contain military and geographic description of terrain for each of the
German, joint edition, 1:100,000 maps, called "Einheitsblatt" (or
"Grossblatt") for the purpose of "troop-leading". Each booklet also
includes a set of 1 - 3 maps. The main sheet is the "enhanced" edition
of the Einheitsblatt, accompanied by other maps, usually printed on the
reverse. They provide an overview of local power grid, gas, soil types,
telecom networks and town plans, often simplified).
We managed to scan several dozen maps and some 12 publications, most of
which cover the area of what was, prior to WW2, eastern provinces of
3rd Reich, and what is now western Poland. Because processing
multi-scan publications takes much longer than maps, we have made
available, for now, all map sheets (other maps for the given sheets are
available as their attachments). We have also processed, as a pdf file
(75 Mb), a samplemil-geo description of sheet 30a
(Einheitsblatt 30a, H.Dv.g 40/30a) from the area of (pre-WW2) "Ostpreussen"
i.e.Rastenburg - Ltzen - Arys, currently Kętrzyn - Giżycko - Orzysz.
By the next few months we will have processed publications for the
Einheitsblatt sheet No 53, 54, 55, 66, 67, 71, 78, 79, 142, 149 and
156. Mil-geo description of other sheets, made available today, can be
expected no sooner than next year.
2. Also, from the collection of the Library of Congress, several town plans,
unfortunately, some are photostat copies, so quality isn't brilliant,
but as they cover smaller towns, they provide useful information.
3. We have added one Soviet town plan of Kiev, courtesy of Mr
Ryszard Hubisz. Although it is called "schematic"
(simplified), it is, in fact, a well-drawn and reasonably detailed
plan, in Ukrainian, made around 1935. Its reliability (accuracy) can be
verified against German, WW2 town plans of Kiev from 1941 and 1943
available here.
15.03.2018_update
In another round of (spring) cleaning, we have added over 300 maps
coming from various university collections, Library of Congress, as
well as our own. Majority of scans show small and mid-scale maps which
often cover vast areas. Please note: as the original maps are usually
very large sheets of paper, 400 and 600 dpi jpg scans often reach and
exceed 100 Mb. Therefore, it is not recommended to try to open files in
web browsers, as they are not optimized to handle high-resolution,
large files, and often come up with a message that this or that image
can not be opened, as it "contains errors". This is usually not
the case; we recommend that you download the files (right-click with
the mouse and "Save as..."), and open them with your preferred graphics
software (irfanview, photoshop, windows photo viewer, etc.)
New literature in Polish, German and English is available, but it will
take some time to translate explanatory notes into English. Hence, as a
temporary measure, new literature can be accessed via the Polish-language
page. All new files are
marked in red. Please note the pdf files can, and do - in
some cases - exceed 100 Mb. We expect to make the updated EN literature
page available by the end of this year.
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New maps from the collection of the Library of Congress: approx. 700 sheets of the WIG 1:25,000 map,
provisional edition. Current coverage of this map series
(both Polish and WW2 German editions) can be seen on the index sheet. Please note that
the sheets are reprints of earlier maps (Russian and Austro-Hungarian),
often re-scaled, so they show the situation before WW1 or even from the
turn of 19th century - NOT, as suggested by their print date - from
1930s.
@JMisiewicz
I tried to send an e-mail, but got an auto-response: "The e-mail address you entered couldn't be found"
If you want to get in touch, please use e-mail (see left)
Hello Marek. I am referring to the Ossada settlements created by Marshal Pilsudski in the Kresy after the 1920 Polish-Soviet war. I am hoping that there exists a map showing the location of these Ossa
