Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.
Concept
Trench map
Summary
A trench map shows trenches dug for use in war. This article refers mainly to those produced by the British during the Great War, 1914–1918 although other participants made or used them..
For much of the Great War, trench warfare was almost static, giving rise to the need for large scale maps for attack, defence and artillery use. Initially, British trench maps showed the German trench systems in detail, but only the British Front line. Later in the war, more of the British trenches were shown. The only British maps that showed full detail of both sides were the secret editions, usually marked "Not to be taken beyond Brigade HQ" for fear of their falling into enemy hands.
The majority of trench maps were to a scale of 1:10,000 or 1:20,000, although trench maps also frequently appeared on a scale of 1:5,000 (maps printed on a large scale such as 1:5,000, were generally meant for use in assaults). In addition, the British army also printed maps on scales smaller than 1:20,000, such as 1:40,000 and 1:100,000, but these maps seldom showed trenches. Therefore, they do not typically count as "trench maps," although by 1918 certain of the 1:40,000 maps did show trenches. As a rule of thumb, the infantry preferred 1:10,000 and the field artillery 1:20,000, with the heavy artillery and staff officers making primary use of the 1:40,000 maps. In the 'Report on Survey on the Western Front 1914-1918', published in 1920, Colonel E.M. Jack wrote "The 1:20,000 was the map commonly used by the Artillery, and as trenches could be shown on it in sufficient detail to be of use to the infantry it was the most useful scale of all, and the one that could least easily be dispensed with." Colonel Jack was a key figure in Great War cartography.
At the start of the war there were no trench maps—trench warfare did not develop until late 1914, and the British army did not possess in the Summer of 1914 the logistical and technical support that making trench maps would have required. The British Army went to war with maps more suited to a "war of movement", i.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.