Folks-
As I have had a few interested members on this I will list what I have researched, found, and know to this point. I decided to add this as new topic as it differs from the German sit maps.
1- Germany captured hundreds of Red Ary Maps from 1941-1944.
2- the US Army captured them from the Germans in 1945
3- They are now held at NARA Archives II
4- They are in very poor shape yet hold wonderful info
To view them, go to Archives II, second floor (cartographic records) and fill out a slip for exactly the following....
Record Group 242, Stack Area 430, Row 4, Compartment 21
Add "German Army Captured Russian Maps - Annotated
There a a good deal of folders so ask for them all. I actually only think I saw about half of them.
Lastly as they are in poor shape they will not allow them to be copied on thier scanners. They only thing we can do is pay for the maps to be preserved and put onto hard backing, then hopefully one can get the scanned. Anyone have a cuple thousand dollasr to dontate?!
I have jpegs of many of the map I will try and host here very shortly if anyone cares.
Soviet Maps Captured By Germany Held at NARA
Moderator: Abicht
Hi Abicht, nice and very interesting pictures!
What is the time frame?
Pictures number 2 and 4 show the Don River between Kalitwa and Bogutschar, where italian II corps fought during august-december 1942.
They seem to indicate a plan of attack, but not that of operation "Little Saturn" (for example, it was in a bit more westward and from N toward S, not from NE toward SW, moreover units were in different positions).
What is the time frame?
Pictures number 2 and 4 show the Don River between Kalitwa and Bogutschar, where italian II corps fought during august-december 1942.
They seem to indicate a plan of attack, but not that of operation "Little Saturn" (for example, it was in a bit more westward and from N toward S, not from NE toward SW, moreover units were in different positions).
YXK- I would love to be able to scan and offer these very unique maps but as I mentioned previously most of these few hundred maps were captured in a tactical battle setting during the war, then handled by the Germans, then by the American army, and numerous others since the war, they are in poor shape and no preservation has been done on them. I am unable get them scanned until this is done. In short this likely will be never as NARA doesnt have a big enough budget, nor is there much interest in these maps to warrant this.
mk2- The time frame of the maps and the annotations were between June 1941 and I think August-Sept 1944. I dont speak Russian and do not know what units are represented on many of the maps (a few had notecards in English attached to them explaining the map). I think they deserve a better study though. Again, the maps appear to have been used from at least Brigade level - I think lower - up to Army level from what I can tell. I guess if I come across someone in the Washington area who speaks Russian and interested in helping look at these we will all better know what they are of.
mk2- The time frame of the maps and the annotations were between June 1941 and I think August-Sept 1944. I dont speak Russian and do not know what units are represented on many of the maps (a few had notecards in English attached to them explaining the map). I think they deserve a better study though. Again, the maps appear to have been used from at least Brigade level - I think lower - up to Army level from what I can tell. I guess if I come across someone in the Washington area who speaks Russian and interested in helping look at these we will all better know what they are of.
M.Abicht
I was a NARA yesterday and took a look at these maps at the cartrographic section on the third floor. As Abicht said, they're in very poor condition. Most are ripped to some extent and are heavily creased. Some were taped together, probably by the Soviets, to form very large maps. Personally, I didn't find them to be very useful. I do speak Russian but since it's not at all clear what the maps represent they're of limited use. By this I mean you don't know why the markings on them were written. They could be plans of the operation, they could have been written to show the current situation at an unknown date, or they could be after-action reports. Which one they are make a difference as to how useful a particular map can be. Simply as maps their condition and sometimes size are too poor to copy, for the most part.
The Library of Congress has a very extensive collection of Soviet and German maps in various scales which are in good condition and aren't taped together. Due to an over-developed sensitivity to copyright issues you can't photograph an entire map, but they have a very good large-format color copier (11x17 inches) which you can use. It usually takes 4 to 6 copies to do an entire map (at 35 cents per copy), then I take them to Kinkos or Staples to have scanned (for about a dollar each). It's not cheap but the qualilty is good. Most of the maps are clean, without any markings. If you go to http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/postlist.php ... rthHistory and search for "Kursk" in the "Search Forum" box at the bottom of the page you'll find the maps I uploaded for the Kursk battlefield for Google Earth. If you search for "Moscow" and scroll down to the entry posted by GaryD2 you'll find a map of Moscow just before WWII. They are overlays for use in Google Earth, so once you have them you can manipulate them just like anything else - zoom in and out, make measurements, etc.
The Library of Congress has a very extensive collection of Soviet and German maps in various scales which are in good condition and aren't taped together. Due to an over-developed sensitivity to copyright issues you can't photograph an entire map, but they have a very good large-format color copier (11x17 inches) which you can use. It usually takes 4 to 6 copies to do an entire map (at 35 cents per copy), then I take them to Kinkos or Staples to have scanned (for about a dollar each). It's not cheap but the qualilty is good. Most of the maps are clean, without any markings. If you go to http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/postlist.php ... rthHistory and search for "Kursk" in the "Search Forum" box at the bottom of the page you'll find the maps I uploaded for the Kursk battlefield for Google Earth. If you search for "Moscow" and scroll down to the entry posted by GaryD2 you'll find a map of Moscow just before WWII. They are overlays for use in Google Earth, so once you have them you can manipulate them just like anything else - zoom in and out, make measurements, etc.