Operation Sea Lion | Folder A: Military geographic information about England

Militargeographische Angaben uber England (Military geographic information about England)

A collection of German military maps, charts, and booklets prepared in connection with Operation Sea Lion (Unternehmen Seelöwe), the planned German invasion of Great Britain.

On the cover:

Folder A       [Editor: This is the folder offered here.]

For official use only!

Military-geographic information on England

For London, see Folder B

3rd edition

Completed on 31 August 1941

General Staff of the Army
Department for War Maps and Surveying, IV Military Geography
Berlin, 1941

Contents:

• Eight maps, including maps of waterways and canals
• Two guidebooks, one illustrated with aerial photographs
• One guidebook with maps and town details, including population information
• Two booklets with town through-plans and related geographic details
• Original card case
• Two additional guidebooks titled Militärgeographische Angaben über England, Mappe C: Südküste
• Material illustrated with aerial photographs, postcards, maps, and related reference information

Reference from the David Rumsey Map Collection:

"In preparing to invade Britain, the German military preparations included the production of a series of military/geographical assessments, showing what might be found by those arriving. This material was also used in a military evaluation of the regions of the British Isles, and considered each from the viewpoint of invasion.

"The full assessment for England and Wales consists of eleven A4 sized folders (numbered 1 to 12, folder 5 was never issued as there was no Sheet 5 in this Ordnance Survey quarter-inch series, hence no German folder). Each contains large scale town plans marked with strategic locations, a book of photographs and a quarter-inch map of the area, each folder titled “Militärgeographische Einzelangaben über England” (Maps of England showing features of military significance) and “Militärgeographische Objektkarten mit Objektbildern” (Maps of military installations with photographs.” Also there are three thick A5 sized folders containing books and maps: Folder A : England and Wales, on a regional basis with numerous photographs and maps; Folder B : London, photographs and maps; and Folder C : Books of coastal photographs to help with selecting invasion beaches.

"In addition, there is material on the planned invasion of Ireland - Operation Green (Unternehmen Grün). There are 144 six-inch town maps marked with strategic locations, and almost 1500 black and white photographs. The maps are copies of Ordnance Survey maps, with overprints highlighting sites which the Germans would have considered targets in any invasion.

"Most maps and books are headed: “Nur für den Dienstgebrauch!” (For Official use only.) The maps were arranged in groups, based on the Ordnance Survey Quarter-inch Fourth Edition sheet lines. Thus, each numbered folder has a quarter-inch map of the area, a book of photographs and large scale plans of significant towns. The quarter-inch (1:250,000) maps use an extensive list of purple symbols for industrial sites (e.g. chemicals, waterworks, textiles, electricity) and red symbols for strategic sites (e.g. hospitals, airfields, radio stations, barracks). The large scale plans are usually 1:10,000 scale (metric six-inch), and again are an Ordnance Survey base map with coloured symbols showing sites of military significance such as airports, railway workshops, docks, bridges.

"Such sites are often illustrated in the book of photographs, the captions of which give a map location for each site, and each mapped site gives the book illustration number. The town maps are printed in brown (rather than black), with blue water. The various coloured symbols stand out clearly, are easily seen and are quite striking. The delicate black bridge symbols are especially noticeable and numerous, as are the red boundaries of railway stations and goods yards. Basically, for each town these maps show all locations that the Germans thought to be strategically important. All folders were issued in 1940, 1941 or 1942. 

(Text from David Archer's excellent description of the collection, modified)."

Translation of text from the Folder's jacket:

Contents:
(Changes from the 1st or 2nd edition are noted in brackets)

1. Text booklet
2. Gazetteer / directory of localities
   (formerly in the text booklet, now printed as a separate booklet; newly revised and expanded)
3. Picture booklet: England as a whole
   (typical landscape views)
4. General map of Great Britain and Ireland, 1:1,000,000, with sheet index for the special map 1:100,000
   (new physical overview map)
5. Military-geographic operations map of England, 1:500,000, southern sheet
   (Southern and Central England)
6. Map: Great Britain and Ireland, railway network, 1:1,000,000, with station directory on the reverse of the map, serving at the same time as a locality index map
   (newly revised using documents from Chief Tromp)
7. Booklet: Station directory for no. 6
8. Map: Great Britain, long-distance roads, 1:1,000,000
9. Map: Great Britain, overview of bodies of water, 1:1,000,000
10. Map: Great Britain, long-distance telephone and telegraph network, 1:1,000,000
    (telephone network on front; radio stations on reverse)
11. Map: Electricity supply of England and Scotland, 1:1,000,000, with directory of major works and their capacity
12. Map: England, population distribution, 1:1,000,000
13. Booklet: City passage / through-route plans
    (improved and expanded)

Also published:

Folder B

Military-geographic information on England, London
(text with pictures, traffic plan 1:50,000, and city plan 1:20,000, 4 sheets, with military-geographic object entries)

Folder C

Coastal descriptions
(text and picture booklets with map appendices)

South coast, with 1st and 2nd supplements, completed 15 Aug. 1940
South coast, 3rd supplement, aerial photographs, completed 20 May 1941
East coast, southern part, completed 30 Aug. 1940
East coast, northern part, completed 15 Oct. 1940
West coast, southern part, completed 27 Dec. 1940
West coast, northern part, completed 28 Feb. 1941

Furthermore:

Military-geographic object maps, 1:250,000, of England, 11 sheets, and related plans of the most important urban areas with military-geographic individual entries at a scale of 1:10,000. Completed February 1941.

In preparation:

New edition of the military-geographic object maps, 1:250,000, of England, 11 folders, in which one large sheet is included. The object map 1:250,000 and the associated plans of the most important urban areas with military-geographic individual entries at a scale of 1:10,000 are combined in each large sheet. Each folder includes a booklet, “Object pictures,” with images of individual objects marked on the large sheets or city plans.

Issued as completed by 30 September 1941.

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