Total in map set4205 maps of39,9Gb
Updated inMay 2015 (added 112 maps)
Selected in map set4205 maps of39,9Gb
344 €
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The First World War showed that to meet dramatically increased needs of the German army in maps, the capacity of existing military mapping and general government mapping agencies was too low. The army increased requirements in terms of number of maps, and a variety of precision scales. The army needed detailed and comprehensive information about the natural and economic characteristics of theaters of war.
After the defeat in the First World War Germany soon regained state cartography and Geodetic Survey and actively prepared for revenge. "The map as a gun" - the slogan of the German cartography for 1930-1960 years.
Cartographic institutions
Since 1936, Germany's mapping service underwent several reforms:
recovered a widespread military topographic service
created topographic office in the headquarters of military districts
created topographic departments
General Staff becomes the organizing and governing center of the German cartography, geodesy, topography, and then geography. The activities of the German military topographic service were developed during the Second World War in several ways:
Administrative, consisting of a system of military-topographical divisions or department headquarters, starting with general and to the corps headquarters inclusive
Research and production, comprising a network of stationary and mobile offices, enterprises and units directly involved in the creation of maps, military and geographical descriptions, geodetic networks and directories of coordinates of geodetic points
Supply, uniting system of stationary stores, which accumulated and stored stock of maps, as well as warehouses and moving items.
Also one of the characteristics of the German cartography was the presence of private mapping companies, the total number of which was over 100. Such abundance of mapping companies knows no capitalist state in Europe. Each of the companies specialized in the manufacture and production of a certain kind of cartographic products.
Topographic maps
With large cartographic forces and means, at a relatively small area of the state, Germany was able to cover all of its territory with topographical maps of different scales, as well as to release a lot of special maps and atlases. In addition, Germany was intensively engaged in mapping of foreign territories, thus extending its activities beyond Europe. Among a great variety of German cartographic products can be distinguished official and private publications. Official publications consist of two main groups: topographic maps and special maps. Topographic maps are divided, in their turn, into provincial (Landeskarten) and state (Reichskarten). Provincial maps included:
"The main map of Germany" of the scale of 1: 5000 (Die Grundkarte des Deutschen Reiches)
"Topographic Map" of the scale of 1: 25,000 (Die Topographische Karte)
State maps included:
"German map" of the scale of 1: 50,000 (Die Deutsche Karte)
"Map of Germany" of the scale of 1: 100,000 (Die Karte des Deutschen Reiches)
"Topographic overview map of Germany" of the scale of 1: 200,000 (Die Topographische Ubersichtskarte des Deutschen Reiches)
In projections of topographic maps of Germany, as well as in geodetic basis, there was no unity. In addition to the most widely-used "Prussian multifaceted projection" (Myuflinga) adopted for maps at 1: 25,000, 1: 50,000 and 1: 100,000 scales, were also used Gauss-Kruger, Soldner, Cassini, Delili, Kauperta and others projections. For 9 major scales in Germany were used 13 different projections. Map division of the most German topographic maps was based on a geographic grid. Sheets of these maps have a trapezoid shape, bounded by lines of meridians and parallels.