ww2 maps

[Russcoles]

I have been toying with ideas for a tour for next year. It's about time I left the UK on my bike so I thought maybe Belgium or Holland. Then I had an idea that maybe to give my tour a theme I could follow the route from the film A Bridge too Far. Does anyone know where I could find maps from either before, during or after the war which would show which roads were there at the time? It might even be fun to have digital maps loaded onto my GPS so I could see how thing have changed.

[andrew_s]

I would think that the chances of finding anything for a GPS are close to zero.
If you have a more recent GPS, look at scanning a suitable paper map, trimming the scan and georeferencing the resulting image.
See http://www.gpstraining.co.uk/documents/ ... ySteps.pdf
Your GPS must be capable of displaying OS Landranger (1:50,000) maps.

[pal]

How about this Michelin map? It's the 1947 edition, rather than actually pre/during the war, but close enough?

[Erudin]

Don't miss the Overloon museum if you go there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Overloon

[Russcoles]

The Michelin historic maps only seem to cover France but I just found this:
http://www.liberationroute.com/#

Being able to download audio accounts of what happened to play when at locations marked with boulders could make this an interesting ride. It gives an indication of a route.

[Sweep]

Might be worth getting in touch with Stanfords in London - that wonderful wonderful shop. They give CTC discount, at least for "in person" shoppers - I don't know about mail order.

They do have Italian produced maps on the Italian campaign though I must say that I found them somewhat mystifying.

I thought there was some sort of cycle route/guide with GPS in Belgium on WW1 (sorry - a bit off-topic/war I know) but having once favourited it, I think, can no longer find it.

[beachcomber]

I have used Major and Mrs Holt's battlefield tours books in the past. I thoroughly recommend them.

They have various books on WWI and WWII. There is one for Op Market Garden. I was able to follow routes taken by the troops from the landing ground to the bridge using the guide.

Michelin do reproductions of WWII maps of France. (Google it)

If visiting Arnhem there is of course the Airbourne museum at Oosterbeek, but also a good museum covering the war and liberation. Look for the T34 tank outside the front.Arnhem War Museum '40-'45 - Arnhem - TracesOfWar.com


en.tracesofwar.com/article/.../Arnhem-War-Museum-40-45.ht...

There is also an interesting museum at Geelen airfield just out of town. There is an F104 Starfighter outside. I believe it is only open on Sundays.However when I turned up midweek the staff working there opened up for me. They also made me a cuppa. The museum has loads of photographs of the local area under occupation. Geelan was a German night figher base. Well worth a visit.

If you are interested in Op Market Garden, can I suggest reading Arnhem Lift by Louis Hagen. A Jew who escaped Germany and became a British army glider pilot.

[beachcomber]

My link to the 40-45 museum doesn't appear to have worked.en.tracesofwar.com/article/.../Arnhem-War-Museum-40-45.ht

Here's another go at it.

[RickH]

My link to the 40-45 museum doesn't appear to have worked.en.tracesofwar.com/article/.../Arnhem-War-Museum-40-45.ht

Here's another go at it.

Try this! Yours was getting abbreviated.

Rick.

[beachcomber]

Thanks RickH.

That's the site I was after.

Geelen airfield gets a mention in the side bar.

[rob_finch]

Hi,

You could scan maps containing the war routes onto your computer, then overlay the images onto Google Earth. It requires some resizing and aligning of the image, but you can use roads and coast lines as reference points. This would then enable you to plot a path along the routes you want to follow, which could then be uploaded onto your GPS device.

The Google tutorial video at http://www.google.com/earth/outreach/tutorials/earthoverlays.html isn't a great help but will show you the basic steps. Alter the image's opacity so you can see through it and tweak the position, size and rotation until you get the best alignment.

Rob.

[Penfold]

If you also have an interest in WW1 then this device/system is the dogs dangly bits for mapping

http://www.greatwardigital.com

No idea if they do a WW2 edition, will scamper off and have a look

[Sweep]

If visiting Arnhem there is of course the Airbourne museum at Oosterbeek, but also a good museum covering the war and liberation. Look for the T34 tank outside the front.Arnhem War Museum '40-'45 - Arnhem - TracesOfWar.com


en.tracesofwar.com/article/.../Arnhem-War-Museum-40-45.ht...

I think I've been past that many years ago on two wheels - though I was on a Vespa. I do remember a Commonwealth War Graves cemetary at Arnhem - very humbling it was - I think I was around 24 at the time and many of the dead were my age or younger. Recommended. Wonderfully tended as all those cemetaries are.

[vjosullivan]

(I know you're specifically asking for non-UK maps but) for historic UK maps, my starting point would be:

http://www.shop.ordnancesurveyleisure.c ... gital-maps

[Russcoles]

It would seem that in the UK and France we are very fortunate with OS and Michelin respectively keeping a good back catalog of maps. I guess I will just have to make do with modern maps and use the liberation route markers as an indication of which roads were actually there at the time. Having the audio files to listen to at the markers is a bit of a bonus. This could well be a lot of fun and rather educational.