Page 38 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo II

678 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

The Crisis
The crisis occurred in a “normal” week for Military Survey. 3 out of the 5 officers in
headquarters were in Brussels for a NATO meeting, with another international meeting
scheduled for the following week. The majority of production managers in both MCE
and 42 Regiment were at a meeting with Ordnance Survey in Southampton and many
other staff were on holiday. There used to be an old joke that if you wanted to invade
Britain, do it on a Bank Holiday because everywhere was shut; and it was particularly
unfortunate that Easter 1982 coincided with the end of the MOD leave year, which
meant that staff were using up their leave. Initial requests for mapping were satisfied
with existing stock of the JOGs and civil mapping. Fortunately, in 1981 Military Survey
had reprinted the DOS 1:50,000 series as a routine stock topping exercise so there were
enough copies to meet the initial demand, but these were rapidly exhausted.
However the grid junction mentioned earlier along longitude 60° W was a problem
with the 1:50,000 series. The grid lines, on both axes, were not parallel across the
zone boundary. The bulk of the Falklands falls to the east of 60° W (in Zone 21) but
about one-third falls to the west (Zone 20). To overcome the inconvenience of the
grid junction, DOS had constructed all 29 sheets of the series with Zone 21 grid ticks,
which provided incorrect references on the 10 western sheets (for example, on sheet 23
Malacara Valley was located at grid ref TC 5327 on Zone 21 but PH 6431 on Zone 20).
Military Survey decided to reproduce the 1: 50,000 series as a military product, H791,
with the grid shown in full. Urgent talks were held about the grid problem with HQ
Commando Forces at Plymouth. It was agreed to show both grids on the western sheets
using different colours. A prominent warning note would direct users to give references
using the red numbers for Zone 20 and the purple for Zone 21. The two grids seriously
impaired the legibility of the western sheets and later reports indicated that the forces
did not use the dual gridded sheets because they were too cluttered. Luckily, most of the
operations took place on East Falkland. This series was the most used in combat and it
has been reported that the Royal Marine’s “yomp” from San Carlos to Stanley could be
traced by the piles of maps discarded as the advance progressed. In view of the strong
winds that sweep the island this may be apocryphal.
On 7 April DOS notified Military Survey of an error on sheet 25. Some of the
islands in the north west were misplaced by 6mm (about 300m on the ground). DOS
had corrected their reproduction material but the set that Mil Svy held had not been
changed. Reprinting the 1:50,000 sheets had perpetuated the error and some work was
necessary to correct the position on this sheet and the 1:250,000 scale mapping that had
been derived from it. It is lucky that Bird Island did not feature in the operations as four
years after the conflict the island was discovered to be 700 metres from where it was
supposed to be!
Since it was clear that Stanley would become the focus of attention, Military Survey
overprinted the DOS 1:2,500 sheets with more recent information and a UTM grid
to create series GSGS 5451. Since it was clear that maps of Stanley airport would be
required, various plans, engineering drawings and diagrams were obtained from the
Civil Aviation Authority and by the 6 April four sheets had been printed at 1:500 to
1:50,000 to supplement the meagre information held previously.