Page 40 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo II

680 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

requested. This sheet had a dynamic history. A first edition was produced by enlarging
the 1:50,000, then it was overprinted to include new information to produce edition 2.
However, it was discovered that a peat cutting had been mistaken on the air photography
as an airstrip. Users were warned by signal and edition 3 was produced to correct it. By
this time, further new information was available which was incorporated into Edition
4 issued on the 6 May. Fortunately this rapid succession of editions was unusual. By
the end of CORPORATE, this series had been extended to cover most of East Falkland
between San Carlos, Darwin and Stanley. It is not standard cartographic practice to
enlarge 1:50,000 to 1:25,000 but in this case the original had been produced at the larger
scale.
A requirement for a 1:100,000 scale product was also identified. The 29 sheets of
H791 were found to take up too much room in Operations Rooms, were difficult to
join together and were not suitable for detailed planning. The JOG was too small for
plotting in detail and did not carry a full 1km grid so 6-figure grid references could
not be identified immediately. The JOG was enlarged to make a five sheet 1:100,000
series, GSGS 5460, omitting the hill shading to save time, adding a warning note to alert
users to the possible lack of accuracy and overprinting it with updated information. The
resulting product was not pretty but met the requirement exactly.
For the first time in war, computer graphics were used to assist in topographic
assessments. They were needed to support radar location and radio wave propagation
studies. Digital Terrain Elevation Data was created based on the 1:250,000 contours
and was used in the Vulcan cockpit during Operation BLACK BUCK, the long-range
bombing of Stanley airfield. In addition the terrain model around Stanley was later
refined using the new contours from the 1:12,500 maps. Computer Terrain Views were
also produced showing the ground shape as seen from any selected viewpoint.
A rendezvous point was required for regrouping and replenishing the first wave
of the Task Force. Ascension Island was selected as having adequate anchorages and
communication facilities. DOS had published a 1:25,000 map of the island which had
been adopted for military use. A Warrant Officer was recalled from his honeymoon and
despatched to Ascension to manage the withdrawal of superseded maps from stock and
replace them with the latest editions.

Other Products
On 7 April it was confirmed that artillery units would be included in the Task Force,
so trig lists for Falklands and South Georgia were produced. A 1:100,000 series was also
produced over South Georgia.
In order to keep commands, formations and units up to date on the availability of
geographic products a special CORPORATE geo catalogue was compiled on the 23
April. Without Military Survey staff in the Task Force it was essential to disseminate
information on the status of geographic products as widely as possible. The succession
of new editions and the introduction of new products necessitated regular amendments
to the catalogue and a second edition had to be produced in May.