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| There are now two Official Histories
CD roms available: Maps from the Official History of the Great War Military Operations, France & Belgium The Official Historians had the benefit of various record collections of maps available to them at the start of their work in 1920. Sorting and arranging material started much earlier. Following the Armistice, many records were pulped or burned in France because of the impossibility of shipping them all back and the need to reduce their immense volume to a manageable quantity. Many papers and most war diaries of headquarters, formations and units, and the annotated maps thereto appended were untouched by this holocaust. |
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| Many 1914-18 records were, however, later destroyed by enemy bombing in 1940. In the 1930s the Great War historical and other records (including war diaries) of the British Army comprised 1,900 tons and occupied 15 miles of shelving! The Official Historians also used information supplied after 1918 by their former allies and enemies. The last volumes of the Official History were not published until after the Second World War. Drawn for the official series "History of the Great War, Military Operations, France & Belgium", the outline dispositions and situation maps and colour-layered topographical maps represent in a reduced and simplified form the vast production of British military cartography (over 32 million trench, tactical, strategic and topographical maps) during the years 1914-18. Providing a powerful and revealing picture of the stages of operations. Naval & Military Press in these new CD Roms present these maps, which have never been reprinted in colour since the original publication of the Official Histories. Used in conjunction with the Official History text volumes, or as a stand alone reference tool, this archive is required viewing for all students the Great war. |
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© 2002 Naval & Military Press
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