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Series I Great Britain: Geographical Section, General Staff (GSGS) of the War Office and Inter-Service Topographical Department (ISTD.)
The GSGS, also known as MI 4, operated under the Director of Military Operations and Intelligence. Its role was to supply maps to the British forces, collect data on foreign survey networks, provide training, and prepare survey data for British Expeditionary Force mobilization. GSGS was organized into small sections, each of which specialized in maps of a particular region. The War Office Map Library, which was also part of MI 4, acquired maps and cartographic intelligence data. Senior staff members were usually Royal Engineer officers with surveying qualifications, although there were a few Royal Artillery or infantry officers. The rest of the staff were civil technical assistants and clerks, together with some other Royal Engineer ranks.
The ISTD was formed following the nearly disastrous British invasion of Norway (April 9 - May 9, 1940). Prior to that time, the Army and Royal Navy had different intelligence units that were independent of each other. The ISTD was established at Manchester College, Oxford. Working together with members of each arm and the Allies, this unit was able to bring together zero-elevation aerial photography, which is photography taken as close to the wave tops as possible, in order to bring the views of the beach landscape, which were then made into continuous horizontal strip photographs. These files were marked with military targets such as bridges, marshalling yards and the like, and new photos and intelligence were used to update obsolete maps. From these new maps, and from older maps, magazine illustrations, and old family photographs taken on holiday collected from the public, new maps were produced for the planning staffs and operations forces.
The series contains 183 reports/containers with 11,385 maps, charts, photo-maps, photographs, diagrams, and supporting documents organized alphabetically by country. European and Asian theaters of operation are represented.
1 ISTD. List of Reports Issued-Copy No. 33 & 39 September 30, 1944
100+ pages
Two copies
2 Notes on GSGS maps of the Balkans July 1944
49 pages plus maps
Includes maps, gazetteers, and descriptions of the area
3 Notes on GSGS maps of Germany, Denmark, and Central Europe March 1944
50+ pages and maps
Includes maps, gazetteers, and descriptions of the area
4 Notes on GSGS maps of France, Belgium and Holland December 1943
50+ pages and maps
Includes maps, gazetteers, and descriptions of the area
5 Notes on GSGS maps of Italy, Sardinia, and Corsica May 1943
57 pages plus maps
Includes maps, gazetteers, and descriptions of the area
6 ISIS Special Reports on the Netherlands and Belgium, the port and town of Amsterdam (port of Zaandam) January 1944
40+ pages including photographs
7 ISIS Report on the Netherlands and Belgium August 1942
100+
Single sheet showing Plans No. and date
8 ISIS Austria, Photographs, Topography, and Main Roads December 1944
200+ pages including photographs
9 ISIS Railways of Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein (Plans) May 1944
8 pages
Two copies; one is incomplete
10 The Port of Copenhagen September 1944
70 pages including photographs
11 Denmark Intelligence Report July 1943
94 pages
12 ISIS Report on France Volume 1- Northeast France December 1942
300+ pages including photographs
13a ISIS Report on France Volume 3- Brittany February 1943
250+ pages including photographs
13b ISIS Report on France Volume 2- Normandy West of the Seine January 1943
250+ pages including photographs
14 ISIS Report on France Volume 4- Mediterranean France October 1943
8 pages
Incomplete
15 ISTD. Report on the Ports and Towns of La Pallice and La Rochelle September 1942
30+ pages including photographs
Two copies
16 ISTD. Report on the Ports and Towns of Rochefort August 7, 1943
15 pages including photographs
17 ISTD. Report on the Ports and Towns of Les Sables d'Olonne June 17, 1943
10 pages including photographs
18 The Port and Town of Strasbourg June 1944
15+ pages including photographs
19 ISTD. Report on the Ports and Towns of the Gironde Estuary (Royan to Bordeaux) December 5, 1942
100+ pages including photographs
20 ISTD. Report on the Railways of Brittany December 1943
101 pages including a map
21 ISTD. Report on the Railways of Normandy West of the Seine November 1943
159 pages including a map
Two copies; one is incomplete
22 ISTD. Special Report on the Railways of the Paris Area through and avoiding routes December 1943
55 pages
23 ISTD. Report on Railways of the Railways from Nantes to Paris January 1944
26 pages including a map
24 ISTD. Special Report on French Railways Eastern Region (including Alsace-Lorraine and Luxembourg) April 1943
109 including illustrations
25 ISTD. Special Report on the River Rhone (from Lyons to the mouth) November 1943
75+ pages including photographs
26 Amendments to ISTD./Tn/408 Special Report on the Certain Railways of France in the South-West, South-East, & East September 1944
4 pages
27 Middle Danube Area Geology June 1944
33 pages including photographs
28 Middle Danube Area Photographs Part II Resources
80 pages including photographs
29 Special Report on Middle Danube Area Railways May 1944
350+ pages including photographs
30 Middle Danube Area Topography June 1944
162 pages
31 Middle Danube Area Waterways June 1944
91 pages
32 Special Report on Certain Railways of North-West Germany with Approaches from Antwerp and Rotterdam January 1944
131 pages including maps
33 Special Report on Certain Railways of South-West Germany January 1944
145 pages including maps
34 Railways of South-West Germany Dated January 1944 with lines in the Area and Connecting lines from Western Austria & Italy July 1944
250 pages
Amendments to I.S.D./C/317
35 Plans and Photographs [South-West Germany] July 1944
2 pages
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